NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SPYRO CHARACTERS.

I only own Synthie.

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The Legend of Spyro: The Next Generation

CH 4: Party Time!

Spyro and Cynder both jumped back in shock as the room was suddenly filled with guests jumping out of their hiding places. It took them a minute to recover and finally realize what was going on. They looked around at the crowd of people and saw many of their friends like Chief Prowlus, Mole-Yiar, and so on. They looked behind them and saw a long line of food and drinks of all kinds had been set up.

Spyro glanced back at Ignitus. "So this is what you needed to 'talk' to us about?" Ignitus simply nodded in response, a grin spreading across his face. He looked and the other three guardians and they all had the same expression across their faces. "But how were you guys able to set this up so fast?"

"Well, it wasn't that hard," started Cyril, "you see, after you and Cynder left for your room, we all began to plan this. We knew that you two had made many friends along your journeys so we each headed out for separate destinations."

"We came up with three locations to head to," continued Volteer. "I accompanied Terrador to WarFang, Ignitus decided to go to Avalar, and Cyril headed towards the village you saved long ago… the village that helped you find him when he was… um…" Volteer stopped speaking, realizing that he was going into a sensitive area. He was going to mention how Cyril was captured by Cynder and held him captive close to that very same village. Spyro turned his head to face Cynder, her eyes looking down on the ground, still regretting the things she did back then. The other guardians gave Volteer a look of frustration, which made the electricity guardian look down in shame.

Terrador quickly changed the subject. "After we gave word of the festivities to all of your friends, we came back to the temple as quickly as possible, so you wouldn't notice our absence. Apparently, word of it spread like wildfire because this group here is much larger than what any of us anticipated."

"Well, enough about how this happened," Ignitus cut in before Terrador could continue, "it's time for this party to begin!" Everyone in the mess hall gave a cheer and began to talk amongst themselves, though many approached Spyro and Cynder with a lot of questions and comments. They were given many congratulations and answered many questions.

It wasn't long before Spyro and Cynder were telling their guests stories about all of their adventures that they've had since they last met. "…And could you believe it? The little guy still wanted to fight even after I threw him all over the place. I thought to myself 'either this grublin is the bravest one I've ever come across, or he's even more brainless than the apes!'" Spyro exclaimed. Those listening to his story burst out in laughter at his comment. He got a lot of high-fives and pats on the back for that joke. Spyro glanced over to the buffet and excused himself to try and get a bite to eat, Cynder following close by. "You know, you can stay over there and talk if you want. I can grab you some food if you're hungry." He told the black dragoness.

"No, it's okay. I needed to get out of the crowd for some fresh air. Besides, we've been talking to everyone all night so far and-"

"Spyro! Hey over here!" a loud voice called from the crowd of people. Both Spyro and Cynder looked around to see who had called him. "Right here!" called the voice again, this time sounding closer. They both looked at the direction of the voice and saw none other than Ember, Spyro's (ex) self-proclaimed girlfriend. "Hey there handsome!" she said as she ran to hug Spyro, who returned the hug as a friendly gesture. Ember let go of Spyro and came up to Cynder to give her a friendly hug as well. "How have you two been? It's been like… forever since we last talked!"

Cynder gave a smile to the pink dragoness. "Yes, it has been quite a long time hasn't it?" she responded. Though not NEARLY long enough… she thought to herself, trying her hardest not to give a look of anger to Ember. "Spyro and I have been great. We're doing even better now that we have little Synthie in our lives."

"Yeah! I heard from Ignitus that she's quite the cute one." Giggled Ember. "Well, I know this might sound rude but… would it be okay if I went to go see her?" Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, trying to figure f this was a good idea or not.

Cynder responded first. "I'm not too sure that's such a good idea… We already have Hunter looking over her and she might still be asleep. Poor little thing got very tired of chasing us both around the field today."

Spyro just smiled and nodded in agreement. He then added, "I think it'll be okay. I'm sure that if she is still asleep, we can quiet enough to not disturb her. Besides, if she's anything like her mother, she's a very heavy sleeper." Cynder shot Spyro a somewhat dirty look, obviously not liking his last comment. Ember simply giggled.

"Yo Spyro!" another voice came over the crowd. All three dragons craned their necks to see who was calling this time. They easily spotted who it was as he was walking right towards them. It was Spyro's old friend, Flame. "Long time no see dude! How's it been?" He then noticed the two dragonesses by Spyro's side. And who, may I ask, are these two lovely ladies?"

Cynder giggled and responded, "I'm Cynder. Spyro and I are mates."

Flame bowed his head down in respect and said, "Ah, so you are the lovely Cynder. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He brought his head back up and looked at the pink dragoness. "What about you cutie? What's your name?" Ember just stared at him.

It took her a moment to come back to reality. With a slightly confused look, she said, "Oh… uh me? My name is… is… is…" She had lost her concentration and began to just stare at Flame again.

"Ember!" both Spyro and Cynder finished for her, breaking her stare.

"What they said" she replied. Flame chuckled a little bit at the fact she forgot her own name. "So you are one of Spyro's friends? It's very nice to meet you." Flame bowed his head once again. He then picked up Ember's right forepaw and gently kissed it. Ember's face quickly went from pink to red and she turned her face away, smiling widely. "Spyro you never told me that you had such a cute friend, and a gentleman at that." Flame looked at Ember who returned the stare. They looked into each other's eyes and they both felt that there was a connection between them.

"Ahem…" Spyro cleared his throat, bringing the two back to the party. "So Flame, would you like to join us? We were just about to go check up on Synthie."

"I'd be honored," replied Flame. Before they began to walk, Cynder got closer to Spyro.

"Spyro, I don't like this…" she whispered to him. "I still don't like it when that pink tramp is near you." She looked at Ember again, this time with frustration written all over her face, though Ember didn't notice because she was chatting with Flame.

"You worry too much Cynder." Spyro said in a reassuring voice. "Ember's already accepted the fact that I'm yours… thank the Ancestors… and she's at least trying to be a friend to you. Give her a chance… maybe you two will end up as close friends."

Cynder simply scoffed at his last comment. "I highly doubt that'll happen. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to be friendly to her…" Spyro looked at his mate and licked her cheek as a "thank you." He looked at Flame and Ember who had already finished their conversation and were waiting patiently for them to lead the way. Spyro walked forward and everyone began to follow… all except Cynder. She instead headed back to the buffet line. There, she loaded a tray with some food then continued to follow everyone to her room.

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Back in the room, Hunter sat on top of the windowsill enjoying the cool breeze of the night as it passed through his fur. He gazed out at the twin moons in the sky; both of them were full. He heard a small creak behind him, breaking his calm state. He cautiously got down from the windowsill but relaxed when he saw Spyro, Ember, and Flame enter the room. "Ah, Spyro. How goes the party? And who are these two with you?"

Spyro nodded hello to Hunter. "This is Flame and Ember. They're two of my closest friends. We came here to check up on Synthie. As for the party, so far it's been great! Everyone is having an awesome time!" Spyro looked around and realized Cynder wasn't with them. "Hey where did Cyn go?"

"I'm right here." They all looked at the door and saw Cynder standing there with a tray of food. "Before we left, I grabbed some food for you Hunter. I'm sorry that you have to miss the party to baby-sit for us…"

"Thank you for the meal Cynder." Replied Hunter. "And there is no need to apologize, it was my choice to stay here. Besides, while I do enjoy the company of others, I prefer to be alone." He walked to Cynder and took the tray of her paws. He was about to take a bite of some bread when a soft cry was heard in the room. Little Synthie had apparently woken up. Her little cries began to grow louder and Spyro quickly picked her up to try and comfort her. This wasn't working though, as her crying only continued.

Cynder took a look at Spyro's failed attempt. She quickly knew why Synthie was crying. "I know what's wrong. She must be hungry." Everyone glanced at her, giving a confused look as if to say "how do you know?" She simply said, "A mother's intuition. I can tell just by looking at her." She went to the food tray, cut off a small piece of an apple and took it over to the hatchling. Little Synthie saw the apple slice in Cynder's paw and took it without hesitation. "Just as I thought. I believe Synthie should be fine for the rest of the night. It's a good thing we came to check up on her, huh?" The others in the room, all except for Synthie who was enjoying her dinner, gave Cynder a look of surprise.

"That's one hell of a sharp intuition you got there," said Flame. Spyro, Ember, and Hunter all nodded in agreement. "Hey, shouldn't we head back to the party? I'm sure a lot of people have noticed your absence." Spyro and Cynder looked at each other and let out a heavy sigh, not wanting to leave the room. Reluctantly, Spyro put Synthie back onto her bed, gave her a small kiss on the top of her head, and began to follow the rest back to the party in silence.

Ember broke the silence. "Your little girl was so cute! I just wanted to stay in the room and hold her" she commented. As she finished what she was saying, a tall figure made his way to them. Whoever it was, he stood on hind legs like the cheetahs. He was holding a staff and was wearing a cloak. His face was hidden in shadow by his hood. "Hey," Ember whispered to Spyro and Cynder, "who's that creepy looking guy?"

"I'm not sure… I didn't see him earlier in the party." Spyro responded. He walked faster to get ahead of the group and intercept the stranger. "Hey, you… who are you? How did you get in here?"

"Well now, I'm surprised Spyro… don't you remember me?" said the stranger in a crackly voice. Spyro stepped back as he heard his voice. He immediately recognized who it was; Cynder did as well. "That's right. It is I." He removed his hood to reveal his face, confirming what Spyro and Cynder both feared.

"You! The hermit from the Valley of Avalar!" roared Cynder, obviously angered by his presence. In the past, this hermit has brought nothing but bad news and misery. Simply the thought of him was enough to anger Cynder and now, seeing him once again, she was furious. "Why the hell are you here you bastard?!"

"My, my… no need to lose your temper. Can't a hermit satisfy his curiosity and see what all the fuss is about?" asked the hermit in a mocking tone.

Cynder growled at him, not satisfied with his reply. "Just remember, it's curiosity that killed the cat." She said to him, anger still in her voice, though calmer.

The hermit cackled at her comment. "Don't worry, I was on my out… there are far too many people for my liking. Besides, I wanted to tell you that I see no more dark times for either of you. It seems that your lives will be, for the most part, rather peaceful."

"Well thank you hermit." Spyro responded before Cynder had a chance to. "If you'll excuse us we're going back to the party." Spyro and his group continued forward and the hermit stepped aside. As they passed, Cynder gave the hermit an angry look, still not trusting his words. The hermit simply covered his face with his hood once again and began to walk out of the temple.

Once the front door to the temple was closed, he cackled to himself. "I may have said that there was nothing to worry about between the two of you… but I made no promises about your little daughter. But I'm sure you will find that out in time…" He cackled once again and continued his journey back to his cave in the valley.

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The party continued well into the night. The last guests, Ember, Flame, Chief Prowlus, and Hunter, finally decided to take their leave mere hours before the sunrise. Hunter and Prowlus moved quickly towards Avalar to try and catch some sleep before the morning arrived with its usual responsibilities. Ember and Flame went in separate directions but they had plans to meet up the following evening for a date. Once everyone had left, Spyro and Cynder were finally able to retire to their bedroom and they immediately fell asleep.

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Flame was walking through the forest in the few hours of darkness that remained. He continued his walk and noticed a small light from the corner of his eye, to his left. He looked and saw a small campfire set up. He headed towards it and saw a group of apes gathered around it. Unaffected by the sight, he continued towards them. The apes noticed him and readied themselves for a fight. "Stop! No one touches him!" bellowed a voice from the shadows. Suddenly, a much larger ape, obviously the one in charge, stepped out of those shadows. "Did you return with the information I asked for?"

"Yes." Responded Flame. "I have mapped out the temple and marked where all possible entries are located. I have also marked the room where she's being kept. The egg has already hatched." Flame handed the lead ape the map he had created. "Now keep your end of the deal… you promised you would spare my life as well as my friends' lives."

"Of course, always keep my word… Let the other two go!" At the command, several other apes appeared with two other dragons in chains. One had dark blue scales, yellow wings and underbelly, and four yellow horns on his head. The other was a green dragoness with silver wings and underbelly, and two silver, curved horns coming out the side of her head. Once they were released, they both ran over to Flame and they all took off. The large ape just looked at them fly off. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you." He said to himself. "Enjoy the time you have now dragons… for soon, when our plans succeeds, you will all fall to our power!"

A smaller ape made his way towards the leader. "Master, should I command the troops to ready themselves for the attack on the temple?"

"No," the large ape said, "unfortunately Flame has informed me that the egg has already hatched. We will not be able to raise her as we intended but we can fix that. All we have to do now is wait, watching from the shadows, until the hatchling is old enough to discover her powers. Once she does, we garb her and the plan will continue. Those damned dragons will soon be ours to control!"

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So it seems that Flame had betrayed Spyro and Cynder! How will this affect them? What exactly are the apes up to? The answer to these questions and more in chapter 5: Little dragoness, Big day!

Also, there will be a time leap in the next chapter.

Till next time!