The original Spyro the Dragon series, Spyro, Sparx, Zoe, Moneybags, Marco the balloonist, Bob (the interviewer who appeared in Spyro the Dragon), Delbin, Tomas, Nestor, Dragon Realms, Avalar, Forgotten Worlds, Midnight Mountain homeworld, Artisans Homeworld and Dragon Shores. Macy is Topaz16's original character and she belongs to her. Smokey (Spyro's colleague), Stanley (Spyro and Smokey's employer) and Daniel (Spyro and Smokey's instructor) are my original characters and they rightfully belong to me, they were created exclusively for this collaborated fanfiction.
Hi, it's Flowerstar again! I'm back with the third chapter of the collaboration after a long hiatus, due to my GCSE English assignments and work placement. I'd like to thank my loyal reviewer, ChrisMSMB, and Scarlet Embers for reviewing our collaboration. Topaz16 and I should have mentioned this in the first chapter but keep in mind that Spyro is 14 years old in the story, a teenager in dragon years.
I'm now officially 21 years old and my birthday has already gone past. Even though I'm disappointed that no Mario games were released in November (usually when it comes to my country and the rest of Europe, either one, two or more Mario games came out in November and it's dubbed "Mario Month"), I was delighted with the amount of presents and cards I received from my friends and family. On the bright side, unlike last year I didn't get sick.
You know what's strange? While I was still working on this chapter and after I finished my video tribute, "Died In Your Eyes – Macy x Bartholomew" (a fanmade video tribute to the main couple of Topaz16's "A Yeti's Love" and the story), I've gotten sick when I realised my nose felt weird and my throat became slightly sore and I've been feeling under the weather since 29th November. I don't know where I caught my bad cold from, probably from the enormous amount of snow that blanketed most of my country and the freezing temperature. Speaking of coming down with an awful cold, Spyro will feel just as worse as I did and his symptoms will get even more unpleasant as the story unfolds.
Since Topaz16's "A Yeti's Love" took place during Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon, the collaboration took place two years after the game and my partner's fanfiction. Spyro might have been 12 years old (that makes him a pre-teen) 'cause the fairies delivered a batch of dragon eggs to the Dragon Realms every 12 years so he's 14 years old in the story which means he's a teenager in dragon years. Anyway, the game is obviously named after one of the creatures from the Chinese Zodiac and the year of the Dragon happens every 12 years. Lol, how ironic that it will be the year of the Dragon again next year and the London 2012 Olympics! In my opinion, the game is the best way to celebrate Chinese New Year, way back in 2000!
By the way, the instructor is named after one of my old college friends and the other reason for his name is the alliteration. Y'know - "Daniel the Dragon", awesome alliteration, isn't it? So here's the long-anticipated third chapter of my first collaboration in years!
Chapter 3: Induction & New Colleague
Through the wee hours of the morning of the first day of the lifeguard job, Spyro was in the midst of having his breakfast all by his lonesome in the kitchen. He would have enjoyed it more if he didn't get infected with a cold in the first place. Not a single sound was in the air except for the occasional one or two ear-splitting hacking coughs that escaped his small maw; he cleared his throat to make himself feel better.
He still felt just as worse as yesterday night, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Due to the countless quantity of snot within his nostrils, his nose has already become stuffy and red. Not to mention, a trickle of snot dribbled out of his nostrils so he snivelled to prevent the revolting snot from sliding down even more.
On top of everything else, he had the urge to send out a sneeze from his reddish, blocked nose. "AH… AH… AHHH… AH-CHOOOOOOOO!" A powerful torrent of red-hot, flaming fire and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot were sent forward from his nose. Luckily, the flames didn't set anything alight and they instantly dispersed completely after hanging around in the air for a while.
Spyro snivelled before a hacking cough was expelled from his throat, he groaned since his cough harmed it greatly. His cough was a broken cough with a rough and loud sound, it was so noisy and disturbing at the same time it reverberated off the walls of the kitchen and bounced off the corners of the ceiling.
Maybe I should have listened to Sparx and stay at home. He thought to himself, suddenly having second thoughts and recalling Sparx's advice from last night. "No, I shouldn't let a little cold keep me from going to Dragon Shores. I've been through way worse things than this."
Unfortunately, the rest of the morning wasn't getting any better for him as a combination of mucus coughs and ear-splitting hacking coughs erupted from his lungs, each cough was getting louder and much worse by the minute. He covered his mouth with one of his claws as he coughed harder.
To calm his bad coughs, he took a sip of his orange juice from the glass and gently settled it on the table. He sighed even as he felt some kind of ticklish feeling inside his oesophagus, having the urge to cough again. As he expected, a consecutive chain of chesty coughs were ejected from his reptilian lips. He took a swig of orange juice to stop him from coughing anymore.
His breakfast should have cooled down by the time he stopped coughing so he resumed to eating the freshly-cooked eggs and bacon. The only things on his mind are what awaits him at Dragon Shores and whether he gets the job as a part-time lifeguard or not.
Meanwhile, Sparx was spending some more quality time with Zoe in front of the pink flowers beside the portal to Toasty inside the mouth of the dragon's face. The pink flowers were swaying left and right, the light wind was blowing them. Currently, Sparx was in a mixture of emotions that overflowed his mind, he's a teeny bit angry with Spyro for being pig-headed and still worried about him due to falling ill with a minor sickness.
Everything fell silent between them, not a single word has left their lips or a single sentence has spoken until Zoe broke the silence. Clearly, she doesn't want it to carry on any further.
"What's the matter, Sparx? You're usually not like this." Zoe asked, looking in Sparx's direction worryingly. Telling by her tone of voice she was concerned about the golden dragonfly and wondering if there's something wrong with him.
"I told Spyro to stay at home and rest but he refused." Sparx replied, finally finding the words to let go from his microscopic mouth. "Sometimes, he can be so stubborn!" He angrily crossed his arms and turned away, apparently he's still a little furious with his best buddy and avoiding eye contact with the fairy from Avalar.
"Don't be so hard on Spyro, what's the matter with him?" Zoe fluttered towards the irritated insect and gently placed her hand on one of his shoulders to calm him down after she brought her flying to a halt.
With a frown, Sparx explained to the fairy what's wrong with his best friend as best as he could in detail. "He came down with a bad cold after he came home from his babysitting errand. He caught it from the baby dragons, that's why he kept coughing last night." The dragonfly shuddered, recalling the perturbing memories of him not being able to sleep last night while Spyro suffered from a coughing fit.
"Spyro got sick?" Zoe gasped, her eyes immediately grew large. She wasn't expecting to hear that kind of news from the gold dragonfly. Her face softened and it immediately changed to an expression of fear, not looking forward to the future and the upcoming days. "Ooooh… that doesn't bode well. I dread to think the villains finding out about this."
Ever since he's been with Spyro as best friends from the beginning, Sparx was aware that his best buddy has little regard for his safety and he tends to get stubborn no matter what circumstance it is. "You're saying like it's a big deal, Zoe. I know I'm still fretting about him but he probably thinks he doesn't need anyone to look out for him. He may be fourteen years old but that doesn't mean we stop caring about him."
Understanding how serious the situation may become, Zoe tenderly positioned her other tiny, feminine hand underneath the golden dragonfly's chin to bring it upwards, causing him to look deeply into her green or emerald eyes. Telling by her tone, she's exceedingly worried about Spyro's well-being and how this will effect the three, fantasy-like worlds and realms. "That's true, we care about him because he's our friend. If his foes realise he's poorly, they might take full advantage of his ill condition and launch an attack on the Dragon Realms, Avalar or the Forgotten Worlds when we least expect it or even worse, they will consider killing him without mercy if they find out he's unable to breathe fire because of his cold and sore throat."
"Now that you've mentioned it, I never thought about that."
"Speaking of him, where is he going?"
"He's going to Dragon Shores to get a job as a part-time lifeguard."
"Since when Spyro has some spare time for an occupation?"
"Ever since Spyro and I whupped the Sorceress's butt, not much has happened in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds except maybe a few minor problems here. I'm guessing he must have all the time in the world, he decided to apply for a job to maybe keep away from the publicity and the media."
"Should we head to Dragon Shores to keep an eye on him?"
"As much as I want to, we shouldn't go because we might distract Spyro from his job if he does manage to get it. Maybe we should visit him at the right time, when he wants to see us."
"Well… I don't see any harm in leaving him to his new job. I'm sure he can take care of himself, unless his cold gets even worse for him."
As gentle as she was, Zoe slowly moved her minuscule, womanly hand away from Sparx's chin to leave him pondering about his ailing best friend and hero. The Avalari fairy was just as worried as he was, like he was last night.
"I hope Spyro is all right, I hope he hasn't gotten himself into trouble and received my note." He let his words flow out of his teensy mouth in a low, hushed voice to no one in particular but himself. Even if he tried to talk his close friend out of travelling to Dragon Shores, it's already too late to change his mind and he could have left the house by now.
After consuming everything on his plate, Spyro picked it up with his mouth and stretched out his tail, wrapping it around the empty glass of orange juice. He slowly made his way to the sink whilst trying to keep his sickly eyes open and feeling light-headed at the same time, on the brink of collapsing to the floor from a huge amount of dizziness.
It's bad enough he felt tired as well, the kind of tired where he wasn't sure if he just woken up or just falling asleep. A variety of symptoms were overwhelming him but they didn't stop him from reaching the sink. Since it's already getting late and the time is ticking away, he promptly left his porcelain dish and the glass at the bottom of the basin and exited through the doorway.
He woozily walked pass the doorway to the living room, coughing as he was making a short journey to the flight of stairs. The more he coughed, the more his throat hurts. His miniature, white talons and his feet touched the surface with every step he made, ignoring the intensive pain and soreness in his lungs from coughing so much.
It wasn't long until he's at the bottom of the staircase, leading upwards to his bedroom that he shared with Sparx. Thankfully, his dreadful, disturbing coughs was brought to a halt by the time he's within reach of the stairway. He heaved a sigh before gradually walking up, the steps creaked silently each time his scaly feet touched the wooden surface.
Fortunately, nearly everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds doesn't know that Spyro has recently fallen ill. If word gets out, chaos ensues: the citizens of each of the worlds will take the news seriously, a vast number of rumours will be spreading around about him, the interviewers will be chasing him down and asking him questions, this kind of news will be included in newspapers and his enemies (if they're still alive, that is) will eventually know about this.
Those were the last of his worries and as long as nobody knows about his current ill condition, everything will be fine. Of course, that's what he's thinking about right now while those thoughts entered his mind, one by one. They were interrupted when a sudden, strident sneeze left his nose unexpectedly. "AH-CHOO!" Several sheets of flames and disgusting snot were released at the same time, the inferno and the smoke stayed in the air for a while until they instantaneously diffused.
I'll pack the essentials before going out, it's important to be prepared than not being prepared at all. He thought to himself, he knew packing things up would mean he would use them later on in the day if it were necessary.
He eventually arrived at the doorway to his bedroom, before he could enter it; another continuous chain of hacking coughs was ejected from his reptilian lips that lasted for a couple of seconds. They were short and dry but small, causing a great deal of pain to his throat as if it was on fire from the inside. While he coughed harder, he dizzily strolled into the cosiness of his bedroom that he shared with Sparx.
"I might as well get started, it's bad enough I had to cope with this cold while gathering my stuff for my first day at work." He muttered in a low, hoarse voice, to no one in particular but himself. He dazedly let his purple eyes wander around his bedroom, looking for any object or important items to take with him.
Further away from Spyro's humble abode that he shared with Sparx, Moneybags hasn't learnt a lesson from his previous failure of attempting to sell a dragon egg for a fortune in Avalar and is up to his usual swindling tricks by trying to fleece Marco the balloonist of his gems. They were face-to-face, standing on the dock near the hot air balloon which usually takes Spyro or anyone to anywhere in the Dragon Realms.
Deep down inside himself, he's planning to seek revenge on not only Spyro for chasing him around Midnight Mountain whilst torching his butt and claiming all the gems back in the process but Macy as well for not being able to rip her off at the Sorceress's castle and not succeeding in his plan of drowning her. He may have retired to Spooky Swamp to pursue a career or a job as a haiku poet but he somehow reverted back to talking in a well-spoken voice. However, he's unaware of Spyro's sickness and the fact he'll become one of the new lifeguards of Dragon Shores soon. Not to mention, they were nowhere to be seen in the world of dragons.
As if he's running a bargain sale at a stall in a hustling and bustling market, Moneybags raised his voice in a jovial, overexcited manner, in order to get the balloonist's attention and getting him hyped up. "Don't miss this opportunity! I assure you I have something marvellous that will enhance your hot air balloon! Feast your eyes on this!" He reached into his tuxedo and dragged out what appears to be a brand-new balloon without an excessive amount of helium pumped into it. A striped pattern covered the entire balloon; forest green and green stripes went to the bottom from the top. Those colours resemble the lush, rolling hills and green valleys of the Artisans Homeworld. For the finishing touch, intricate leafy patterns were printed within the stripes, creating lovely curls and swirls from the far left and ending at the far right.
To get a closer look at the balloon, Marco leaned forward as he placed a gloved hand to his chin, pondering to himself. Not only is he thinking this over, he's uncertain about the eye-catching, beautiful balloon due to the gossip that's been going around from resident to resident, in relation to Moneybags' gem-swindling deeds. "Hmm… I don't know… there are rumours spreading around that you've conned everyone you meet out of their gems, which includes Spyro."
Moneybags tried to cover up his lies and disagreed with the gossip that's been going round the population of the three worlds. In order to fleece the Artisans balloonist off his hard-earned money, the penny-pinching ursus arctos tried his best to keep the unconfirmed reports under wraps. "What poppycock! How absurd! All of those rumours and gossip you've listened to is a bunch of gibberish. I guarantee you this balloon is the thing you need to increase the altitude in the air and it will take you to new heights. I suppose I could lend it to you, for… ahem… a small fee."
After giving this a bit more thought, the balloonist still kept his keen eyes on the helium balloon and its colourful, intricate pattern. There was nothing like that in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds, it's something that's beyond compare and a beauty to behold. "That brand new balloon sounds a bit promising but how much is it?"
"I'll be willing to hand it over for… let's say… 700 gems?"
No matter how interesting and spectacular the balloon looks and it's an offer he can't refuse, Marco shook his head, turning down the bargain whilst he glared unsympathetically at an appalled Moneybags, who was close to the point of yelling in his face or at the end of his tether. "No can do, Moneybags. Seems like the rumours are indeed true, I can't believe you have the nerve to overcharge me for that balloon. There is possibly no way I'll hand over 700 gems to you."
"WHAT? No? What are you saving up your money for? Improvements on your hot air balloon? Heh, heh… that's a good one. But seriously, you really shouldn't refuse my offer. This is a once in a life-time opportunity!"
"I'm sorry for being very rude but would you be so kind to leave me alone? Or I'll let Spyro know that you're trying to cheat me out my money."
The instant he heard the courageous, headstrong dragon's name, Moneybags cringed. The memories returned to haunt him of Spyro setting his rear on fire and constantly charging into him, reclaiming every single gem back that he ripped off the young, purple dragon in the process whilst chasing him around the Midnight Mountain homeworld in a circle after the seemingly defeat of the Sorceress.
Each time Moneybags is on the receiving end of a burnt butt or getting his rump charged into with Spyro's horns, he screams at the top of his voice in discomfort, soreness and agony of how much the attacks harmed him. Each memory flowed into his head as he pictured them vividly, one at a time in order. He remembered each of them, starting from encountering the spunky, purple-scaled dragon in the Midnight Mountain homeworld at a bridge between the Crystal Island and Desert Ruins portals after the Sorceress's downfall and the flashbacks ended at where the self-centred, obese bear surrendered, leaving the dragon egg unharmed and strangely, fled into the Crystal Islands portal instead of returning to the Spooky Swamp like he said. He shook his head to snap himself back into reality as his final reminiscence gradually faded out, he'll never forget his humiliating days from the past.
"Very well… since you declined my good deal, I'll be on my way." He muttered bitterly, he promptly swivelled around and turned to the exit doorway of the grand, Artisan building that was located near the small maze which was in a deep tint of green. "One way or another I'll get my paws on those gems I rightfully deserve." He added under his breath, with his back facing a relieved Marco even as he darkly shifted his dark green eye to his direction. After he momentarily averted his eyes as he gazed forward, he was lost in his own thoughts about his doubts as well as Spyro and Macy. I may be afraid of ending up with a barbecued backside perhaps for the second time and my scam becoming a disappointment, but I'll make sure I'll exact my revenge on Spyro and Macy somehow. Hmm… I must say… where are those impertinent brats today?
The instant he disappeared completely inside the majestic building, Marco wiped his forehead with one of his hands and heaved a sigh of relief, very thankful the gem-grabbing scumbag of a bear missed his chance to swipe his cash.
"Phew! That's the last time I almost fell for his swindling tricks." He murmured gratefully. Slowly but surely, a faint smile has returned to grace upon his face.
An hour later, Spyro was jogging along the lush, green grass in the Artisans Homeworld after painstakingly rooting through his room in every nook and cranny for anything to shove into his purple bag, it's in a deeper shade of purple so it wouldn't mix with his scales and the straps were violet. Since his scales were purple, it's possible that purple is his favourite colour.
The bag was reasonably large enough to be draped over his little cranium, neck and body. All the essentials were packed into his bag: sunscreen, a light purple towel, a bottle of crystal clear water, a packet of tissues (for catching his coughs and sneezes into them, spitting out gooey, bright green mucus into the tissues and wiping or blowing his nose) and a pair of sunglasses (the same sunglasses he wore during the interview with Bob after peace was restored to all five worlds of the Dragon Realms, every gem were recovered, each of the dragon eggs were retrieved and Gnasty Gnorc was vanquished along with army of minions).
Unluckily, his cold wasn't getting any better for him. The more he ran, the more he panted and the more likely he's about to cough uncontrollably but he didn't have a choice, he was very late as it is. To make matters worse, he has yet another headache to put up with which was throbbing his head painfully. All of a sudden, uncontrollable sequences of terrible, hacking coughs were sent out from his fiery lungs every time he breathed heavily.
The portal to Dragon Shores is in his line of vision and within reach, only a small number of metres to go. Seeing as he's in a hurry, he didn't stop in his tracks to cover his scaly lips with one of his claws to prevent any gruesome germs from spreading to any residents passing by him.
By the time he arrived in front of the portal that bears "Dragon Shores" in miniature, golden capital letters that shifts left and right repetitively and gave off a glimmering sheen of gold, his hacking coughs stopped straight away as he skidded to a standstill like he always does whenever he desired to slower his pace and discontinue his sprinting in the midst of his heroic adventures. Without looking back, he spread out his wings to a greater extent and flew into the portal, gliding smoothly to his destination.
Once he arrived at Dragon Shores, he let his eyes slowly wander to find any trace of Gildas but he was nowhere to be seen.
There was boundless of sand as far as the eye can see and numerous buildings, shops and facilities in all shapes, sizes, heights, widths and colours can be seen for miles behind the seaside. A gentle, warm wind swept across the sand and the sea was so calm, nothing could make it angry and raging like a volcano erupting and spewing out lava rocks everywhere. A single, white lifeguard chair can be seen at the centre of the lengthy sand and an unfilled, metal recycle bin sits at the left of it in case one of the new lifeguards might need to use it. Luckily, the chair was the perfect size for either of them to sit on and be on the lookout for any tidal waves, anyone drowning in the ocean or anything out of the ordinary.
Obviously, the amusement park is further away from the beach so it's very difficult to see it in the distance. A few miles away from the seashore, the theme park and the whole summery landscape lies a tall, white lighthouse on the far right of the seaside, sitting on a rocky, rock-strewn cliff. No vivid light is emitting from it at the moment since it's daytime. The light source only shines brightly at night time to show any boats, water transport and swimmers the way back to the beach.
Occasionally, the icy waves come rolling in and they retreat on occasion. Fortunately, they don't lap further up the sand and only managed to reach the shoreline. Just like Seashell Shore in the Forgotten Worlds and Sunny Beach in Avalar, the sand is littered with white seashells and starfishes that were collected by the seawater and washed ashore. They come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours ranging from the smallest to the biggest and from the lightest colour to the darkest colour, depending on what colour the seashells and starfishes are.
On the right of the lifeguard chair a few metres away is a tan-coloured, wooden lifeguard watch tower that is used for storing equipment and lifeguard kits. The tower is in a shape of a vertical oblong or a 3D rectangle that has the capacity of fitting two or three lifeguards inside, depending on how many are entering the building and it doesn't matter what height, width or weight they are. On the left, front and right sides, there are reasonably medium-sized, square-shaped windows and the flat roof is for any lifeguards to be on the lookout for tidal waves, dire danger and anything out of the ordinary. At the front, there is a deep tan-coloured, wooden door with a silver handle, a small rectangular-shaped window above it and a single horizontal, rectangular-shaped doorstep below the door. The watch tower is clearly for lifeguards (and occasionally their trainer or their boss comes in to check up on the teenage dragons) only. To notify the public that there's no entry to the tower, there is a white sign below the door handle, on the door bearing the words, "Lifeguards Only" in red, capital letters.
Finally, a hut sits three metres away from the lifeguard chair, the beach house and the recycling bin. That's where the residents of all ages and species go to get a refill, a refreshing drink or a mouth-watering cocktail. If anyone is parched or thirsty, it's convenient for him or her and it's accessible. Currently, it's closed due to induction and lifeguard training.
That's weird… I thought Gildas would be here. He said so himself. I suppose he'll show up later today. He wondered to himself in his mind, recalling Gildas's last sentence from yesterday before he made his way back to the Stone Hill portal and leaving him in the company of the three ailing baby dragons.
Due to the humid hotness and the tropical heat wave, they were too much for him to handle that he was on the verge of passing out. It was bad enough his fever was going from bad to worse and the sweltering temperature of this vacation spot was increasing the temperature of his fever on his forehead.
Because of lifeguard training, Dragon Shores was actually deserted and not a single creature or talking animal is occupying the beach. Dragon Shores doesn't actually open until the training sessions have ended and a certain number of employees have been recruited onto the lifeguard team. Clearly, the inhabitants have been notified and will fill up the entire beach by the time the new employees were fully trained.
"AH… AHH… AHHH… AHHHH… AH-CHOOOOOOOOO!" He placed a claw over his snout, threw back his head and forced out air abruptly and raucously at the same time as he thrust his head forward, a gush of red-hot, roasting fire and a great deal of perfectly repulsive snot were sent forward from his snout. "Where the heck is everyone?" He weakly muttered, regaining his posture after an ear-splitting, dissonant sneeze after he snivelled at full volume.
His question was answered when he saw two, dragonesque figures on the horizon that are approaching him. The black silhouette on the left appeared to be much taller than the one on the right; its height and size are identical to him but slightly a couple of feet shorter.
With every step they make, the two strangers are coming up to him closer and closer, leaving a trail of paw prints behind them in the sand. Since the sand was remarkably soft and incredibly uneven, the paw prints are still left within the surface as if they are permanently there, similar to a sophisticated, decorative ink print imprinted enduringly on a blank, white piece of paper. By the time they were within Spyro's vision, they brought their walking to a halt and stayed there, a few feet away from him.
The first dragon seems to be just as tall as the other adult dragons in the Dragon Realms and he's in the middle-age generation. Just like peers of the realm, a rugged beard was visible around his chin and upper part of his adult-sized face. His red scales covered all of his well-built body and his outsized wings were stretched out to a greater extent that was made for flying long distances. His wings are in a lighter tint of crimson with scarlet webbing, his underbelly was ochre and his colossal talons are black. In contrast to his scales, his four, burgundy horns are sticking upwards and his eyes are hazel. Numerous cherry-coloured spines started from the back of his head and ended at his claret-coloured, spade-shaped tip of his tail. In comparison to Delbin, his scaly face, eyebrows, jaws and snout are in a colourless hue of red and are in parallel to Delbin's features on his face.
The second dragon was a similar size to Spyro but he's a few feet shorter and he's a quadruped as in able to stand on four feet. His whole body is covered in grey scales, his wingspan was identical to his colleague and his medium-sized, golden horns were curved back. His underbelly was in a paler shade of white and so were his extremely small talons, his wings were yellow with dark grey webbing and his eyes were sky blue. His muzzle, scaly face, eyebrows and maw were all in similar sizes in parallel to his workmate's reptilian lips, eyebrows, face and nose. On the other hand, his small, golden spines went from the back of his head and extend to the gold, arrow-shaped tip on his tail and he doesn't have any large spines that resembled a mohawk, unlike his cold-stricken co-worker.
I-Is th-that who I think it is? I swear I've seen or heard him before. He's the hero on everyone's lips these days 'cause he's famous for wipin' the floor with Gnasty Gnorc and restoring order to the Dragon Realms. Bu-But i-it co-couldn't be him, could it? The small, grey-coloured dragon's eyes expanded to an outsized size and his jaw dropped at the sight of the heroic purple protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds standing right before him. It's his lifelong dream or desire to meet Spyro, he definitely heard stories about his daring deeds and amazing adventures but he never had a chance to actually meet him.
"I see you must be here to be enrolled onto my lifeguard squad, is this correct?" The first dragon asked in a refined tone of voice, he extended his claw towards his new employee just like how bosses usually greet their brand-new workers.
Without any hesitation, Spyro graciously offered his purple claw to shake his manager's immense claw. "Yeah, that's why I'm here." He answered in a hoarse, rasping voice, simply nodding to his employer's question even as he gazed upwards and fixed his eyes on him. Due to the fact that his manager was much taller than him, it's hard to tell what colour his eyes, horns, wings, talons and scales are.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Stanley and I am your employer." Stanley introduced himself in a polite manner to the poorly, purple dragon just like he did to his other employee, who arrived numerous hours ago in the morning. "Hmm… you're not very familiar but I might have heard of you. Do you have a sensible reason why you're late?" He instantly changed his tone of voice to one of strictness at his last sentence as he sternly glowered at his worker for his tardiness, his unsympathetic eyes pierced straight into his innocent, purple eyes.
Seeing as the courageous but strong, purple dragon isn't the type of guy to tell fibs, he gave his well-spoken, strict boss an apologetic frown. He knew lying isn't going to get him out of the conversation so he had no choice but to tell the truth. "Sorry. I overslept and the flier didn't say what time I have to go to my interview. Heck, I didn't even know there was one!"
Unfortunately, the manager towered over the denizen, teenage hero and stared down at him sternly in spite of the truth he received. The volume of his voice was increasing to the limit and his tone kept changing with every word that escaped from his giant maw. The only thing he absolutely loathed the most is his workers turning up very late, either with a good excuse or not. "This is no excuse for your tardiness, this is unacceptable! How disrespectful, this is a disgrace to my employees and I! However… seeing as it is your first time, I will give you a chance. Normally, I dismiss anyone who is awfully late to the interviews but I'll make this an exception. I hope your skills and abilities are better than your punctuality because they are vital to employ them in your responsibilities as a lifeguard."
"But it wasn't my fault! How was I supposed to know there's an interview? I didn't know I had to wake up ea—"
"How dare you talk back to me! In all my years as an employer, I never met an impudent, juvenile delinquent such as you giving me cheek! Furthermore, if there are any infractions of any kind or if your work is inadequate, your employment is terminated. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal clear. Wasn't there supposed to be an interview for me to attend?"
After a small number of seconds has passed, Stanley gave a huge sigh and his face softened after going into several minutes of rants, putting his mind at ease. "Fortunately for you, there are no interviews due to the huge stack of paperwork waiting for me in the office. How discourteous of me, where are my manners? I almost forgot to introduce you to our other new recruit." He motioned his head in the grey-skinned, winged reptile's direction, showing the purple protagonist who he's referring to. "This young man over there is Smokey, he will be your colleague and he will be present on the following days, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday each week at 9 o'clock in the morning. You'll be attending here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week at 9 o'clock in the morning as well. You will be absent on Tuesday, Thursday and the weekends every week and your colleague is not present on the days you are attending. I'll leave you both acquainted, your trainer will arrive shortly."
And with that, he walked off to the far right of the beach that stretches out to other parts of Dragon Shores, leaving his two employees alone to become friendly with each other, be accustomed to what the seashore has to offer and wait patiently for their trainer to make his appearance. Even though he has completely left their sight after one or two minutes, not a single word has spoken and neither of them made a single movement. Supposing they are kind of petrified in his presence or they are shy to start a conversation, in order to befriend each other.
In contrast to the stingy, unkind manager, Smokey felt sorry for the celebrated, golden-horned defender and strolled in a laid-back manner to his direction. Noticing his colleague feeling down in the dumps while he had his hunched back facing him, he decided to stand by him to console and relieve him off of what happened previously by looking into his saddened, tearful eyes. "Hey… don't let our boss get you down on your first day, I think he's always like that to employees. He can be really strict whenever people are late. Anyway, he already told you my name so what's yours?"
Spyro turned his head to meet his friendly gaze and a kind-hearted smile broadened across Spyro's purple, reptilian lips, he felt welcomed and at ease after getting a scolding from his strict manager and from what's been through with his horrible cold ever since last night. "I'm Spyro."
The instant he heard the familiar name, Smokey jumped backwards in absolute astonishment and the volume of his voice increased to the utmost level. To him, it was an incredible and unimaginable feeling to meet the famous, undisputed saviour of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds in person. He felt like he's going to faint from total amazement and overwhelmed with the emotions he's undergoing at this moment. "NO WAY! Th-That's impossible! You-You're THE Spyro?"
Spyro purely nodded in response to his colleague's amazed but euphoric reaction, he forced a toothy, draconic smile to make himself feel better and trying to express his happiness but to no avail as he felt a ticklish, irritating sensation in his lungs. Just as he expected, an uninterrupted, unrelenting sequence of hacking coughs and dry coughs were expelled from his reptilian lips, he covered his mouth with his front, left claw to stop any repulsive germs and bacteria from spreading and infecting any unsuspecting victims close by. After a bout of coughing, he took a deep breath and then exhaled in mere seconds before clearing his throat to relieve himself.
Since Smokey was slightly sidetracked and left awestruck due to personally meet the hero he always admired, he barely noticed Spyro feeling under the weather and still stricken with an terrible cold.
To make sure he wasn't dreaming, Smokey's voice once again elevated to the highest volume while he smiled a toothy, draconic grin in a fanatical manner. His question nearly sounded like an angry outburst or as if he's truly shouting at the top of his lungs and his eyes lit up with excitement and eagerness. "The same Spyro who kicked Gnasty Gnorc's big, fat, ugly butt and single-handedly saved all the worlds of the Dragon Realms?"
Spyro nodded for the second time to his workmate's question that nearly sounded like an outburst, the way the overexcited, grey-scaled dragon shouted out his sentence. "Yep, the one and the same. Well… not exactly single-handedly, Sparx helped me too. He helped me through a lot of tough situations and he protects me whenever the enemies attack me, taking the hits for me and changing colours. We're the best of friends and we've been like that since our childhood."
"How come he's not with you this time?"
"He's—" When Spyro was just going to answer his co-worker's curious question, he felt something is tickling his teeny nostrils uncomfortably and had the urge to sneeze. He delicately moved a claw over his nose, drew back his head and expelled air suddenly, involuntarily and noisily at the same time as he thrust his head forward, a burst of scorching, searing fire and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot were sent forward from his snout. "AH-CHOOOOOOOO!"
"Gesundheit." Smokey mumbled, taken aback from the unexpected, blaring sneeze and cautiously shifting his eyes in Spyro's direction. Now noticing the excess of water overflowing in Spyro's eyes as if he's actually crying and his red nose that was leaking fluid like a mountain stream after a big thunderstorm, Smokey couldn't help but fret over his poorly workmate. Then, the youthful, grey-coloured dragon promptly pushed a hankie into the hero's front, right claw. "Uh… you're not sick, are you?"
Spyro feebly shook his head to his colleague's question, he mouthed a "thank you" before he graciously received the paper handkerchief and blew his nose violently. "It's just a little cold, I'll be all right. Don't worry about me." He weakly smiled at a worried Smokey, who was still shocked and traumatized from the sudden expulsion. "It's not a big deal to fret over me about." This was followed by a hacking cough that doubled him over and caused him to stumble towards the short, grey-scaled boy of a dragon. Luckily, he managed to hold on to the cold-stricken, purple protagonist with one of his claws, in order to prevent his fellow worker from collapsing to the sand.
In all his life, Smokey had never witnessed a celebrity saviour like Spyro going down with a mild sickness. Becoming ill with a cold or the flu is one thing but nearly falling down to the sand after a nasty hacking cough is another. "Geez… I've never seen a celebrity hero like you getting sick before."
Still feeling weak in the knees, Spyro gazed at his traumatized, fretful workmate with sickly, half-opened eyes in a non-drowsy mood, a few rasping wheezes were forced out of his reptilian gullet before he had the chance to exchange a few words. "Everyone gets sick sometimes, even heroes."
"First time for everything, huh?"
"No, my—" Spyro stopped in mid-sentence when another hacking cough abruptly eject from his mouth; it was even louder and rougher than his previous cough. He made a small amount of harsh, hacking sounds and he cleared his throat, in an attempt to relieve himself. "My immune system is strong so I rarely catch colds, I'm really not used to something like this."
"And here I thought you can handle everything." Smokey quickly sat down on the uneven, yellow-tan coloured sand and crossed his arms (or rather his front legs), he rolled his eyes in a sarcastic fashion. For a hero who can take on anything in any world, he's really pathetic in handling a simple illness.
"I'm not immune to everything, y'know."
"I suppose that's true but shouldn't you stay in bed? I don't understand why you're here if you're not feeling like yourself."
During Smokey's remark, an uncontrollable fit of hacking coughs escaped Spyro's reptilian lips without warning as he covered them with one of his claws as he was coughing harder and at an alarmingly fast pace. Each cough was getting noisier and horribly by the minute. They were so strident, they rendered the teenage, grey dragon's comment inaudible and unheard as if he's muffling his words.
"Spyro! Are you okay?" Smokey shouted in alarm, the volume in his voice increased to its highest as his eyes grew huge at the sight of his colleague suffering from a coughing fit. He quickly rushed to the cold-stricken hero's aid and stood by his side, rubbing his back up and down continually to calm down and console him. "Take it easy, Spyro, just take it easy."
All Smokey could do was to watch Spyro constantly coughing for more minutes on end. To calm his hacking coughs, he sat down on the sand before withdrawing a transparent bottle of refreshing, crystal clear water from his purple bag, turning the circular lid clockwise and took a sip. He felt the cool, thirst-quenching liquid making its way down his lungs until it reached his stomach before he sighed deeply, relieved from his bout of coughs.
Everything fell silent, except for the occasional one or two mucus coughs that were expelled abruptly and noisily from Spyro's fiery lungs; they weren't as deafeningly as his previous coughs. He had recovered from his coughing fit while Smokey managed to keep his posture after feeling a bit shaken from the persistent hacking coughs blaring unbearably through his unseen ears. They avoided eye contact for five minutes right until he opened his mouth to break the awkward silence between the teenage dragons.
After that disconcerting experience, this was all Smokey could come out with in utter dismay, he wasn't used to seeing his purple-scaled workmate suffering from a bout of consecutive coughs and this was all new to him. "Whoa! What was that all about earlier? You were coughing like crazy!"
Still feeling dehydrated; Spyro took another swig from his translucent water bottle, placed the spherical lid back on, twisted it counter clockwise to close the bottle firmly and slipped it into his bag. Due to having opposable thumbs, he sometimes has trouble with opening, closing and holding his bottle every time he needs a drink. "It's just a coughing fit, Smokey. I'm assuming whenever I get sick, it sometimes happens after my sleep, when I'm talking too much or laughing a lot." He sickly frowned as he explained to his colleague what he's going through when it comes to becoming ill with a cold.
I guess it makes sense why he's coughing like that; he's been chatting to me a lot. Smokey thought to himself, numerous reminiscences of Spyrosuffering from an unmanageable fit of hacking coughs flowed into his mind as he imagined them clearly and each of those recollections were played one by one like a slideshow. He gritted his white, sharp teeth, grimacing from previously letting those disconcert, unsettling coughs ringing in his unnoticeable ears before putting them out of his mind as he managed to speak again. "…Does it happen all the time?"
A chain of rough, hacking sounds erupted from Spyro's fiery lungs as he moved a clenched claw to his reptilian lips and cleared his throat before he replied to his concerned colleague. "Nope. When I'm not sick, I don't suffer from coughing fits and sneezing fits. Actually, I don't know if I get sneezing fits." He continued to explain to him about his coughing fits and a probable sneezing fit.
"You really ought to see a doctor. You don't sound so good, let alone feel so good."
"Smokey, I'm fourteen years old. I'm fine; I don't need to see a doctor. I'm capable of looking after myself." Spyro assured, trying to reassure his workmate in an attempt to set his mind at rest whilst the cold-stricken purple dragon's voice was a bit croaky as he spoke through his blocked nose and he faintly smiled.
"Yeah, right." Smokey wasn't convinced, he rolled his eyes sarcastically and not believing his newfound friend was going to be okay without visiting a doctor. His expression instantly changed to an unsmiling face while he talked some sense into the fourteen-year-old, dragon hero. "The way I see it, you're going to suffer from a lot more than coughing and sneezing if you don't take a trip to the doctor's soon."
Still feeling confident that he'll be all right despite his mild sickness, Spyro reluctantly gave in as he exhaled noisily in an unwilling manner and grumble inaudibly under his breath. Whether he likes it or not, he has no choice to pay a quick visit to the doctor's later on. "Fine. But can it wait 'til my shift is over?"
"Sure! Besides, I'm tellin' you this for your own good. An apple a day, keeps the doctor away."
"Whatever." Spyro muttered, dismissing the helpful phrase from his co-worker and not caring one bit. He lightened up to a little extent but his expression changed from an unenthusiastic one to a stern, serious face, getting to the matter at hand. If everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds realised he's one of the new lifeguards of Dragon Shores and his minor illness, he'll never live this down and his secrets are exposed. "Promise me to not blab this and don't spout stuff about me being a lifeguard to the citizens of the Dragon Realms, okay? I want to keep this a secret and I don't want them to take this news seriously or freak out if they find out I'm ill."
When it comes to keeping secrets, Smokey was the right dragon to trust and put a large quantity of faith into. He knew the consequences might be serious and unruly if he blabbed the secrets to each civilian in the three worlds, the consequences are just as horrific as letting his cold-stricken chum down or being disloyal to him. "Your secret's safe with me, Spyro. Don't worry your little scaly head about it, I won't tell a soul about it." He lightly placed a paw on one of his mate's wings as his lips curled up into a reassuring and uplifting smile on his reptilian face.
"Thanks, I feel a little bit better already."
"Don't mention it, that's what lifeguards do. We help each other out when one of us is feelin' down or if there's somethin' wrong on the beach." Smokey grinned, his smile extended from the left corner of his lips to the right corner. He all of a sudden had a curiosity of why his colleague is taking up a job as a part-time lifeguard in the first place, trying his best to dig deeper to find the answers. "So… you're being a lifeguard just to hide from prying eyes, the paparazzi and the media?" He never saw the famed purple dragon's point of view so obviously; he had no idea that there are downsides to being famous and attracting attention. "I thought you love bein' famous and bein' in the public eye." His voice lowered down the instant his words left his mouth as he showed displeasure in his scaly, grey-tinted face.
A series of hacking coughs were inconveniently let out from Spyro's maw, just before he had a chance to reply. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his mouth with his front, left claw, his coughs made loud and rough sounds simultaneously. Whenever he coughs, his lungs hurts so much from how bad his hacking coughs are. After a five seconds bout of hacking coughs, he opened his eyes, removed his claw from his small jaws, and cleared his throat before giving a lengthy reason. "I enjoy defending the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds on a daily basis, rescuing and saving the residents and being in the limelight but I sometimes miss just being normal, not having to worry about any villain wrecking havoc and causing mayhem in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds and tons of heroic responsibilities weighing on my wings. Ever since I whupped Gnasty's heinie, the interviewers were constantly asking me questions and I hardly had some privacy."
Deciding to switch the subject and move on with his conversation with the cold-stricken protagonist, Smokey somehow pulled out a rectangular-shaped autograph book out of nowhere that was in a paler shade of grey in contrast to the colour of his scaly skin and the book was full of white, blank paper and a pen that was in a similar colour. "Since you're still here, can I have your autograph?"
"Sure. I don't see any harm in doing it, anyway." Spyro shrugged, he received the autograph book in his left claw and the pen in the other while he responded in a good-natured tone and smiled a toothy draconic grin at him, he was a teensy bit cheered up from his mild ailment. He flipped the book open to the first page in a laid-back manner and he calmly signed his name in his own handwriting, his writing was printed on the flimsy surface of the paper. He finally finished doing his signature in the neatest he could in mere seconds and handed the book as well as the pen back to his overjoyed, ecstatic colleague. "Here ya go."
Utterly over the moon and thrilled to bits after his autograph book and pen returned to him and had been given an autograph by Spyro, Smokey cuddled them to his chest with his wings, his right wing was on top of his left one as he jumped up and down in delight like a jumping bean. "Thanks, Spyro. Awesome! This will go nicely in my room and I'll treasure it for years to come!"
Spyro sighed while his eyes were following his over excited workmate's every move, constantly looking up and down whilst he bounced endlessly. Given that the purple dragon is practically almost present on the seashore each week, he didn't think seeing a celeb such as him in the flesh is a big deal. "Chill out, Smokey. It's not like it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see me. I'm always here every week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, remember?"
After what seemed like a few seconds has passed, the grey-coloured, winged teenager decreased his hopping to a minimum the instant he heard those words from the unenthusiastic, fourteen-year-old saviour until the moment he completely stopped. "Unless you couldn't make it to work 'cause of your cold."
"I'm sure Dragon Shores can survive without me if I'm taking any days off 'cause of my sickness but the rest of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds… not so much. If the residents can take care of themselves, I bet they can live on with or without me."
The chat between the teenaged dragons was disrupted when they turned to the sounds of adult-sized, heavy footsteps approaching. All they can make out was a tall, dragonesque silhouette drawing near them with every step he makes but he was too far away to look closer. It didn't take the instructor long to arrive at a certain spot in mere minutes and he stood there, facing his new recruits.
Looking up close, he appears to be in the same age group as Tomas and his height was identical to him but obviously, he was much older than the pubescent, winged reptiles. To his peers and his friends, he's known as Daniel and he was recognised for his occupation as a qualified instructor to coach lifeguards-in-training.
He's about the same height as the adult dragons and his scales are aqua. As for his underbelly, it's a glorious, dark green, the colour of the ocean itself and he has a wingspan the size of the beach. Speaking of his wings, they are aquamarine with webbing that is in an oceanic colour. His teeny talons are white that stand out against his underbelly, wide wings and scales. His eyes are light blue, which sort of matches with the other colours and his short, curly horns are in a marine-like colour. His tiny, turquoise spines began from the back of his cranium to the end of his water-like coloured, teardrop-shaped tip of his tail. Lastly, his eyebrows, snout, jaws, claws, arms and legs are equivalent sizes, heights and widths to Nestor. Just like Stanley and the other dragon elders, he was capable of standing erect on his hind feet. Due to his appearance, he was born in Dragon Shores and lived a bit further away from the seaside, its summery landscape and its tropical climate.
"Hmm… only you lads? I reckon there should be more employees but I suppose that's a start. The name's Daniel and I am your trainer, teaching you the ways of being a qualified lifeguard." He didn't waste any time but to introduce himself to his inexperienced trainees after taking a dim view of the number of employees, making a comment about this matter. Telling by his draconic, toothy grin, it was a pleasure for him to meet new faces on the first day. "So, you are…?" He asked the nearest dragon teen in an encouraging and inquiring voice to say his name.
"My name is Smokey, I'm thirteen years old." Smokey greeted, introducing himself to his coach as he beamed in the nicest wide smile he can do. Geez… he's a lot nicer than our boss. It was the only thing that crossed his mind right now; he had a feeling that the instructor is much kinder and open-minded in comparison to his stern and unsympathetic boss.
"The age doesn't matter when it comes to an occupation like this, as long as you're appropriate for the job." When Daniel's eyes fell on Spyro, his tone of voice instantly changed from an instructive tone to a friendly, receptive timbre, recognising the teenage, purple-eyed fire-breather as the well-known hero of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. "Ahhhh… so we have a celebrity here, gracing us with his presence."
"He's referring to you." Smokey took the liberty of leaning over and whispering softly in Spyro's direction, after hearing their instructor's sociable, open-minded comment.
Agreeing with his colleague's remark, Spyro simply nodded in spite of his hidden ears are blocked-up, hinting that they were infected due to one of the symptoms of his bad cold. He partly listened to his workmate's words but managed to hear them exactly whilst he spoke softly back. "I know. It's like as if everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds recognises me before they even ask me who I am."
"Almost everyone, don't you mean? Our employer hardly knows who you are."
Overseeing the discussion between his trainees, Daniel had the liberty to interrupt their conversation. Sure, it's pleasurable to see them getting along but it will distract them from their rigorous training sessions and the induction. With an amused smirk slowly visible across his reptilian lips and cocking an eyebrow at them, he crossed his arms whilst tapping impatiently on the sand with one hefty foot and pretending to lose his patience. "I see you two enjoy each other's company. Do I have to separate you boys?"
"No, sir." Spyro and Smokey concurrently said, immediately shaking their heads at a fast pace. They thought they were getting into deep trouble for discussing in the middle of the orientation as soon as they heard those words escape from their instructor's reasonably enormous jaws.
"However, I'm glad you two are getting along and are getting to know each other 'cause you need to when it comes to working as a team."
Right at this minute, the dragon teens exchanged a glance in a perplexed fashion. They were completely at a loss, never realising cooperation was crucial and one of the key factors of their soon-to-be job. Spyro raised an eyebrow with a 'Since when do we need teamwork?' kind of face at Smokey, who shrugged his front paws with a 'How the heck should I know?' type of expression.
"For some tasks, teamwork is required in order to keep the peace on the beach and to make sure everyone is all right." Daniel continued his lecture concerning teamwork and cooperation. Draped over his shoulders are beach bags that are perfect for his trainees' sizes, one bag over each shoulder. Both bags were crammed with equipment but not all of them. After he finished his sentence, he carefully slipped a bag over Spyro's head and another over Smokey's scaly skull. "Which is why you'll need these walkie talkies to keep in touch if trouble arises or if you notice anything suspicious."
To save the new recruits some time, he hurriedly pushed a black walkie talkie in the purple-scaled, fire-breathing juvenile's second bag which was chock full of equipment and shoved another one in the thirteen year old, grey-skinned teen's other bag of lifeguard apparatus so he can resume his lecture.
"Since you defend the Dragon Realms and help the inhabitants on a daily basis, I'm positive you'll be a natural at being a lifeguard, right Spyro?" He keenly enquired; a draconic, toothy grin was noticeable across his lips extending from the left corner to the right corner. He asked the 14 year old, purple fire-breather just to be sure he was right about the hero's experiences as the protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds will be essential for the job and the training sessions.
"AH-CHOO!" Spyro threw back his head and lunge it forward, forcing air coming out from his snout, followed by a gush of smouldering, blazing flames and snot as he covered his nose with a handkerchief and reducing it to a pile of smouldering ash, in the process. "Yeah. That's great and all but I don't have the experience of being a lifeguard."
"So much for using a tissue." Smokey moved the right corner of his lips, muttering his short sentence wordlessly as he witnessed the paper handkerchief being barbecued to a mound of black cinders.
The instructor grimaced and cringed, in reaction to Spyro's startling sneeze. The sneeze almost thrown the coach off balance and he wasn't expecting an abrupt expulsion coming from any of the new recruits, especially from the adolescent, golden-horned, purple-scaled dragon. "Bless you, Spyro. That's why I'm here to instruct both of you and provide you boys some training, tips and advice."
"Before we begin our training session, your equipment, a well stocked first aid kit rescue aids, a manual about being a lifeguard, rulebook, megaphone, surfboard, binoculars and whistle are essential so have them with you at all times. Most importantly, you each wear a swimsuit to represent yourselves as highly-trained lifeguards and our team." Daniel carried on rambling on about what his trainees need to make use of in their occupations as part-time lifeguards and how to prepare themselves when the goings get tough. "And I almost forgot, the rest of the equipment are located inside this watch tower which you will both be sharing." He indicated a 3-dimensional, rectangular-shaped watch tower located on the right side of the lifeguard chair and a surfboard with a single talon. "Your surfboard is lying by the chair over there, Spyro. As for yours Smokey, I will find it right away."
Without saying another word, he departed from the very spot he was standing at, allowing the reptilian, winged teens to exchange innumerable words once again like a pair of friends and colleagues. There's no doubt about it that he'll no longer be in their line of vision for the time being and take his sweet time to return to his boys.
A couple of metres away was Spyro's surfboard, lying against the left side of the white lifeguard chair in a slanted position that he and Smokey will be sharing during their shifts. The chair was basically the right size for either of them to sit on it, being on the lookout and overlooking the seaside, the sea and making sure everything is all right. The surfboard is red, due to the fact lifeguards wear red all the time, a fiery design of red, orange and yellow flames was shown at the bottom and the back was purple, in a shade similar to Spyro's scales.
"…Wow." It was all he could say while he set his sights on his surfboard in the distance, it was made for him to use in his part-time job and training sessions. "There is no way I'm using that, I don't have what it takes to ride the waves." He frowned, refusing to believe that he'll be able to master a new extreme sport by the time he's done with the intensive training. A skateboarder and snowboarder he may be, but a surfboarder… he's not. I'm sure surfing isn't all that bad; it's just like skateboarding and snowboarding in the Forgotten Worlds… right? He thought to himself, vaguely remembering his days in the Forgotten Worlds. "I'm a fighter, not a surfboarder." He bluntly uttered those words; this kind of phrase was the first thing that came to his mind.
"Says the protector who kicks bad guy booty most of his life." Smokey remarked half-jokingly, he crossed his front legs (or his arms) and raised a grey, scaly eyebrow at the poorly, purple protagonist quizzically. "Shouldn't you be the one who's determined to take on anything the world throws at you?" From the tales he listened to from his peers and the residents, he always assumed Spyro is this almighty hero who faces any complicated challenges or tricky tasks head-on and stand up to any villain who dares to mess with him or lay waste to the Dragon Realms, Avalar or the Forgotten Worlds.
Spyro opened his mouth to speak as if he was about to retort but not a single word fell out of his reptilian lips. He instantly closed his maw before he actually spoke. "C'mon, let's get change into our swimsuits before our trainer comes back."
After a small number of hours have passed, the pair of soon-to-be lifeguards returned to the warmth of the beach. The only thing that's different about the adolescent, winged dragons is what they are wearing. The stifling, airless heat wave and the high temperature remained the same at Dragon Shores. Then again, the weather and the temperature differ during the night compared to how it was now in the daytime. Spyro already explained this to Macy in the amusement park in the midst of their roller coaster ride after the seemingly defeat of the Sorceress, a couple of years ago.
Spyro wore a red, waterproof swimsuit that conceals his purple scales and light yellow underbelly and a whistle that was suspended from a purple string tied around his neck. A pair of sunspecs is over his eyes to make him look cool and to sort of hide him from the public, the media, the interviewers (especially Bob) and the paparazzi.
On the other hand, Smokey was fully clad in a water-resistant swimming suit that was in a similar shade of red to his co-worker's beachwear and a silver whistle that was dangling from a dark grey piece of fabric and it is fastened around his neck. Unlike his cold-stricken colleague, he didn't bring a pair of dark glasses with him. He might require them to shield his eyes from the sweltering, scorching sunbeams but not to conceal himself from the population, the press, the media, the interviewers and the paparazzi.
"This swimsuit makes me look weird." Spyro was the first one to complain about his watertight swimsuit before his fellow worker could grumble about his own.
"That's 'cause we never wear clothes. I think we put on swimming suits to represent ourselves as lifeguards." Smokey stated, in a matter-of-fact kind of tone. He already knew the answer to why the purple-scaled, teenage dragon felt awkward with wearing a piece of clothing; because of the fact dragons hardly wear clothes. Noticing that his new friend has gotten quiet, he spoke up to break the sudden silence. "Somethin' on your mind, Spyro?"
Spyro's thoughts were interrupted like a daydream being disrupted; he shook his scaly, little head to get himself back into reality before turning his attention to his colleague. As far as he's concerned, his friends, allies and enemies will be having a hard time of recognising him due to sporting a red swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. They'll probably mistake him for a normal, typical lifeguard being on duty. "Erm… I'm just wondering if my friends will recognise me."
"I'm guessin' it will be hard for them to recognise you 'cause—" Smokey immediately stopped in full flow of his sentence when he caught a glimpse of a pair of sunglasses that were positioned over the purple-scaled, golden-horned juvenile's eyes. His face wore an expression of awe and amazement; he opened his mouth very wide and his eyes suddenly bulge out, they were large as chinaware dishes. He didn't spot the tinted lenses earlier since he was too caught up in his conversation. "Whoa! Where'd you get those shades from?"
Spyro pushed his sunglasses downwards so that they rested on his snout and are underneath his eyes. "I had these since my second interview with Bob and the interviewers after I recovered all the dragon eggs, rescued each imprisoned dragon and collected every gem in the Dragon Realms. From what I recalled, the interview was in Dark Hallow during the night." As he finished his sentence, he pulled his sunglasses over his eyes to protect them from the unforgiving, boiling rays of the sun.
He then proceeded to let out a series of raucous hacking coughs from his reptilian lips; he covered his mouth with his right claw to prevent any disgusting germs from spreading. His coughs are small and frequent, usually short and dry. They are also broken coughs with rough and loud sounds. After a short period of harsh, hacking coughs, he removed his claw from his miniature maw and gently placed it down on the sandy surface beneath his feet.
"Besides, they are unaware that our celeb hero is gonna be one of the newest lifeguards of Dragon Shores and…" Smokey grinned, starting off his sentence after carrying on from where he left off from his conversation with the undeniable protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds.
"…And the fact that I'm sick with a dreadful cold." Spyro swiftly finished Smokey's sentence before he moved a clenched claw to his scaly lips and a few mucus coughs were let out from his miniature mouth after an uncomfortable sensation was tickling his throat and it was getting on his nerves.
"Um… not the words I was goin' for but yeah… the correct words to say about how you're feelin' right now."
Their chat instantly ended when they heard heavy, hefty footsteps approaching and the sounds from beneath his gigantic paws were getting louder by the minute. It turns out that Daniel was drawing near his trainees, carrying some sort of odd shape in his left arm that appears to be another surfboard. Since it's kind of heavy, it took him quite a while to reach the young dragons. As he made his journey, a long trail of large claw prints or paw prints were left in the soft, sandy sand. It was so soft they actually stayed there unless the freezing, chilly waves lap farther up the sand or coming in from the incredibly frozen ocean. His travelling draws to a close when he stopped at his destination where his apprentices were waiting for him. He was on the opposite side of them before conversing once more.
"Here's your surfboard, Smokey. I'm sorry for keeping you boys waiting, I hope you two aren't bored with standing there and doing nothing." He flashed a pleasurable, sociable smile as if he's about to burst out laughing or into a chain of chuckles mostly in Smokey's direction since he turned his attention to him before carefully setting the surfboard next to him in a upright position as well as chatting with him and poorly, purple-scaled protector of the three worlds.
Smokey's surfboard appearance is different, compared to the young, purple dragon's surfboard. What they have in common is that they are both have the same colour at the front since lifeguards have a tendency of wearing red and at the back, it's in a similar tint of grey to his scales. The design is in a form of a dark grey smoke that almost concealed the background entirely. The smoke started from the bottom of the board and curled its way upward in numerous, elaborate coils and wormed its way to the top. The motif is just there to represent his personality, traits and characteristics.
"Er… no!" Smokey hastily exclaimed, he speedily shook his head to his trainer's comment as if he actually did something wrong or something to offend him. "We're gettin' to know each other more."
"Ahhhh… now that's good to hear. The key to teamwork and cooperation is friendship. Without that bond, you two won't get far in this occupation."
Before Daniel could continue with his speaking and his lectures, another round of strident, hacking coughs ensued as each cough sounded louder and worse by the second as Spyro covered his small jaws with one of his claws and coughed harder. His coughs made loud and rough sounds simultaneously. With every cough expelled from his lips, they brought a sequence of shivers and nerve-racking chills to Smokey's and the instructor's spines, due to how disturbing the coughs sound.
Our celebrity hero getting sick? I thought I'd never see the day! Hmm… this is very worrying. Daniel was lost in his own thoughts as he witnessed Spyro in so much pain from his persistent hacking coughs. He never saw the purple protagonist falling ill before so this was very new to him. In his point of view, Spyro rarely succumbs to a cold or the flu seeing as his immune system is strong and well protected so the trainer is not used to seeing something like this. "I hope you're not coming down with something, Spyro." He tried his best to speak over the cold-stricken hero's constant coughing but it wasn't easy due to how noisy they are. "Because I don't want to catch the same thing you've got."
Before he answered his instructor, only two hacking coughs left Spyro's reptilian lips as he covered his mouth with one of his claws. Compared to how hard he coughed earlier, the two hacking coughs weren't as loud as they were several seconds ago. "No, I'm fine. I can take care of myself." He assured his instructor, as he spoke even his own words convinced himself that he's feeling okay. So much for keeping my secrets a secret. Great, just great, now my trainer knows that I'm sick. He sighed disappointingly; sooner or later every citizen in the three worlds will know that he has fallen ill.
"Are you sure? If you're really feeling unwell, you can always go home and rest." Daniel advised, his voice was filled with worry and he felt a lot of sympathy towards the poorly, purple protagonist. "Smokey will be your understudy… or rather your substitute, he'll temporarily replace you until you've recovered from your illness." He went on with explaining what will happen during the cold-stricken hero's absence, knowing that going home is one of the best ways to recover and rest. "I'll speak with our employer concerning your sickness and our situation."
Suddenly recollecting the lectures relating to cooperation and friendship, the grey-skinned, thirteen year old dragon instantly gotten panicky and became fretful, hating the idea of being on duty by himself and guarding the beach. The more work and tasks that are given to him, the more pressure will be put on him. If Spyro was on sick leave, it will be problematic to keep up with the duties on hand. "Wait a sec! When you mentioned some stuff about companionship and teamwork, how am I gonna look after the beach without Spyro?"
"Sadly, as a result of the less amount of employees, I hate to say that you'll have no choice but to watch over Dragon Shores without your colleague as well as being responsible for everybody's safety and tending to their needs."
Upon hearing this from his lifeguard coach, the littlest, purple dragon drape one of his undersized wings around his workmate's pint-sized body as his way to comfort him and causing him to briefly look into his eyes. "You don't need to worry, I'll stay put and we'll help each other out."
However, Smokey disagreed with his pigheaded chum's decision, his tone of voice now became stern while he attempted to talk some sense into him in order to change his mind. He walked away from the cosiness of the golden-horned, purple-scaled fire-breather's wing until he stood on the opposite side of him, face-to-face. "Okay, now, you're bein' stubborn. You're in no condition to work, much less stay on the seashore. Your cold will worsen, the more you hang around here."
In spite of reasoning with the dragon hero, Spyro refused to head back home to get plenty of bed rest no matter how unpleasant the consequences may be if he didn't. He tried to raise his voice without straining it and he glowered in Smokey's direction, who glared heatedly right back at him. "I've been through way worse things than a little cold, I think I can cope with it."
The two teenage dragons were giving a hostile look at each other as if they were having a staring contest and they weren't blinking their eyes for minutes without end. Before the squabble could escalate and spiral out of control, Daniel stepped in the middle of them and stretched his arms outwards as his method of attempting to separate them for a while.
"Now, now, boys. Let's not argue. This is not team spirit." He firmly glanced at the disagreeing dragons as he shook his head in displeasure, reminding them about one of the important factors of being a part-time lifeguard and arguing is a major no-no when it comes to this occupation. Once he shifted his attention to Spyro, he heaved a sigh before lowering his voice as he narrowed his eyes at the words, "But I'm warning you; you may catch something more horrible than a cold if you don't reconsider.", giving him some words of warning. "I guess I can't stop you but if you want to stay on the beach, by all means. But I'm warning you; you may catch something more horrible than a cold if you don't reconsider. I'll give you some time to think this over, Spyro. In the meantime, let's begin our training session." His voice instantaneously returned to normal at his last two sentences after he "threatened" him if he doesn't heed the dangers. It's not really a danger to the extreme but his cold will take a turn for the worse if he doesn't go on sick leave.
Spyro gulped uneasily. Not only the warning was daunting him, he still has his nasty cold to deal with which will make things harder for him during training sessions and in the upcoming days, rendering him immobilized and weak. To top it all off, coughing harder, sneezing frequently and suffering from coughing fits isn't going to get his cold any better but he decided to shrug off the coach's advice. He and his newfound chum and colleague are surely in for perhaps the gruelling challenge of their lives.
Unfortunately, I had to end the chapter there 'cause it's getting even longer than I expected and I don't want all of you readers and reviewers to wait so long. If you're wondering who the heck Bob is or you can't remember who he was, he's the interviewer who interviewed Spyro and a couple of dragons in the cutscenes from Spyro the Dragon. The hardest part of writing this chapter is trying to come up with the names of the original characters and how they look like.
The employer is very strict towards Spyro, isn't he? That's 'cause he doesn't like employees arriving at Dragon Shores very late and missing one-to-one interviews. Heck, he's the only one in the Dragon Realms who doesn't know who Spyro is and he's unaware of his heroic deeds. By the way, if you notice, Spyro had a short argument with Smokey in this chapter and that happened before in the second chapter with Sparx. Déjà vu, anybody? When will he learn that stubbornness won't get him anywhere?
I'm recently playing Mario Sports Mix (it's terrific for exercise as in moving the Wii remote and my arms about) on my Wii and one of the four sports that are available to play will be helpful to write the later chapters, it depends on who's writing which chapter. The sport I'm talking about is volleyball and besides basketball, it's the most enjoyable. Hockey is all right but I hate dodgeball. Not only does it remind me of my high school days, I'm also not very good at this sport yet. I've gotten really far in this game and I already obtained three cups in normal mode in basketball and volleyball. Currently, I'm just unlocking new stuff such as arenas, places and characters and new routes in the tournaments I've already completed.
Anyway, when I watched the official music video of "I'll Be Ready" by Sunblock, there's more than one female lifeguard on duty at the beach that means teamwork is definitely one of the things that is important in a job like this. Anyway, review away and please no flames. For the meantime, I'll get started on the long-awaited sixteenth chapter of "Spyro & Jake Long: Ripto's Revenge" while Topaz16 will work on the fourth chapter of our collaboration.