Metamorphosis Chapter 3

- Dragon Temple-

David gave a burdened sigh as he watched Cynder pace about her room from the doorway. Like Spyro, he too was a purple dragon, though no-where near to the guardians expectations of one. He had no breath powers like they had, he was weaker than Spyro, despite being a year older. To add to his shame his wing membranes and crest had changed to a startling red and electric blue, his horns had also adopted an opal-like sheen to them, all happening overnight, therefore attracting more attention to himself than he could handle. He had resorted to slinking around in the shadows and generally avoiding everyone. Cynder was the only one who did not give him weird stares, and so naturally he sought her company. He did not speak to her, he didn't feel the need to start a pointless conversation, one that would end in Cynder being more agitated than she already was, or that would end in him feeling like a complete idiot after saying something stupid. It wasn't that he lacked intelligence, most of his silence was spent musing over the many observations he made, it was just that when it came to talking, he would stutter, or it would come out meaning the wrong thing, or making no sense at all. So he generally came across quite ditzy, as Sparx had once pointed out, "If dragons had hair, you'd be blonde!". Sparx had also made other somewhat blunt observations about him, like how he was probably a different species of dragon to the others… Now he felt like an outcast. Again.

He would never win the heart of Cynder, that much he knew, she belonged to Spyro, her current source of agony. She had resorted to alternating between pacing her room, or sitting like a statue before her window. If it were not for the occasional soft growl, she would have easily been mistaken for a gargoyle, David smirked upon watching a white butterfly land on one of her horns, and indeed, it had mistaken her for a gargoyle. Cynder shook her head roughly, startling the butterfly off, and resumed her pacing.

He had never seriously considered leaving the temple before, but after what Sparx had said the previous night, he doubted he would ever truly settle down here.

And so that lead to his current predicament, to stay, or to leave. His heart told him to leave, but his logic told him to stay. Cynder needed him right now, whether she knew it or not. So he decided he would have to stay until Spyro returned, then he would leave, preferably unnoticed.

But right now he had a task to do, and that was to distract Cynder from fretting over Spyro's fate.

Sauntering over to the still pacing Cynder, he playfully nipped at her wing as she passed him. She only paused to free her wing from his mouth, then resumed pacing, not even sparing him an annoyed glare. David frowned. Distracting Cynder was going to be harder than he thought. Again she paced by, David crouched down as she passed him and chomped onto her tail at the same time as pulling backwards. Cynder fell back onto her haunches, and whipped around glaring at the one who dare interrupt her thoughts. Only to find David playfully crouching with her tail still in his mouth, his own tail thumping against the ground in coordination with his playful gesture.

Cynder scowled, "David, I'm not in the mood!" and yanked her tail free from his jaws. "Or are you too stupid to see that!" She added in a cold tone.

David shrunk back from her with a hurt expression as she turned her back to him and resumed her pacing, slightly more furious than before.

"Some friend you are!" David spat over his shoulder as he skulked towards the door.

Upon hearing this, Cynder instantly regretted her choice of words "David I didn't mean-"

"Forget it!" and with that, he was gone.

Cynder groaned and sat by the window, resting her head on the windowsill, now she was truly alone "He'll be back..."

Meanwhile David scowled as he stormed through the corridors of the temple, heading towards his room. He was sick and tired of the humiliation and belittlement. Once there he nimbly jumped onto his bed and lay down, his tail lashed behind him "I try and help her, and this is the thanks I get!" He unsheathed his long curved talons, and then sheathed them again… The desire to rip everything to pieces was too strong to remain inside the temple. With a growl he jumped off the bed and leapt out his bedroom window, landing on the soft grass outside. He ran towards the fungi forest, he needed to burn the pent up aggressive energy before he did something he would regret.

Still gazing out her window, Cynder blinked as a blur of purple streaked into the forest, only David could move that fast. It struck her as unusual because from what she experienced, David was the brooding type, not the violent type. Something was up, and filled with a sense of apprehension, she followed David into the forest.

David snarled and dug his claws into the nearest fungi trunk, initially intending to rip into its flesh he instead clawed his way up the trunk and leapt onto its canopy. Without a second thought he leapt into the sky and with a powerful beat of his wings took off into a full speed flight.

Cynder only got there in time to see him jump onto the fungi canopy, and take flight as though he had done it thousands of times. This took Cynder by surprise, David wasn't supposed to be able to fly, like he had told them he couldn't, and like how he had 'failed' many times under the guardians flight instructions. And here he was, taking off like a pro, and flying at speeds she could only dream of reaching.

Cynder began to claw her way up the fungi trunk, the muscles in her forelegs screaming in protest, "I'm outta shape" she hissed through clenched teeth. By the time she had clambered onto the fungi top, David had landed with a bird of prey hanging limply from his jaws.

David began to settle down to eat it "How long have you been able to fly?" she called out to him. He glanced up at her from his meal before taking the bird into his jaws, jumping down from the mushroom tops and stalking off deeper into the forest. Cynder flicked her tail in irritation, she didn't like being ignored. Rather than jump down she followed him from the canopy, leaping from one mushroom top to the next. David broke into a canter. He was still angry. "You can't run forever David!" she yelled after him. He stopped. Scaled the nearest fungi trunk across from her, and leapt across onto her mushroom top and pinning her beneath him. Cynder winced, his talons were still unsheathed from the climb and digging into her hide, and she couldn't move under his weight. David dropped the dead bird near her head and sniggered when her muzzle wrinkled in disgust. "I can't believe you were eating that crap" she groaned in obvious discomfort, the corpse was starting to smell a little from the heat of the sun. A sly grin spread across his muzzle "How about I give you a kiss then?" "UGH! Hell no!" Cynder shrieked, squirming underneath him in desperation to escape his snout as he drew closer. "Hmmm… how about a big wet sloppy one where I put my tongue in your mouth..." David mused, trying his hardest not to laugh at Cynder's antics. "If you do, I'll make sure to throw up in your mouth!" That cracked the shell, David fell onto his side in hysterics, and would've slid off the edge of the mushroom top if Cynder hadn't caught him. That sent them both into hysterics.

The pink orange rays of the setting sun found the two of them splashing about in a stream, trying to catch fish with their mouths as they chased their movements underwater.

David had succeeded, for now.

AN

Sorry it's a little on the short side! ^^;

Thanks for reading, any reviews are highly appreciated!