The Legend of Spyro and Friends

Season 1- Episode 8

Red Sunrise

It was early Sunday morning in the Dragon Realms, and Terrador, Cyril, and Volteer stood ready and waiting by the river on a wooden dock a few miles from the Dragon Temple, partaking in some small talk to pass the time.

". . .and upon closer examination, it turned out the Sorceress' original 'gem' that the young dragons recovered after apprehending her was, in fact, another dragon's egg," Cyril explained to Terrador.

"My goodness, that heathen was using another egg the whole time?" Terrador said in shock.

"Indeed," Volteer said, "The eggs were undoubtedly left abandoned due to draconian casualties during the Dark Wars who were successful in their concealment of their offspring but unsuccessful in their attempts to discover a safe haven to recuperate for a period of time during which the eggs could be retrieved."

"The parents were killed after hiding the eggs, and the Sorceress discovered them," Cyril said plainly, "Both eggs are being kept safe in the Dragon Temple until we can find suitable foster parents."

Terrador nodded and said, "Good. And what's more, that old witch is looked up where she can do no harm." The Earth Guardian looked out into the distance impatiently and said, "When will this dragon arrive? The Artisan Lands are not on the other side of the planet."

Cyril shrugged indifferently, "All we know is that Ignitus' letter recommended him as the best Fire Element teacher available. He will suffice until a proper potential Fire Guardian candidate is discovered and trained. Anyway, he responded to our letter promptly, and he should be arriving here any minute now."

"Aha! The vessel approaches!" Volteer shouted and pointed.

Indeed, a medium sized steamboat was headed down the river and over to the dock. Before long, the boat was docked by the Artisan Dragons on board, and a gangplank was extended. The Guardians looked on as the Fire Element Elder walked across the gangplank and stepped onto the dock, banging his staff onto the wooded surface.


Spyro jumped off a rocky ledge with wings unfurled.

Proud and so glorious

Standing before of us

Our swords will shine bright in the sky

Spyro then pulled down into a dive.

When united we come

To the land of the sun

With the heart of a dragon

The heart of a dragon

The heart of a dragon

We ride!

Spyro lands on a mountain ledge. The view zooms out as he looks on either side of him to see all his friends of various species standing in line next to him. He then hovers in the air and gives off a blast of purple light.

The Legend of Spyro and Friends


Red Sunrise


Ember and Flame walked into the Dragon Temple together on Monday morning. The brother and sister couldn't help but feel a mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

"Poor Cynder. Now she's the only one doing independent study in the library," Ember said.

"Uh, last time I checked, there were a bunch of other Wind and Shadow dragons teaching themselves. Heck, Cynder's been tutoring them!" Flame corrected.

Ember rolled her eyes, "I was focusing on the vicinity of us and our other best friends."

"Alright. Anyway, what do you think the Fire Elder's gonna be like?" Flame asked.

Ember sighed, "Boring, probably. Like the Guardians."

"Really?" Flame said, sounding crestfallen.

"No way!" Ember said, brightening up suddenly, "This is Fire we're talking about! And Fire is passion and warmth and life! This is gonna be sweet!"

Flame chuckled, "What would I do without you, sis."

"Who knows. . ." Ember said.

The two dragons walked through the halls of the Dragon Temple in a sudden silence, not paying much heed to the other Fire Dragons going their way.

"Flame?" Ember said, breaking their silence.

"Yes, Ember?" Flame replied.

Ember sighed and said, "Now that we're about to be taught by a strong Fire Dragon, I can't help but think about. . .them. . ."

Ember hung her head and sniffed, fighting hard to keep from sobbing. Flame looked up to see that the other dragons had already gone into the classroom, then he quickly held her close with his right wing.

"I know, sis. I miss them too," Flame said softly. He then nuzzled her gently to let her know that he was there.

As Ember stood finding comfort in Flame's warmth, she could help but think, "I wonder if Cynder ever has these moments? Heck, she's been through so much more. . ."

After a moment, Ember smiled and pulled away from Flame. "Come on, Flame! We can't be late for our first class!" she said cheekily as she ran towards the classroom.

"I'm right behind you!" Flame called out as he followed Ember through the door.

The classroom had a high ceiling, and was made up of rows of mats for the students to sit. The front of the room was a slightly raised rock platform for the Elder, who wasn't there are the moment.

"Huh! Look at that. The Elder's late," Flame remarked.

"Actually, we're all early," a voice said.

Flame and Ember turned to their left to see a very odd looking dragon sitting there. He had a blue chest and orange scales and yellow spikes, but he also had eagle talons, red orange feathered wings, and a fierce beak.

"Who are you?" Ember said in shock.

"I'm Sunburn. I'm from Boyzitbig on Munitions Forge, and I'm part Phoenix!" Sunburn thought for a moment and tapped his beak with his long sharp talons. "Does that make me a Drag-nix or a Phoe-gon?" He smiled and shook his head, "Ah, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I moved to Warfang a couple a days ago. Then I heard about the new Fire Element teacher, and I knew that I was in luck. Only a few minutes until class starts!"

Flame couldn't help but smile at the hybrid's eagerness. "Yeah, I wanna see what this guy is like. So, while we wait, tell us what it's like being a Phoenix Dragon."

Ember nodded and said, "They say Phoenixes are immortal, and that they rise from their ashes if they get killed. Have you ever done that? Can you?"

Sunburn shook his head and said, "No, not at all. Thing get really complicated and twisted when you're half and half. For instance, my body is really unstable, so I gotta drink this special potion every few days or I'll die." Sunburn's eyes suddenly widened in fear. "Uh, what day is it?"

"Monday. . ." Flame said nervously.

Sunburn suddenly became panic stricken. "Oh no! Awwwk!"

To Flame and Ember's horror, Sunburn suddenly burst into a swirl of flames, disappearing without a trace.

"Oh, holy Ancestors!" Flame exclaimed as Ember squealed in shock and hugged him in fear. In the midst of their terror, a pair of sharp talons tapped them on their shoulders. They turned around to see Sunburn alive and well, and grinning victoriously at them.

"You got burned!" he exclaimed before laughing heartily. A few other Fire Dragons joined in on the laughing.

"Wha- How did you?" Ember gasped as Flame was stunned silent.

Sunburn grinned and said, "I don't need any potions! But I can teleport!" He then vanished in another swirl of flames and reappeared back at his original place.

"Whoa. . ." Flame said in awe. Then he chuckled a bit and said, "Not a bad prank, Sunburn. Not bad at all!"

Sunburn winked and said, "Good to hear! I am a bit of a prankster, if I do say so myself."

Suddenly the whole room went silent. The trio broke off their conversation and focused their attention to the front of the room. Through the door walked their new teacher.

The dragon was about half the size of the Guardians. He had a tan belly and wings, and ruby red scales. He had a pair of really tall and impressive purple horns on his head, and yellow eyes. He wore a purple and gold medallion around his neck, as well as gold bracelets around his wrists. The dragon walked erect on two legs, and he held a wooden staff with pink crystals on top.

The imposing looking dragon walked silently to the center of the stone platform and took a long hard look at his students.

"I am Red, Elder of Fire" the dragon said sternly, "And this classroom is my domain." He banged his staff on the ground forcefully. "And now, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Fire is unlike any element in this world. Fire is the first Element Dragonkind has used. Fire is naturally chaotic and hard to control. Electricity equalizes and fizzles out. Ice shatters and melts. Earth stays put and erodes."

Red suddenly held his staff high and roared at the top of his lungs, "FIRE CONSUMES ALL!"

The entire class jumped in shock at Red's outburst.

"Incredible," Sunburn whispered, looking very impressed.

Red pointed his staff at his students and said, "All of you posses a fire in you. A fire that consume forests, raze villages, devour crops, incinerate souls." Red closed his eyes. "That is why. . ." he said softly. Then he opened his eyes and roared out again, "YOU ALL MUST BE MADE HUMBLE!"

Red jumped off of the platform and walked over to the students, jabbing them in the chest lightly with the jagged crystal tip of his staff.

"You all think you have power! You all think you have strength! You take pride in your Fire! You FOOLS! You arrogant, worthless fools! Do any of you have control over your Fire? Can you build towers of flame without letting their embers scatter destruction across the world? Can you form huge spheres of flame without having them collapse and scorch the land black around you? Do you have control? Do you? Do you?! DO YOU!?"

Out of pure random, Red suddenly stopped in front of Sunburn. He stared directly into Sunburn's golden eyes. "Do you?" Red asked quietly.

Sunburn stared back boldly at Red, and then he answered.

"Yes."

Sunburn teleported in a burst of flame, causing everyone to gasp. Red stared with a slack jawed expression, and then turned around fast to see Sunburn waving cheerfully from the stone teacher's platform.

The whole class applauded and cheered. Ember and Flame were cheering the loudest of them all. Sunburn smiled and bowed.

"SILENCE!" Red roared for the third time.

The room was so quiet that you could hear a feather it the floor.

Red glared at Sunburn and said with a voice on the verge of snapping, "Get back to your place."

Sunburn saluted, and teleported back to his place. "Are you impressed, sir?" he asked calmly, doing his best to not smile or laugh. However, he soon wilted under the massive death glare Red was giving him.

"You disgust me," Red growled out, "You think that just because you're special, because you have these extra special powers, that you can do whatever you want. That you're some kind of master. Well I have news for you, hatchling. You're not. If you were in a war zone where you had to protect someone, you would fail."

And then, something deep within Sunburn broke, or to be more precise, shattered into a million pieces. As he sat there in stunned silence, sounds played in his head, and images flashed before his eyes.


"Sunny, come on! We don't have time to fight these Grublins!"

"NO! I'm not running away, Whirlwind!"

"The longer we take, the greater our chances of leading the Dark Army to the shelter cavern!"

"I'm not gonna crawl in a hole and hide! Flight of the Phoenix!"

"NO!"

BOOOM!


"You are reckless," Red continued, "And that's a danger to those around you. You acted on impulse just now, and obeying whims and passions based on your emotions can be catastrophic."


"Sunny, you nearly buried us in that rockslide!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think my blast would create that much force. Ow!"

"Oh, Sunny, you're leg. Hold still. Rainbow of Healing."

"Ooh! Oh. . .Ahhhh. . .thanks- Ahhh! Earthquake!"

"Oh my Ancestors! Something's digging out of the cliff side! What have you woken up?!"


"You need to learn that there are consequences to your actions," Red said. "And do you know what your consequence is right now?"


"Twists of Fury! GAH!"

"Leave her alone you one armed freak!"

"It's no use, Sunny! The Golem's just too strong. I have to do it!"

"Whirlwind, NO! It's too dangerous!"

"Suuny, teleport out of here now! My attack should at least stun it."

"Don't do it! That attack nearly killed you the last time you tried it."

"Sunny, watch out for its arm!"

WHAM!

"AHHHHHHhhhhhhh. . . . .!"

"He's out of range. Now's my chance! Rainbow Singularity!"

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH-BOOM!


"Detention, after class. You will clean the scorch marks you made on my floor, and then polish the rest of the room until it shines. Do you understand me?" Red said sternly.

Sunburn nodded wordlessly.

"Good," Red said, before turning away from him and walking back to the front of the class. "Now. We are going to start right off with the Fire Release Technique."

Red threw his head back and expelled a stream of flames. The fire rose into the air an stopped. However, the flames continued to come out and flow into a single point, forming a sphere. The sphere of flames continued to grow in size, getting larger and larger. The class looked on in awe as the ball of fire reached the size of the Guardians. The class watched attentively as Red maintained the massive fire ball for an agonizing two minutes. Then, he slowly began to decrease the flow of fire, letting the ball slowly shrink until it dissipated completely.

"Now," Red said, showing no signs of being out of breath, "I require a volunteer."

At first, nobody moved. Flame and Ember looked around to see that most of the dragons were looking straight ahead nervously. Flame turned towards Sunburn, and saw how completely downtrodden he looked. His orange feathery tail hung low, his wings were drooping, and his head was hanging so low that his beak nearly touched the ground. Filled with a sudden resolve, Flame immediately raised a claw. "I volunteer, Elder!"

"Fine then. Come on up," Red said.

Flame smiled confidently as he walked up to the front of the class.

"Now," Red said, "Build up the Fire Element in your soul. Gather it together in your throat, and when you release it, make it into a stream, and pull it back to form it into one large mass."

Flame nodded, and took a stable stance. He then held his head back and breathed out a thick stream of fire. Flame appeared to be sucking his breath in slightly, as if to pull the stream of fire back. Indeed, the fire was slowly rolling in on itself and forming a sphere. The class watched with bated breath as a ball of fire began to grow bigger and bigger above the red and yellow dragon. Soon, the fire ball was about one and a half times the size of Flame.

Red observed silently and nodded, "Well, well, well, it seems our little arrogant friend has created quite the fire ball. However, what he failed to realize is that he has nowhere to put it."

At that moment, Flame's eyes widened in panic as he was stuck immobile beneath a large fire ball.

Red sighed and shook his head before continuing, "Oh, Flame. I applaud your effort, I really do, but you have to understand that there's only so much raw power and eagerness can do alone. You simply have no self-control. I assume you want to pay me back for the lecture I gave to your obnoxious friend. Well, you're going to have to do better than this. You do realize that you attempted to perform the Fire Release Technique without knowing how to perform the 'release' part. Do you have any idea how idiotic that decision was?"

Flame was sweating bullets now as he searched his mind for a way out of his predicament. However, there was nothing he could do to get rid of the large fiery sphere above him. If he cut off the flow of fire, the ball would fall onto him. But he had no way of releasing the fire like Red had done.

Red let a small smile spread across his face, "Hm-hm-hm. . .Oh, Flame. Do you know what the purpose of this is? What your purpose is? It's to show how arrogance and pride can destroy. How it can cause you to make the wrong choices. How it can end up breaking you. And now everyone is watching how your ambition has left you powerless. How it's made you humble. This is not a test, Flame. It's a tragedy. You wanted to prove yourself to me, that's fine. One problem with that, Flame. You can't."

Red looked up at the sphere of flames and nodded with vague interest. "Hmm. That fire ball is looking unstable, Flame. It'll only be a matter of seconds before you run out of breath and have to give up on the stream. And then the fire ball you created will fall. No grades here. Just your scales being singed to black. Will you make a last ditch attempt to salvage the situation, only to humiliate yourself further? Or will you simply give in and surrender? It's your choice, Flame. But it doesn't really matter all that much to me. I just hope you remember this day; and I hope your classmates remember this day. Let it all be a valuable lesson to you all. Keep it all in mind, every detail, from the moment I walked in here, to the moment I say 'class dismi-'."

BOOOOOOM!


"He, is beyond any doubt, the worst teacher that ever lived!" Flame shouted.

A loud shush ran echoed through the library. Flame groaned as he sat down onto the floor hard. "Ow," he moaned. Getting the top layer of burnt scales off of him took a lot of scrubbing. The newer coat of scales was bright orange color, and his rump was extremely sensitive and sore.

Spyro, Cynder, and Ember were gathered around him. Classes were done for the day, and the group had met up with Cynder in the Fiction Section of the Dragon Temple Library.

Ember scratched the floor with her claws and growled out, "Oooh, that big red jerk makes me so mad!"

Cynder shrugged, "Wait, Ember. Just hold it a minute. Maybe Red was trying to teach a lesson."

"Do you have Wind and Shadow in your head?" Flame spat out venomously, "He completely tore down our new friend, and burnt me to a crisp!"

Spyro walked over to Flame and blew a gentle cloud of Ice over him. Flame shuddered and moaned contentedly. "Oooh, that feels good, buddy."

Spyro smiled and gently draped a wing over his friend. "Listen, Flame. We're best friends. Forever. But that means I gotta be honest with you. And, well, it sounds like this Sunburn guy was trying too hard to show off."

"WHAT!?" Flame shouted in shock.

Spyro frowned and bowed his head, "I know how you feel, Flame, but we should've expected Red to be an uptight old dragon."

"Of course," Cynder added, "He wouldn't stand for a student trying to mess with him."

"But Cynder," Ember said, "What about what he did to Flame!"

Cynder sighed and hung her head, "I know it just isn't right, but you have to admit, Flame should've realized that he would've been stuck with a giant fire ball he couldn't get rid of." Cynder raised her head and looked towards Flame. A small grin slipped through as she cocked her head at him. "Hmmm?" she said.

Flame's face flushed a bit, but then he let out a long breath. "Oh man, maybe you're right. I should've expected a tough as nails teacher."

"Wait! Wait!" Ember cried out, "You don't understand! The mean things that guy said!"

Spyro shrugged, "It just sounds like he really hates when dragons are prideful or full of themselves. I guess the key is to be extra humble."

Ember huffed and said, "Well, all I know is that tomorrow is Tuesday, your Fire schedule. Meaning you're gonna meet Red the horrible face to face!"

Spyro stood confidently and smiled, "Oh, I know that. And I'll be ready!"

Suddenly there was the sound of uproarious laughter. Everyone turned to see Sparx hovering in mid air, pointing at Flame and laughing.

"Ahahahahahahaha! Oh, baby! You look like you fell in a barrel of orange juice! Ahahahahahahaha!" Sparx shouted out.

Flame snorted out smoke and snarled, "Why you little punk! I'll make orange juice out of you!" Flame ignored his soreness as he jumped up on his feet.

Sparx immediately stopped laughing and gulped, "Whoa. . .hey wait a minute, it was just a joke. Uh, Spyro? Bro.?"

Spyro cracked his knuckles and said, "Don't worry Flame. I'll hold him down for you."

"AHHHHH!" Sparx screamed as he flew out of the room.

Flame prepared to chase after the dragonfly, but Spyro grabbed his tail suddenly and said, "For the record, we aren't really gonna hurt him, right?"

Flame smirked and said, "Of course not. But he doesn't know that!"

Both of the friends laughed as they ran off in hot pursuit of the annoying bug.

Ember rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boys," she remarked.

Cynder just shrugged and cracked a smile, before returning to the romance novel she had set down on the table.


The next day, after bidding Cynder goodbye, Spyro headed towards the Dragon Temple for his Fire Element class. However, as he approached the entrance, Spyro noticed and odd looking orange dragon with feathers and a beak pacing nervously off to the side. Spyro eyed the dragon curiously, and noticed how agitated and nervous the dragon looked. Spyro then made the conscious choice to approach the dragon.

"Hi," Spyro said, "Um, you're Sunburn, right?"

Sunburn turned to Sypro and gasped, "Y-you're Spyro!"

Spyro smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I am. I'm friends with Flame and Ember. They told me all about you. Teleporting sounds like an incredible ability."

Sunburn, although still a little nervous, smiled a bit at this, "Yeah. It is pretty hot. At least, I like it."

"And you were born in Boyzitbig? I've been there once, during the war," Spyro said.

Sunburn shrugged, "Well, I was kinda thrown out of it during an eruption a little while before the war started to heat up. Wound up on the mainland, somewhere. I spent most of the time helping the innocent get to cavern shelters."

"Well I'm sure you've must have made plenty of friends during that time," Spyro said.

Sunburn went silent.

Spyro looked at Sunburn tentatively, with a concerned expression on his face. "Sunburn? Are you okay?"

"Why are you even talking to me?" Sunburn asked.

"What?" Spyro asked, sounding very surprised.

Sunburn turned away from Spyro and said, "You're a great hero, Spyro. You conquered armies. You fought Golems. You defeated the Dark Master himself. You're the most skilled in using Elements and strategy and all that stuff. I'm just a reckless loser."

"Sunburn! NO!" Spyro shouted, a little stronger than he intended. So much so that Sunburn actually jumped back a bit. Spyro sighed and pressed a paw on his forehead. "Sorry, sorry. It's just. . .look, don't let what Red said get to you."

"But it's true," Sunburn growled out fiercely.

"You just said you helped get refugees to shelter," Spyro said, trying to sound encouraging, "And just because you get reckless with your powers doesn't make you a loser. That's ridiculous! I've made little mistakes too, you know. And I'm sure Red has made a few mistakes as well."

Sunburn's left eye twitched, and his long sharp talons actually dug into the ground. Spyro began to feel nervous while looking at the angry hybrid standing before him. Spyro could even see a faint red aura form around Sunburn, and he could feel the Phoenix Dragon's heat.

"Little mistakes?" he growled out at Spyro. "Consider this, hero. You fought the war with your friend Cynder, right? Well, imagine if one of your little mistakes got her killed."

Both dragons were completely silent after this revelation. Spyro could only look Sunburn in the eye, taking in the mixture of rage and grief within him. Sunburn suddenly let his head fall and stared hard at the ground.

"Sunburn. . .I didn't know. . ."

Sunburn looked up at Spyro, and was surprised to see that the purple dragon looked very sad.

"What Red said, must have really hurt you," Spyro said, "I know it would've hurt me if I were in your place."

Spyro approached Sunburn a put a paw on his shoulder.

"But here's the thing," Spyro said with a sad smile, "Red didn't know either. He just wants to whip the class into shape, I guess. So don't let him get to you. This is your chance to show you're true skills. You had to have had loads of experience, and your own awesome style. If you just follow Red's lead and focus, I'm sure you'll make him stand up and take notice."

Sunburn blinked, and stepped back from Spyro's touch. "Whoa, Spyro. I think you're too good at being a friend-."

"You can't be too goof of a friend, Sunburn. Now come here." Spyro stepped forward and reached out with his paws with the intention of giving Sunburn a rough and strong hug. However, at the last moment, Sunburn vanished in burst of fiery sparks. This caused Spyro to fall flat on his stomach onto the rocky ground.

"Hey," Spyro said in confusion as he heard squawking laughter behind him. Spyro rolled over to see Sunburn with a big smile on his beak.

"You got burned!" Sunburn sang as he suddenly pounced and playfully tackled Spyro. The two young dragons laughed as they began to romp and wrestle as their tension and worry quickly dissipated.


Flame nervously tapped his claw on the floor within the classroom. "Where are they?! Red's gonna kill them if they're late!"

Ember looked nervous as well. "I'd understand Sunburn not wanting to come back, but Spyro. . . .you don't think we scared him off, do you?"

Suddenly the doors swung open and the two dragons of the moment hastily ran in and slit to a halt next to Flame and Ember.

"Cutting it pretty close," Ember remarked.

Ember's words proved very true, because just as the pair sat down, Red entered the room. Everyone sat up straight and paid perfect attention to the Elder. Red's gaze swept the room once, and then fixed directly on Spyro. Red made his was towards the purple dragon while addressing him directly.

"Spyro. . ." Red said with interest, "Our young prodigy. Surely, the great hero who defeated the Dark Master doesn't require any lessons on control or accuracy or bringing out stronger flames, correct?"

Spyro had to gulp down a small lump in his throat as Red fixed his beady black and yellow eyes on him.

"I'm sure I can learn more, Elder," Spyro replied slowly, feeling a little nervous.

"Oh really," Red said softly, "Well then. . ." Red rasied his voice loud enough for all to see, "I suppose you already now how lucky you were, how accuracy wasn't needed for your battle, how all you and Cynder did was spit out attacks at a relatively huge target, who was nothing but an old fossil I might add."

Spyro had to bite his tongue to keep himself from angrily shouting at the Elder. Fighting Malefor was nowhere as easy as Red was letting on. True, some parts of the battle was quite frantic, and he and Cynder were lucky to be alive; but there were plenty of parts during the fight were he and Cynder had to launch precise combination attacks and counter Malefor's attacks. However, taking Flame and Ember's warnings to heart, Spyro kept his mouth shut.

"And now," Red said with a smile, "It is time for today's first humbling lesson." Red walked up to the front of the room, where a bull's eye was set up. Leading up to the bull's eye was a line of boxes with bushes growing in them. Some bushes also hung down from the ceiling by ropes, forming a narrow tunnel of greenery to the target. The bull's eye also had bushes tied to the sides as well.

"I do not want any volunteers," Red said. He then pointed directly at Spyro and said, "I want you."

Spyro exchanged glances with Ember, Flame, and Sunburn. He then got up and quickly walked up to the front of the room.

"You're an intelligent dragon," Red said, "You know what to do."

Spyro nodded and faced the bull's eye. "Yes, sir. Hit the target without burning any of the bushes."

"Think you're clever? Well, then do it," Red sneered.

Spyro was stunned at Red's sudden change in attitude, but he quickly shook it off and focused on the target in front of him.

"Okay. . ." Spyro thought, "I can do this." Spyro stood still as a statue in a battle ready stance. His feet were planted firmly on the ground and slightly spread out, and his head was bent back a bit, ready to launch his fire.

The entire class watched silently, keeping quiet enough to hear their hearts beat. Flame bit his lip. Ember covered her eyes, but peeked through anyway. Sunburn preened his feathers nervously.

And then, Spyro took a quick intake of breath, and spat out a thin fast moving burst of fire. Everyone watched in excitement as the fire shot through the green tunnel, not creating a wisp of smoke. As Spyro saw the attack head towards the bull's eye within the ring of bushes, and a sudden realization dawned on him.

"NO!" Spyro cried out. His eyes widened with horror as the burst of fire struck the bull's eyes, burst into a small ring of embers, and set the surrounding bushes on fire.

"How sad," Red said in disdain, "You're no better than Flame. You didn't think this through at all, did you? You didn't even consider the blast radius of your attack. You were supposed to pull the flames together in your throat as you brought them up, and then suck in as if you were drinking through a straw as the bolt of fire left your mouth. This would've changed the structure of the shot in such a way so that upon contact, it would create a blast perpendicular to the target, and thus creating no blast radius."

Spyro hung his head sadly as he released that he had just wasted his only chance to make a good first impression.

"So tell me, oh Purple Dragon, with all your power. Do you still believe you are superior to other dragons?"

Spyro's snapped head snapped up at this as he glared at Red in shock. Shock soon gave way to rage as Spyro suddenly whirled around and fired a Polar Bomb at the target. It exploded on contact, put out the fires, and coated the bull's eye and the surrounding bushes with a thick layer of ice.

"I do NOT think I am better than anyone!" Spyro shouted and he rounded on Red and marched over to him. Spyro looked up at the Elder and said, "You're the one who think's he's superior!"

The entire room went a silent as death. Flame bit his lip hard. Ember covered her eyes, but peeked through anyway. Sunburn nervously preened his left wing while still watching the scene unfold before him.

Spyro continued to stare into Red's eyes, not wavering in his stance. However, Spyro's confidence and nerve was slowly beginning to drain out of him as the long, agonizing seconds went by.

Red seemed remarkably calm considering the circumstances. Although his breathing was slowly getting heavier and louder, his face remained expressionless.

"Detention, Spyro," Red said sternly, "The others students will all be attempting the test you have just failed. This means there will be an abundance of scorched wood and leaves after class is over, as well as dirty floors. You will make this classroom spotless, and you will remove every single piece of debris. You will make Sunburn look lucky. NOW SIT DOWN!"

Spyro turned away from Red and quickly made his way back to his place. Sunburn, Flame, and Ember watched as Spyro plopped himself down and sat still with a miserable frown on his face.

Sunburn stared long and hard at his friend. Seeing Spyro looking so defeated and downtrodden ignited a fiery passion within Sunburn.

"Alright, Red. I hope you realize that this means war," Sunburn thought to himself, "Just you wait. The day's gonna come, when you are gonna Feel the Flame!"


After a long and humbling class in focus and precision, Sunburn stealthily teleported out of the room in the confusion that is the dismissal of a class of restless teenagers. Sunburn quickly exited the Dragon Temple and flew off in the direction of the Ruins of Warfang. Once he got there, he took a good look at the abandoned stone buildings. Sunburn eventually found a spot next to one of the towering structures. Once he was satisfied that there was enough room in front of and above him, he got into a firm stance.

"Alright," he said to himself, "It's Fire Release Technique Training time!"


By the time Spyro was finished with his detention, it was sunset. The purple dragon found himself stiffly walking out of the Dragon Temple along with Cynder, Ember, Flame, and Sparx.

"I swear," Spyro grumbled, "If he had me polish that floor for any longer, I would've worn right through it and fallen down into the basement." Spyro winced in pain due to his sore limbs.

Cynder scowled as poison began to build up in the back of her throat. "How dare he do this to you! You didn't do anything wrong! You only lashed out because he started tearing you down and insulting you!"

Spyro sighed, "I know, I know. But I still think Red's just trying to be a really tough teacher who expects perfection. If only he had a little sympathy-."

"Sympathy!?" Flame exclaimed, "Forget sympathy! Try common sense! The guy just assumes you're arrogant, puts us in unwinnable situations, and breaks us by talking! This guy is a nut!"

Sparx fluttered over to Flame and rested onto top of his head. He patted the dragon's horns lightly and said, "Aw, poor Flame and Ember. Seriously, I feel sorry for you guys. You two gotta deal with the Red Devil five days a week. Spyro only has him for two days a week. Or one day if he can change his Friday class to something else."

Cynder nodded with a thoughtful expression and said, "You know, Sparx has a point-"

"I do?! I mean, of course I do! Yeah!"

"- maybe you should change your Friday class, Spyro. I'm sure you can convince the Guardians," Cynder finished.

"Hey! Change to Earth on Fridays! That'll fix Red real good!" Ember said cheekily.

"No way," Spyro said sternly.

Ember shrugged, "Okay then, maybe Ice?"

"I'm not changing anything!" Spyro said with his head held high. "If I do that, then Red will think that I'm afraid, or that I'm a quitter. That is just not gonna happen. After all Cynder and I have been through, there's no way I'm ever gonna give up on anything! It's a part of who I am."

Spyro looked around at the group, and quickly noticed Cynder's wide eyed expression of adoration. Cynder placed her left paw over Spyro's right one, causing him to blush deeply.

"That's the old Spyro we all know," she said brightll. "And love. . ." she added within her mind.

"Wait a minute," Ember interjected, "I just realized, where's Sunburn?"


Back in the Ruins of Warfang, Sunburn reappeared in a burst of fire a few feet away from the large fire ball. The sphere of flames crashed down onto the ground a burst, scorching the stone ground black as the fire dissipated. A black mark marred the spot where he had been standing just moments before.

"Thank the *pant* Ancestors *pant* for my *pant* Immolation Teleport," Sunburn said breathlessly from all the fire he had breathed out and held steady, "It makes practicing this technique *pant* less dangerous."

Sunbrun then fell down flat on his chest and proceeded to catch his breath. After a brief rest, he got up and shook his tail feathers.

"Whew! Well, that's enough for today. I'd say it's time to hit the nest." Sunburn then got up and winged his way over to the city of Warfang.

"Just you wait, Red. Just you wait. . ."


And so, it was a very interesting month for the friends. The four Fire students found themselves focused like a homing attack on improving their Fire Element skills. Red's lessons focused on shaping the Fire Elements so that it formed snaking ribbons of fire that twirled through the air like a weightless serpent. He also demonstrated thick pillars of flame that gushed out and struck a target, but only burned straight down and within its circumference, like a giant charcoal pencil. Of course, if the students produced sloppy results while attempting these techniques, burning anything outside of the target or causing any collateral damage of any kind, Red would mince no words in expressing how unsatisfactory their attempt was.

Therefore, after every class; Ember, Flame, and Spyro would do their own accuracy training in the Dragon Dojo, attempting to create specifically shaped blast radiuses and special Fire techniques as Red instructed. Spyro would normally study his other classes independently through books after his class of the day was finished. However, he now found himself devoting most of his attention to the school of Fire with his two friends. The only time they had any spare time was during the weekends.

However, Sunburn was scarcely seen during the month. The friends would occasionally see Sunburn eating lunch at a restaurant. They asked him where he's been going and what he's been doing, but Sunburn would always just shrug, start to somewhat explain, and then gasp and point behind them while yelling something along the lines of, "Oh my gosh, an angry mob!" When everyone turned around, Sunbrun would teleport away.

Eventually, a month went by, and the students entered the classroom on another Monday.

Sunburn suddenly teleported at his spot in the class.

"Are you gonna tell us where you've-" Flame started to ask, but was cut off when Red entered the room, once again commanding silence with his presence.

Red silently walked to the stone platform, his facial expression unreadable as his staff clicked against the stone ground. The bipedal dragon banged his staff hard onto the ground three times, gaining the attention of the class. Once everyone was looking at him, Red unrolled the scroll he was holding in his left hand.

"Dear Fire Elder Red," he read aloud, "I have thought a lot about what you said to me during the first day of class. I am determined to be different, and prove that I am not the arrogant failure you made me out to be. I also hope that by earning your respect, I can convince you to reconsider the conclusion you made about Flame and Spyro, two of my good friends. I have done much training over the past month, so now I humbly ask if you might allow me to perform the Fire Release Technique in your class today. All I want is to prove myself to you, and so that I have the dedication, focus, and accuracy you desire. Please give me this chance, sir. I have learned a lot from you, and I want to show you that I, and my friends, are worth your time. Signed Sunbrun."

Red looked up from the letter and directly at Sunburn.

"Well, I cannot deny that this is a polite and well written letter," Red said, "And it was clearly written with a strong desire. . .to prove yourself. . . "

Sunburn nodded silently.

"Well then. . . we haven't got all day. . ." Red remarked.

Taking the hint, Sunburn got up and ran up to the front of the classroom.

"Thank you, Elder," Sunburn said as he bowed respectfully.

"Indeed. You may proceed now," Red replied with a brief nod.

Sunburn returned the nod, and then turned to face the class. Giving a wink to his three good friends, Sunburn got into a stable stance and bent his neck back a bit, his eyes looking straight up and his wings folded. He then began to breathe out a stream of fire. Unlike Flame's attempt, Sunburn created a thinner stable waving column of flame, apparently applying the other techniques Red had taught the class during the previous month. Sunburn was sucking his breath in slightly to pull the stream of fire back. He was also ocassioanly giving a brief puff, which sent a subtle wave through the fire stream. Eventually the waves caused the fire to become slightly bulbous at the end. Soon the fire started to roll in on itself and form a sphere. Before too long, Sunburn had created a sphere of flames three times his size.

Nearly the entire class held their breath as the fire ball increased in size further. Red looked on with great intrigue, surprised at the great amount of flame the young dragon was putting out.

"Perhaps it is his Phoenix ancestry?" Red thought, "Nevertheless, this must have require intense training. Did this young dragon seriously push himself to his limit for an entire month, just to prove himself worthy?"

Sunburn's eyes were tightly closed as he stood with his head thrown back, feeding flames into the massive sphere above him. He thought of all those mornings, all those afternoons, and all those nights of perfecting this technique. This was the time where he can finally prove that his horrible mistake was far behind him.

Everyone watched in awe as the sphere reached the size of the Guardians. Sunburn then slowly began to breathe in through his nostrils. His wings slowly unfurled and extended as the stream of fire he breathed was surrounded by a thin layer of air, invisible to the naked air. As the air began to flow up into the sphere, it slowly but surely began to shrink.

The entire class gasped and their eyes bugged out as they watched the young Phoenix Dragon carry out the complex technique.

"Oh my gosh. . . Oh my gosh!" Red thought as he stared in complete shock as the warmth from the dissipating fireball filled the room.

Sunburn opened his eyes slowly and gazed upon his handiwork. His heart leapt as he realized that he was doing it. He was finally proving himself. Sunburn's body seemed to tingle with excitement. And then, he felt warmth and power surround him.

The class gasped as a fiery aurora appeared around Sunburn.

"What is-?" Red gasped out in surprise. He could feel the fiery passion coming out of the young dragon before him. Red held out his staff, and the crystals on the end of it shone brightly like the Sun itself. Red quickly pulled his staff away, "My goodness, the passion and emotion in you. . .it can't be denied. . ."

Sunburn could feel the increase in elemental energy within him. His thoughts had drifted to Flame, to Spyro, to redeeming himself for Whirlwind. . .

Sunburn noticed that the fireball, now the size of Red, had stopped shrinking.

Red noticed this as well, and he said in a calm tone, "This whole thing certainly does matter to you. Achieving this goal has ignited a great passion within you. This is something you truly desire to achieve. I may have knocked emotion and passion, but in the end, they will always be important, perhaps that is something I have forgotten."

As Sunburn listen to what Red was saying, he was also considering his next course of action. If he were in battle, he could easily throw the fireball, but that was not what was required of him for this technique. No matter how hard he tried, he could not send up enough air to counteract the surge in Fire energy that was flowing out of his body.

Red continued, "This fire, this Grand Blaze flowing out of you, is something entirely different than the purpose of the Fire Release Technique. Something beyond it. Perhaps this is your true potential. What is certain is that dissipating your impressive fireball cannot be done at this time."

Sunburn's brow lowered as his eyes focused frustratingly up his fire column and into the fireball, which was now at equilibrium.

At this moment, Red chuckled. It wasn't a malicious or haughty chuckle. Rather, it was a good natured and amiable chuckle. "Oh, look at us. How I wished to see you all break. And you, Sunburn, who dearly wishes to prove yourself. What exactly did you expect to accomplish? Perhaps now I finally see, that what one sees as a way to destroy pride and groom humility, may mortally wound someone else' self worth and confidence. I see."

Sunburn began to feel himself getting lightheaded. The flow of oxygen into his lungs was low, and he was beginning to run out of breath. He knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up the stream of fire for very much longer. Despite his surge of energy, he still needed to breathe.

Red gave a look of pity at Sunburn, who was breathing heavily through his nose as flames continued to shoot out of his mouth and into the fireball above. "But your passion, your desire to sponge away the words I spoke to you on that day. . .has a reason I cannot see. Perhaps. . .these things cannot be seen so easily."

Red suddenly noticed that Sunburn was beginning to struggle and waver beneath the flames. Red's eyes widened in an expression of genuine worry. "Sunburn, you must listen to me," he said with concern in his voice, "Regardless of how this ends, you will have passed with flying colors. Your fireball dissipated a great deal before your Blaze came forth. You have succeeded in your endeavor. You are above this Technique. Use your Teleport to escape, and I will clean the scorch mark myself. There's no other way to do this. You have scaled the cliff, and continuing would merely cause you to leap from it and plunge to your death. Listen to me, Sunburn, you must Teleport! Whatever you do, do not punish yourself on my account! Don't let time choose for you! Don't let time-!"

BOOOOOOM!


Sunburn found himself in very same place Flame had found himself a month ago: the Medical Room.

Sunburn lay on a soft bed of cushions covered with a white sheet. Nearby was Red, pacing nervously.

"Ah. . . You're awake," the Elder said, leaning on his staff as he looked at Sunburn.

Sunburn nodded and winced dramatically, looking long and hard at his blackened scales and scorched feathers. He shuddered.

Red frowned as he gazed sympathetically at the young dragon. Red got closer to where Sunburn lay and asked, "Why, my student? You could have avoided this. You were successful in the Technique until your sudden Blaze interrupted it all. I admitted it. Why did you still attempt to complete it?"

Sunburn studied Red's mournful expression for a bit. He found that he felt a little more confident and comfortable. And as he thought back to all the hard work Red had spurred him to, and to the Blaze of power he had discovered thanks to the standard Red had set, Sunburn suddenly felt obligated to be open with this Elder.

"I didn't want to accept that. . .you were right," he said.

"Hmm?" Red remarked.

"You said I was reckless," Sunburn continued, "And that I would be a danger to those around me. You said if I were in a war zone where I had to protect someone, I would fail. And well. . ." Sunburn took a moment to swallow a lump in his throat, "That's what I did."

Red blinked his eyes solemnly. "Oh. I see. I am. . .sorry for your loss."

Sunburn sighed and shook his head, "No problem. You didn't know about that."

"Indeed," Red said with a nod, "But perhaps I had better explain myself."

Red set his staff aside and folded his hands. He took a moment to compose himself, and then said, "A while back, during the tail end of the Dark War, I was one of the Dragon Elders who defended the Artisan Lands. It turned out that I was the most powerful of the Elders. However, I wanted to further increase my power. I felt that since I was the strongest, that made me greater than the other Elders, and deserving of more power. This arrogance and pride blinded me, causing me to seek power through darker means. Namely, a being named the Sorcerer. A lizard from the caverns beneath Midnight Mountain who wielded Dark Magic. He told me that I could use Dark Magic to increase me power, and harness it for the greater good of dragonkind. I believed that I could bend this Dark Magic to my will, and use it to become the savior of this world. When I told the other Elders about it, they said Dark Magic was too dangerous."

Red looked down at his claws somberly, "I should have listened to them, but I held myself so highly, I believed that there was nothing I couldn't handle, I believed any collateral damage was of no consequence." Red clenched his fist and said, "The Sorcerer and I experimented with Dark Magic in secret. Little did I know that he was secretly corrupting me with that magic. The darkness twisted my mind, clouded my judgment, and gave me a thirst for destruction. And the next thing I knew, I had used that Dark Magic to summon a horrible monster into Artisan Lands. Corrupted by the darkness, I had the monster go on a rampage. It caused so much destruction. Thank the Ancestors the Elders formulated a plan in time. They used their powerful magic to banish the creature, and soon realized that I had been corrupted. They were able to purify me of the Dark Magic. . .and I was completely humbled. I had lost everything. My credibility, my honor, my self respect. . .and my friendship with Titan. . ."

Red put his paw on his forehead and took a deep breath. He let the long breath out and continued, "The other Elder's saw that I was filled with remorse for my actions, and they all. . .well, all but one. . .forgave me. I was allowed to go back to teaching young dragons, but I knew that knowledge of what I had done spread. I may have been mostly forgiven, but in the end, it was my arrogance that allowed the Sorcerer to corrupt me. So, I simply did not feel comfortable teaching there. I thought I could make a fresh start in Avalar, as well as make sure no one ever made the same mistake I made. However, it seems that I have made another in my . . .unorthodox teaching methods. I sought to teach the dangers of pride and not having regard for those around you. But all I did was find new ways to crush the spirits of young dragons, and make them push themselves just to ward off my putdowns."

Red held out a claw to Sunburn and gave a friendly smile. "My student," he said, "Would you please accept my apology? I now have a better perspective thanks to you. I believe I finally can challenge you and the rest of the class while leaving their self esteem intact. I ask that you simply trust me."

Sunburn blinked his now calm golden eyes at Red. He trailed his claw on the stone floor and said, "W-well. I. . .Wow, that story was deep." Sunburn reached out and gripped Red's claw in a firm handshake. "We're movin' ahead, sir," he said with a smile.

"Excellent," Red said with a smile, "Now, I'll give you a hand dressing those wings and removing those scorched scales."

Sunburn chuckled, "Oh yeah, about that. . ." There was a sudden burst of flames, and Sunburn was just as clean and pristine as he was that morning.

"What in the-?!" Red shouted, recoiling in shock.

"The perks of being part Phoenix! You got burned!" Sunburn shouted and laughed.

Red kept a straight face. "Hmmph. Quite the sense of humor. There's a time and a place for everything."

Sunburn chuckled nervously, "Heh-heh, yes sir."

"Luckily, this was the time and place," Red said.

Sunburn looked up at Red, and managed to catch a small grin appear on his face as he turned to leave.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow, Sunburn," he said as he exited the room.


The next day, Sunburn sat with a confident smile in the class, having kept silent on the subject of Red and the aftermath of his attempt at the Fire Release Technique.

"That guy is tight lipped," Ember remarked.

"More like 'tight beaked'!" Flame joked.

Red then entered the room as usual, although there seemed to be something different about him. He was still very serious and professional, however the imposing aura he once had was no longer there.

Red gazed at his students and said, "I have pushed this class very hard. I have drilled the dangers of arrogance, pride, and recklessness into your skulls. I have dished out nearly impossible tasks meant to humble you. However, what I neglected to do is explain why I chose those teaching methods. A very bad mistake on my part. For one thing you must understand, is that within all of you is incredible potential. I see in all of you, something wonderful. Something amazing. Something that can achieve great things. Each and every one of you can benefit dragonkind with your Fire Elements. You can be warriors, heroes, blacksmiths, artists, and so on and so on. Think of that. Remember that."

The young fire dragons all exchanged intrigued glances at this. They all suddenly felt something that had eluded them for the entirety of the past month: self confidence and self-fulfilling motivation.

"Which is why," Red continued, "I felt the need to come down hard in order to keep you in a hardworking, noble, humble attitude as your powers increased. My intentions were to protect you all from the catastrophic mistakes other dragons made when they exalted themselves too high and abused their power."

Red banged his staff on the stone floor and said, "Nevertheless, I can honestly say that you all have grown stronger and done so well. So, this class is going to be different. You see, not only do you have control over the Fire Elements with you. You also can influence the flow of any flames around you. You can raise them, stretch them, spin them, form them into polygons or lines, the only limit is your imagination."

Red pointed out the door with his staff and said grandly, "Outside, I've had a few moles set up a large bonfire. I'll give you the detailed instructions, and you may each have a go at it. Well, what are you all waiting for? It's yours!"

All of the dragons burst into smiles as they all ran out the door.

"What did you do?" Ember asked Sunburn in amazement.

The Phoenix Dragon smiled and shrugged, "Long story, But how about we just go and fire it up!"

"I'm all for that!" Flame said as he ran ahead of Sunburn and Ember.

"Blazing through!" Sunburn shouted as he Phoenix Dashed past Flame.

"Hey! You guys! Wait up!" Ember shouted, "Uggh! Boys!"


"I MISSED THAT!?" Spyro exclaimed.

The group of six friends were in a restaurant in Warfang that night enjoying dinner. The three fire dragons related the day's special class to Cynder, Spyro, and Sparx.

The dragonfly laughed as he lay on the table and said, "Oh boy! Ah-ha-ha! And Spyro was stuck listening to Volteer talk on and on and on! Ah-ha-ha-ha."

"Must - resist - urge - to - dump - drink on him!" Spyro thought angrily.

"So, Sunburn," Cynder said, "What exactly did you and Red talk about?"

Sunburn shrugged, "Eh, just stuff about his past. But I don't think he'd want me to squawk around town about it."

Flame nudged Sunburn on the shoulder, "Whatever. All that matters is that you finally tamed the teacher with that incredible Fire Ball! Awesome, Sunny!"

Sunburn eye's widened briefly. "S-Sunny?" he said.

"Yeah, Sunny. You don't mind, do you?" Flame asked.

Sunburn quickly composed himself and shrugged it off. "A name is a name," he said nonchalantly.

"Alright then," Flame said, "Okay Spyro, so here's all the details of Fire Manipulation-."

"I'll jump in whenever he gets something wrong," Ember remarked.

"Ha-ha, very funny! I paid way more attention than you did!" Flame shot back.

And so the entire talked about their day, their classes, and the new teacher that night. And once they were done and returned home to get a good nights rest, Sunburn found himself high above Warfang looking up into the starry sky. He then spoke one single name to the heavens.

"Whirlwind. . ."


A/N: Okay, this one took a lot of work and a lot of time to write. I had to introduce two (three) new characters here in a believable way that wouldn't feel like a rush job. I hope you liked it. Also, I put two big dialogue references to a special video game in this chapter. Here's a hint, the first version of the game was a Half Life 2 Mod.

Get ready, because next time is the Season Finale! It's "Wind and Shadow"! Next time! And later after that, the Season 2 Premier of "Keldeo and the Swords of Justice!"

C it first! On Cartoon Network!