Disclaimer: I do not own any Spyro franchise characters. They are owned by Activision. I only own my own OCs.

If you don't like my story, then just don't read it.

Enjoy

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~Chapter 5~
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"...And that's when I lost control for a moment and attacked Cynder for real," Alec said.

I had just gotten finished telling my story about the battle with what I've dubbed as 'Mock Malefor'.

"And from how many times Alec has apologized to me, I've learned how annoying it gets when I keep apologizing," Cynder said, "I don't think I'm gonna apologize anymore."

"Well, if there's a situation where you feel you should, go for it," Alec said, "I also now understand why Cynder wants to apologize so much."

"But didn't you just say earlier that you liked the feeling you had?" Trisha asked.

"Yes. And that was no lie," Alec said, "I loved that feeling. Or at least, I did at the time. And that's why me and Cynder want to apologize so much. We enjoyed destroying things. Although having Mock Malefor's voice in my head was a bit annoying."

"Well, you also had Mal's voice in your head too," Pat pointed out.

"Yeah, I had one voice telling me to do one thing, then another voice telling me to do the opposite," Alec said, "And then I have the voices that are usually their."

"Other voices?" Cynder asked.

"I was just joking around," Alec said, "Just playing around to make it sound like I'm crazy."

"Oh..." Cynder said in a less than enthusiastic tone.

I didn't notice it at the moment. But something didn't seem right about Cynder.

"So...what do we do while we wait for the program to activate on my computer?" Trisha asked.

"Well, if Cynder agrees not to take off the invisibility device, we could go see a movie at the drive-in," Alec suggested.

Since both mine and Trisha's computers were out of commission while they were doing their transfer. So I had to use one of my mobile ones. It used a touch screen, which made it useful in some ways, but made it worse in others. Thankfully, this wasn't a problem.

"Okay, we could either see Star Wars Episode Two and Men In Black Two, or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," Alec listed.

Heh. Must be sequel week or something like that.

"Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings," Pat said.

"Yeah, let's go with that," Trisha agreed.

"It's decided then," Alec said, "And since they don't start until later, we can use the first part of the day to show the first parts of the movies to Cynder."

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As promised, we had kind of a double feature with Cynder, starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and then showing Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

"Before we start the first movie, is it alright if I check the progress of the transfer of the programs?" Alec asked.

"I thought you said they were out of commission while they were transferring," Trisha pointed out.

"That just means we can't use them," Alec explained, "It doesn't mean I can't check on the progress."

"Will it take long?" Trisha asked.

"No. It'll only take a minute," Alec said.

After getting confirmation that it was alright, Alec checked the progress.

Honestly, I was impressed at how fast the program was transferring. The transfer of the program itself was finished and was now in the reconfiguring stage. In just about eighteen hours, the progress had reached 39% complete. If it keeps up at this pace, the process in full, including from when I started writing the anti-virus to when the anti-virus finishes reconfiguring the program, should only take a little more than two days. Though depending on when it finishes, we may want to wait until the next morning to actually activate the portal.

...That is, if this will even work.

"I have some good news," Alec announced, "If the process continues at this speed, it will be ready in less than thirty-six hours, or a day and a half."

"So, what does that mean?" Cynder asked, "Is it good?"

"Yes, it's good," Pat confirmed, "It means that it'll be ready by tomorrow night."

"Well, depending on how late it is when it finishes, we might have to wait until the next morning," Alec said, "In fact, I may want to do that just so that we can have a fresh start in general."

"Well...I guess..." Cynder paused before continuing, "I guess I can wait just one more night if I have to."

This was when I was sure something was off about Cynder. I then thought back to seeing her coming out of the car rather than just flying. I didn't think there was anything to worry about yet. But I was gonna talk to her about it. But for now, I was gonna make deal.

"I don't want to make you wait longer than you want to get back home. So I'll make an agreement with you," Alec suggested, "We'll wait until midnight tomorrow. If the process is finished by then, we'll activate the portal. If not, we wait until the next morning."

"But what if it finishes, but activating the portal will happen after midnight," Trisha asked.

"As long as we're ready to start by midnight, we'll start," Alec said, "Even if activating the portal won't be successful until four AM."

"So what you're saying is that we're gonna have to stay up with you?" Trisha asked.

"You and mom can go to sleep whenever," Alec said, "I only need access to both computers, and for Cynder to be awake and ready for when it's time to go through the portal. Because there will only be a limited power supply."

"If any of this takes longer than midnight, let's just wait until morning," Cynder suggested, "I'd rather not have to be up to late. I'm more of a morning dragon anyway."

"I wouldn't have guessed that," Trisha said.

"Actually, I think it's rather common in the Dragon Realms to wake up early," Alec explained, "I may not know everything. But I do know that they don't have alarm clocks. So they have to rely on the sunrise to wake them up."

"That must've sucked for you, knowing that you're more of a night owl," Trisha teased.

"Well actually, the room I had was western facing...assuming the sun works like it does here, rises in the east and sets in the west," Alec said, "In any case, my room faced the sun set. So I was able to sleep in. Although in the Dragon Realms, sleeping in is still rather early in my opinion."

"Aren't we supposed to be watching movies now?" Pat asked.

"What makes you think we're ready to watch a movie? We don't have any popcorn ready," Alec said jokingly.

"Actually, while you were doing all of your techno babble, I had time to get a bag of popcorn ready," Pat said as she held up a bag of popcorn.

"So we won't be having nachos?" Trisha asked.

"Sorry. But you know that popcorn is for movies and nachos are for sports," Alec said.

"So...do you have to eat popcorn while watching a movie?" Cynder asked.

"No really. I was just joking around," Alec said, "But it has become kind of like a tradition though. I wonder how popcorn with a movie actually got started."

"It was probably someone who wanted to have an easy snack while watching a movie and happened to have popcorn to snack on," Pat said, "Then when he realized it was a good combination, that's how it got started...maybe."

"Well then, enough talking," Alec said, "Let's get this movie started."

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I thought it was cute seeing Cynder watching these movies for the first time. First she questioned how that was magic when magic was what makes a dragon's elemental power. We had to explain that it was a different kind of magic from an fantasy universe.

Of course I realize now that since the Dragon Realm was originally supposed to be a fantasy universe, perhaps the Harry Potter universe also exists.

Then she asked what made Voldemort, since Malefor, or rather Mock Malefor was a fake, But felt that in order to cleanse the world, he had to destroy it. Gaul was a servant of 'Mock' Malefor. And she was raised by Gaul. We had to explain that Voldemort was evil just for the sake of being evil. Then she asked about why he was on the back of that professor's head. And we explained that it was because of the unicorn's blood.

And then she asked why Harry went back to his aunt and uncle's when the semester was done. My mom explained that in the book, he was taken to them as a baby because they were his family, and this allowed him protection from evil forces.

Then we watched Lord of the Rings. Or to be more specific, the Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring two disk special edition. The first thing Cynder asked was why Gandolf didn't just use a spell to destroy the ring. First of all, we had to explain that the wizards in Lord of the Rings were not the same as wizards in Harry Potter. Then we had to explain how the will of the ring would find a way to survive it. Then she asked why Gimley was so small. What would you expect a dwarf to be, ten feet tall? Then she asked why the hobbits were so small...I guess because that's what their species is like? Maybe hobbits have a similar ancestry as the dwarfs.

Cynder just continued asking these questions on and on. And we haven't even started disc two yet. Then when we got to Galathriel, the elf witch, Cynder got nervous. And when she spoke to Frodo in his mind, Cynder fright. Honestly, it was cute. Then when she realized her power must be coming from her own ring, she realized she must be under Sarron's spell...then we had to explain that that wasn't the case. And then Cynder questioned why Frodo left on his own when it would be easier with help. I think there are a few factors involved with that. But he at least did have Sam to go with him on his journey.

Then when the movie was finished, we went into this whole discussion about when Gandolf died. When the...whatever it's called grabbed Gandolf's foot with it's whip, he was pulled down. But he was able to grab hold and tell the group "Fly, you fools!". Then he falls into the pit. Cynder pointed out that if he had a good grip, why didn't he just climb up and out of the pit before he fell? I've been asking that question myself. It would've been more convincing if the ledge he was holding on to collapsed. But it's so obvious that Gandolf just lets go...and noone even goes to help him. Well, except for Frodo. But he was being held back. So by definition, they willingly let Gandolf die.

But I digress. Once the movies was finally done, it was getting to be about time to go to the drive-in. But before that, I wanted to check the progress again. It was already at 51%.

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"Three to see the movie," Pat told the guy at the ticket booth...or whatever it's called at the drive-in.

"That'll be twenty-one dollars," the guy said. Pat gave the guy the money and he let her drive through.

After a few minutes, they picked a spot to park to have a good view, "I wonder how much it would've cost to let a teenage dragon in," Trisha asked.

"Well after he recovers from his heart attack, I'd assume it'd be the same as a human teenager," Alec explained, "Either that or we could pass her off as a pet."

"I'm not a pet!" Cynder complained. She was in the back seat with Trisha, her invisibility device activated.

BARK!

Snickers barked at the word pet, as if he recognized the word. Then again, dogs can be pretty smart, and they can understand certain commands...sometimes. Snickers however doesn't know any commands. Maybe he mistook 'pet' for 'speak'.

"Before we get any food from the Charcoal Corral, I'd like to lower the power on the invisibility device so that we can see Cynder somewhat," Alec then attempted to grab at something where Cynder was sitting...but couldn't find it, "Uh, Cynder, could you give me your paw? I need access to the device, but I can't see it."

"Okay," Cynder said. Then Alec felt a scaly paw in his hand.

I think this is the first time I've felt a dragons paw like this. Or if I had, I was distracted with other things. But this time, I had the chance to focus on how it felt. It had a generally scaly feel to it. But the bottom had a leathery padding, similar to a dog, or a...another animal with padded feet.

"Alec, are you okay?" Trisha asked, noticing that Alec seemed to be in his own little world.

Snapping out of his daydream, Alec took a small screwdriver and twisted it in what appeared to be thin air until Cynder's figure appeared. She was still semi-transparent, just visible enough to see her. But if anyone where to pass by, they wouldn't notice her as being a dragon...as long as they weren't focusing on her directly.

"I don't understand," Cynder said, "I thought you wanted me to be invisible."

"Well, it'll be dark soon, so anyone passing by won't recognize you as a dragon as long as they don't focus on you. And their focus will most likely be on the movie," Alec explained, "And I'd like to be able to see you sitting here instead of just hearing you."

Even though that was generally true, the main reason I did this was so I wouldn't be seen as paranoid.

"But what if she wants to see corral?" Pat asked.

"First of all, I'd have to put the device on full power again," Alec said, "And secondly, we can't really bring her inside. It'll probably be too crowded, and most likely she'll get bumped into allot. People will wonder what their bumping into. And also, the invisibility can only take so much before it fails. We could show her the mini golf course though."

And that we did. The three of us played a round of gold while Cynder watched, keeping out of the way of anyone who might accidentally bump into her. Once golf was done, we went in to get some food while Cynder waited outside. I had my mom order the largest order of buffalo wings, which was an order of fifty wings. It was allot, but I was gonna share them with Cynder. I'd also let Trisha and mom have some if they wanted to. I also got loganberry juice for myself and lemonade for Cynder.

While we waited for the food to be ready, I went to get Cynder and show her the arcade. I wasn't gonna let her stay for too long. But it was a fun idea. When we went inside however, they UV lighting canceled out my invisibility device. Thankfully, nobody was in the arcade at the moment to see her, except for the prize guy, who was busy with other things. So I quickly go her out of the room before she'd be noticed.

Once Alec and Cynder left the arcade room and out of the UV lights, the invisibility device reactivated, "Well, now we know that ultraviolet light cancels out my device," Alec said, "Since my device is only intended to work on the visible light spectrum, ultraviolet and infrared lights will cancel out the invisibility."

"I'll just trust that you know what you're saying," Cynder said, having no idea what Alec was talking about.

After a little while longer of waiting, Pat and Trisha came out with the food. Pat got an order of potato skins, Trisha got onion rings, Alec and Cynder were going to share a large order of wings, and they also got ice cream. Pat and Trisha both got Rocky Road flavor, they got Alec Strawberry Cheesecake flavor, and they got Cynder a banana split with vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream.

We went back to the car. After I made Cynder semi-visible again, we had our ice cream first, so it wouldn't melt. Cynder liked the ice cream flavors. But she didn't seem to like the banana. Maybe it was her draconic sense of taste. I don't know. But we still had more to eat.

"Next we have buffalo wings," Alec said, "And before you even think about asking, no. They don't actually come from buffalo. It's the style of the hot sauce."

I assume it's caused buffalo wing sauce because it was probably developed in Buffalo, New York. But what do I know? For all I know, maybe it just goes well on buffalo meat.

Cynder took one of the wings and took a bite, "Mmm!" Cynder seemed to like it. But then she seemed to start panicking, "Oh...hot! Hot! Hot!"

"Oh, sorry about that. I like things spicy," Alec said, "I guess I should've taken into consideration that maybe you wouldn't. Here, maybe this will help." Alec then gave her the cup of lemonade, which she started sipping from the straw as she saw Alec do. It was only temporary relief. But it was still relief nonetheless.

"It tastes so good...but it's too hot to eat..." Cynder panted, trying to cool off her tongue.

"In my opinion, that's part of the fun," Alec said, "Maybe we should take some home with us and give some to Sparx...and hope he doesn't like spicy things."

"There's one problem with that," Cynder said, "Dragonflies don't eat meat."

"Well then, maybe I can just get a bottle of buffalo sauce and put it in his salad or something."

My only regret would be that I couldn't see the end result myself.

After some more waiting, and watching some kids playing on the playground in front of the screen, the first movie then started. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

As you can see for the drive-in, I chose 4 movies that I liked that came out the year this is supposed to take place. I also had as an option Spider-Man. But then I couldn't make the 'sequel week' joke. I should've been a little more realistic and went with some movies that I wouldn't have been that into. But when we go to the drive-in, we almost always go to see BOTH features. And we only go if we think we'll like both features.

And yes, I narrated an entire scene. I won't lie...it was padding. I'd actually like to use a clip from Mystery Science Theater 3000 if I could. It had the three of them singing, "Padding, padding, pad-DING! Padding, padding, pad-DING!"

What do you think Cynder's actual reaction to spicy foods would be (I used mine because it was funny)? And what do you think Sparx' reaction would be? Or Spyro's? Or even the Guardians'?

Please R&R.