Chapter 3

The group of five dragons flew over the large expanse of the forest, the trees below them streaming past them in a blur. Scorch lead the formation with Cynder and Flame behind him, Coron and Kiba bringing up the rear. A few days have passed since they left Warfang to meet the threat growing in the west. They have been sent to try and cripple their chances to increase their numbers.

Cynder increased her wing rate to catch up to Scorch. "Scorch, I think we should take a break, some of us are exhausted." Scorch looked behind him; indeed everyone seemed to be fatigued, almost to the point of falling out of the skies. With the exception of Kiba, seeing as his natural element gave him sufficient stamina but even he was wearing out.

"Come one you weaklings, you can't be possibly tired already." Everyone's heads snapped up at the comment and growled.

"Scorch, some of us aren't built for this kind of long term flight." Flame growled.

"Please, save the petty excuses for someone who cares." Scorch smirked as he turned his body so his back was to the trees.

"Scorch, just let 'em rest!" Cynder snapped. She had just about enough of this dragon and his attitude towards her friends wasn't helping. Scorch rolled his eyes but complied as he dropped in a steep dive in a clearing that was conveniently below them. As soon as they all landed, Flame and Coron promptly collapsed on their sides as Kiba went to find some food and water.

"Look at them, already tired, such weaklings." Scorch spat in arrogant disgust. Cynder smacked him pretty hard in the head with the blunt end of her tail. He cringed for a second before growling at the black dragoness. "What the hell was that for?"

"For just being you." She growled back. "I've just about had it with you Scorch. Ever since we started our relationship you've been nothing but an arrogant jerk." The red dragon snorted. "See what I mean, your no leader. I'm sure Spyro would…" was all she could get out before Scorch slapped her, seen by everyone, even Kiba who was just returning. They stared in complete shock at the spectacle as the black dragoness slowly got up.

Cynder placed a paw over the cheek, she looked at it and saw that it had blood on it. His claws grazed her cheeks, leaving three small cuts on the side of her muzzle. "Don't you ever compare me to that traitor. He's the reason why we're even out here, fighting for our lives like a bunch of mice." Scorch was hit by a powerful earth shot that knocked him off his feet and into a tree.

Coron snorted at the so called 'leader' as he slowly recovered from the attack. The others weren't so shocked, after all Spyro was more like a brother to the earth guardian and he'll be damned if his family was insulted.

Scorch slowly rose from the ground from the rather harsh blow and looked at the emerald green dragon with hate-filled eyes. He quickly retaliated with a giant fireball which was dodged with minimum difficulty. "What the hell!" he roared.

"Don't you dare talk about him like that, you know damn well that Spyro wouldn't do something like that."

"Oh, and how would you know?" Before Coron could reply Flame beat him to it.

"Because we know him, in fact I bet he's actually fighting some of them off." Scorch rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah sure, what proof do you have that he's not actually behind this?"

"What proof do you have that he is?"

"Cool it guys, it seems we have a change in plans." Everyone looked at Kiba quizzically. "Apparently our target is on the move again and they're heading this way."

"How far are they?"

"Not too far, about an hour's flight most."

"Good, after we rest we'll get moving." Everyone silently agreed to Cynder's thought and started to eat the few rabbits and berries Kiba brought back. Scorch was sitting under a tree, waiting for the others to finish eating impatiently. He longed to battle those… whatever they were and show he was the strongest and no one could beat him, not Coron, not Spyro, not anybody.

After a little rest on the other's part, they took to the sky's once again. They flew in silence with an air of determination and anxiety for the upcoming battle. Suddenly there was the sound of an explosion and everyone's head's snapped to the left, expecting an attack. Instead, all they saw was a large plume of smoke.

They changed course to head for the strange and sudden oddity until another explosion, larger than the last knocked the back. "It could be the enemy, be on guard for anything." Cynder shouted to the others. They waited for a while and watched explosion after explosion rock the earth below, the shockwaves hitting the group like a ton of bricks. Scorch growled and dashed of towards the fray, ignoring the others' shouts to stop. He wasn't afraid of no explosions, he was going to stop them now.

He touched down where the smoke originated and roared in rage. The entire area was littered with bodies of the creatures they had fought in Warfang the other day. Each one seemed to be dead, if the smell of blood in the air wasn't enough to show that. The others soon arrived and stared at the area in complete shock.

Cynder and Flame quickly jumped down to examine the bodies more closely. (Well Flame was more like pulled down but what ever.) Each body either had a hole in the neck, the chest, or was frozen of burned. Upon closer inspection, Cynder discovered there were dragon claw marks all over them. Spyro? Cynder thought. She suddenly saw something out the corner of her eye.

Standing there in the midst of the bloodbath was someone garbed in a cloak of some sort. From what she could tell, it was bi-pedal, that is until it's height decreased, revealing it to be a quadraped that can stand on it's hind-legs. Its head was cover by a straw hat that casted a shadow over its face. (Think ancient china.) "Hey you!" The creature flinched hard and whirled around to see Cynder charging forward. Just before she connected, it jumped onto a tree branch to look down at her. She growled. "What are you doing here? Did you do this?" The creature made no acknowledgement to the question, instead it seemed to just stare at her. "Well…" The cloaked creature suddenly looked up only for a giant fireball to detonate in its face.

Scorch charge forward with the others behind him. When the smoke cleared, the creature was gone, at least they thought it was until they heard a whistle from behind them. They looked to see its cloaked hand/paw waving at them teasingly. They may not be able to see its face but somehow they could tell that it was smiling.

"Okay buddy you asked for it. Guys surround him or her or whatever it is."

"Actually, I am very much male as you can tell by my voice but what I am…(chuckle)… why don't you try and find out, if you can?" he said. Everyone glared at him and he laughed again. The dragons' eyes narrowed as they continued circling him. Scorch fired another fireball, hoping to catch him off guard but to their own bafflement he batted it away like it was a beach ball. "Your gonna have to try harder than that." Everyone growled at him and charged him all at once.

Underneath the hat, the creature smirked, revealing razor-sharp canines. This was going to be fun.