"Just what the hell is going on here?" Spyro asked, directing his attention at the hedgehog in front of him, "No no, let me rephrase that. Needlefoot, what is your history, start from fifty thousand years ago."

"Moi lord, where do I start? I suppose, I should go with my ancestois, since they would have been the original coinstructers of Warfang, the great dragon city." Needlefoot replied, settling down in front of Spyro.

"What happened to Warfang Needlefoot? We haven't seen anything except this city. Where exactly is Warfang right now?" Cynder asked from Spyro's right.

"Oi don't really know moi lady. None of us do. We are ancestors from the original inhabitoints of this planet. However, when the humans coim along, we were treated ois mere beasts, though I suspect it would be different if we revealed oirselves today."

"Humans?" Blaze asked from the corner.

"Yes, thoi are the creatures you encountered earlier. That's what they call themselves. Nearly twenty thoisand years ago, they started to dominate, and have developed and grown stronger ever since. Thoir are nearly eight billion living today." Needlefoot answered.

Eight billion? That's astronomical, even the entire dragon realms themselves would have amounted to maybe five hundred million.

"What was the last purple dragon's name, Needlefoot? It's important that we know."

"Oi wish oi could tell you, but I do not know moiself. The purple dragon is said to possess an extreme amoint of power however, and for there toi even be one of them is supposed to be impossible." Needlefoot replied.

"OK, so tell us why you were so fearful of us when you first saw us."

"Beg'n yoir pardon graces, but in moi time, dragons aren't exactly the friendliest of creatures. Not that I can't blame them, seeing as how much they've gone through. We've all lead tough loives."

"What do you mean Needlefoot?" Frost asked. Needlefoot seemed to shiver visibly, but he kept going.

"Humans aren't exactly receptive. Its noit there fault, it's in thoir nature to destroy everything they can. The land they live on, the air they breathe too and the creatures they come in contact with. Before they came, from the best I can tell the planet throived with creatures such as me. But now, what the humans describe as animals, woir once intelligent bein's. Yoi'll find that very few of us actually remain." Needlefoot said, hanging his head sadly.

"But why?" Eclipse called from outside, startling everyone.

"The humans were friendly at foist, and we had a powerful alliance. Hoiever, humans expand at an exponential rate, doublin' their population every foive years until they consume every last resource, and then they move on. By the toime we realized this; thoi had launched a crusade against us, oit of necessity moir than anythoing. After thirty thousand years of bein' in peace, oir military wasn' exactly top notch, and we had no woi to defend oirselves. After a while, many of us went insoine from the carnage and the lois. And we began to act like dumb animals. Others took advantage of the foict, and acted like dumb animals themsoilves. Some of the allies acted like animoils so long that they believed themselves dumb creatures, worth nothing more to a human than food. Only those of us with strong woills could resist going insane oirselves."

"But what about the other dragons?" Spyro asked, looking anxious.

"Thoi went into hidin', obviously. Dragons were one of the few who did not go insane at all. They fought back, and killed many who opposed them, but they were far outnumbered. Back then, a single dragon could easily take on one thousand enemies and survoive, but any more, it might be ten toi one. They oir so poiwerful anymore."

Spyro turned to the rest of the squadron, and addressed them directly, "New orders squad. Actually, this should be more along the lines of a fundamental rule. You are not to make contact with any of these creatures until further notice. If we are too survive, then we must find the other dragons and rally them together."

"NO! Soir, you cannot possibly hope to beat the humans in out and out warfare, can you?"

"How can I not? They're destroying my home!"

"But soir, even with all your incredible power, you couldn't hope to even stand a chance of defeating them. There is no poissible way." Needlefoot said, standing in front of the purple dragon.

"There is always a way, Needlefoot. Always" Spyro said, and he began to approach the entry way, but before he could even get two steps, the hedgehog threw himself in front of the dragon, pushing against the legendary creature's chest.

"No soir! Oi can't let you! You will destroy yoirself!"

Spyro was surprised, but before he could react, Cynder stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "Will you excuse us Needlefoot? I want to talk to Spyro alone."

The rest of the squadron seemed a bit surprised, even Thunders eyebrows jumped up, hiding behind his frizzy hair. Spyro was a bit apprehensive, he still had marks from the last time Cynder attacked him, but he followed her out anyways.

"Eclipse, head inside, get some rest, I'll take watch for a bit."

"Aye, sir."

Spyro turned to Cynder, "All right, what is it?"


The first thing Nova was aware of was the warmth. It spread across her body like a soothing blanket. The second thing she noticed was the fact that someone was rubbing her brow with a damp cloth. And when she opened her eyes, nausea threatened to overtake her. An involuntary groan left her body, even though she tried suppressing it.

"Crap, she's awake! Jeeves! Jeeves? Jeeves!"

Nova let her vision come slowly back into focus, giving her a clear view of the room. The main part she could see was a roaring fire in the fireplace, and her bed was sitting about six feet from the hearth, which was the source of the warmth. Suddenly, she heard a creak of a door behind her, and she struggled to get up, but found herself being wrestled back down.

"Oh no you don't, you need rest."

Nova couldn't see everything crystal clear, so she just smiled. Suddenly, she felt a wetness on her lips, and a voice in her ears, "Drink as much as you want."

Nova didn't need telling twice, she delved her head in and drank as if her life depended on it, which it kind of did. She thought she must have drunk about 5 gallons when she stopped.

"Heh thought you might drown yourself. Next is food."

"Ezio?"

"Who else, now eat."

She could see a bit better now, and Ezio came into view, setting a massive plater in front of her filled with meats vegetables and fruits.

"Take your pick it doesn't matter, and eat as much as you want. You gave us quite a scare. When the shock to your spine knocked you out, the doc thought you might not wake up."

Nova heard but she continued to eat anyways, taking in the nuritments as fast as she could without choking.

"Slow down, you're going to kill yourself."

Nova smiled and swallowed her bite, "I'd say Om Nom, but I don't think that would be appropriate."

The human's reaction was unexpected, he hit the ground laughing.

"OH MY GOD! HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT MEME?"

Nova shrugged, "I figured you'd be scared, not hysterical, you seem like you've lost your marbles. I know because I can read the light waves that are flying around. Om Nom seems quite prevalent. I got curious and found out what it meant. It just means to chow down quickly, right?"

"Most of the time, yes. So you can actually see the internet?"

"I've learned to tune it's bandwidth out."

"Oooooookaaaaa, I'll just pretend like I know what your talking about."

Nova continued chowing down on the food, slowly working from one side of the platter to the other. When she finally finished, she heaved herself to her feet, with a great amount of effort, and walked towards the nearest window, "Thank you for your hospitality, Ezio, but I need to go."

She turned to take off, but she felt a yank on her tail, and turned to see Ezio pulling her back towards the bed, "OH no you don't. You are in no condition to travel. Your staying right here and resting."

"Too hell with that, I'm leaving! Who are you to think you can stop me? My squad mates think I am dead."

"You're not leaving until you can fly without falling out of the sky, and that's final, even if I have to chain you to a wall, your not leaving these grounds."

"Then just how do you suggest I tell my friends I'm ok?"

That stopped Ezio. But he had a few ideas, there was just one thing, "Where are your friends?"

Nova opened her mouth, but her jaw just hung there in midair, "Good point. I really don't know."

"Then we need to figure out something that's noticeable by your friends, but not by anyone else, any ideas?"

"Actually, I do have one."


"Do I have to smack you again?"

"Um, what?"

"Spyro you idiot, we have got more important things to do than start a war with an enemy we know nothing about. Hellspawn, we know nothing about our allies." Cynder said, keeping her voice down, and staring at Spyro's silhouette through the dark.

"OK, so what do you suggest?"

"I don't think these humans are as bad as he makes them out to be. After twenty thousand years, things can change, and people grow ignorant. This creature was probably born and raised to hate the humans, he doesn't know any better. We should try to make contact with one."

"And how are we supposed to do that? It sounds like this hedgehog has got legends; the humans must have them too. And how do you think we are going to be portrayed? As malevolent beasts." Spyro argued.

"Every legend has a basis in fact, Spyro. Perhaps the dragons of this world were malevolent beasts. Besides, legends are forgotten or changed. And many creatures don't even believe them." Cynder countered.

"OK fine then, so how do you suggest we go about finding one then, Cynder? What, we just waltz up to the largest building in the nearby city and say, here we are, we need to talk? What do you think they'll do to us?"

"I don't know Spyro, and that's not what I'm saying we should say. What I think we should do is find a more permanent place to stay while we actively seek out a human that can help us. We also need to find an ally, a dragon. And I mean we, as in you and me. A simple dragon will not do, even if a normal dragon couldn't stand up to a guardian, they'd never believe a guardian. It needs to be a purple dragon thats the ambassador."

"OK, what else? We can't just sit around and let the humans destroy everything."

"Spyro, I agree with Needlefoot, they do have a tendency to destroy everything around them. But you've seen the determination they have to survive, as well as the power they have. With our help, we might be able to reverse everything, and maybe one day, they two races can exist in peace."

"Do you really believe that, Cynder?"

Cynder approached him and nuzzled him under the chin, "Spyro, when you first found out about me, I was a monster. Cynder, terror of the skies. But you never stopped believing in me."

She turned towards the bright lights that were visible to them down in the valley below, "And I'm not going to stop believing in them."

"She's not the only one either, Spyro."

They turned to see frost coming up the hill towards them, "They are a very destructive race, but it's on a subconscious level. If they could be taught, then perhaps they might have a successful future."

Both Frost and Cynder turned to look at Spyro, "It would seem I am outnumbered here."

"Spyro, honey, you were outnumbered before Nova died." Cynder commented, leaning against him.

"Well if that's your choice, Spyro." Quake commented, coming up on Cynder's right, with Blaze next to him, Blaze spoke up, "Then we are with you to the end."

"You know Spyro, that we aren't friends because we are guardians and legendary dragons, were guardians and legendary dragons because were friends." Eclipse said, appearing out of the shadows next to frost, with thunder coming up behind Spyro, who added, with chest puffed out to show his pride, "We are friends to the end, no matter what happens, we are always there."

"Thank you then, friends. We set out tomorrow night then, get some rest, you'll need it. Needlefoot, we'll sleep out here. I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Yoir not soir. Yoir welcome to moi home any toime."

"Even so."

"Very well, yoir choice."

Spyro turned back to the glistening landscape before him. The rest were finding soft spots in the grass to lay down and sleep. Eclipse was about to turn away too, when something caught her eye.

"Spyro, take a look over there."

It was a slowly pulsing strobe light. Exceedingly bright as well. But the strangest thing was that it was moving in a circular motion. Spyro was entranced.

"Eclipse, do human vehicles move like that?"

"No sir, not to my knowledge."

"Then what-"

Cynder had appeared by his side again, and took a glance down at the light. And Spyro saw her eyes grow wide.

"Impossible."

"Cynder what is it?"

Cynder turned and looked at Eclipse, whos eyes grew wide at the realization, and then she turned to Spyro with the biggest grin on her face Spyro had seen in the last five years, "Isn't it obvious? It's not a what, but a whom."

Spyro still didn't understand.

"Oh come on Spyro, even more importantly it's not a whom, but a how as well. How did she do it, how did she make it?"

"She-"

Then Cynders grin grew wider as she saw realization dawn on Spyro's face.

"No way!"

Cynder nodded, "Who else could it be?"

Spyro turned back to the group, "Quake, Frost, with me, Cynder you come too, she was your counselor before planet destruction. Move fast, she might be seriously injured."

Frost was up, but she was confused, "Who's injured Spyro? What's going on?"

Spyro turned back to quake and frost, who were now sprinting up the hill, with a grin pasted on his face similar to Cynder's, "Nova is alive."


"OOOOOFFF, slow down you madman."

"Not a chance in hell."

The golf carts engine whirred as Ezio gunned the electric motor, pulling the glowing dragoness around the golfing greens as fast as he could, "Glow brighter, maybe they'll come faster."

"Bite me, lead foot."

"You're a dragon, you do the biting, I'll do the driving."

"You'll also do the crashing."

"Says the FLYING dragon."

"Shut up."

"What getting tired of me, glow butt?"

"Seriously, I think I heard something."

No sooner had the words left Nova's mouth than they both heard a large "whoosh" and four bodies appeared out of the night. A purple streak tackled Ezio to the ground, knocking him clean out of the driver's seat and sliding him across the grass. One dark purple bolt landed in front of the cart, grinding it to a halt, while two more grabbed Nova from the back of the vehicle.

"OW! What the hell!"

"Hellspawn, no stop!"

"We've got her, take care of him and let's get out of here!"

All of a sudden, Ezio found himself staring up into a purple face with golden horns.

"Prepare to die, human."