Chapter 9: Famous Last Words
Returning to the temple…
They all rush into the temple, wanting to get Flame back so he can rest.
Ignitus' eyes widened as he saw his son being carried in, barely awake. "What happened?" he said, concerned.
"He got into a bit of a… disagreement with Cynder," Sparx replied.
"What?" Ignitus looked shocked.
"Yeah…" Spyro said to him, looking at Flame, "He hurt his back pretty badly I think."
"Let me have a look at him!" Volteer jumped in.
Volteer inspected Flame, who was now on the ground. He looked from his head down to the tip of his tail, quickly. He started to press on certain areas around his body.
"Nngh," Flame let escape from his mouth, indicating that it hurt when Volteer pressed down on his lower back.
Volteer continued, until he pressed down on Flame's left wing.
"Aaagh!" Flame yelped in pain.
Volteer raised an eyebrow, "Ah yes, he's badly sprained his left wing. Bruised, bent, wounded, damaged-"
"I see nothing has slowed that electric tongue of yours, Volteer," Cyril observes.
Volteer gives a sheepish smile, and continues, "Well, what I'm trying to say is, due to the damage to his wing, and what looks like to be a concussion, he'll need to stay back for the next part of your journey," he says, looking at Spyro and Sparx.
They both look down at Flame, sadly.
"I guess you're right," Spyro says, "He should rest."
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Terrador is the last guardian that Spyro must rescue. The earth guardian who is being held prisoner in Munitions Forge.
Before they all head out to Munitions Forge, Spyro must master the ice element from Cyril. Once he does that, they leave to continue their journey.
"Oh why didn't I stay on Tall Plains, I'm a big deal there!" Sparx complains.
"Maybe there's a tribe on Munitions Forge you can save too," Spyro says while rolling his eyes.
Sparx replies, "Yeaah, but there's always something special about the first tribe you save, ya know?"
Munitions Forge is the home of a massive volcano. And it looks like it won't be long until it's ready to blow. There's hot rocks and lava flying everywhere. Spyro and Sparx have to rescue Terrador before the whole island burns down.
The two boys meet one of the locals, which are called the Manweersmalls.
Sparx whispers to Spyro, "Man, he is small…"
Mole-Yair, the leader of the Manweersmalls, gives them useful information on how to find Terrador. He's being kept in the centre of the volcano.
There are many apes on munitions forge, but the three of them manage to find a place that's free of enemies. In this place, there's a large mysterious bell. It's so mysterious looking that Spyro just HAS to ring it. Seconds later, the bell falls on top of Spyro.
Sparx yells, "Spyro! Are you okay, buddy?" There's no reply.
Sparx gets a worried look on his face, "Hey listen, forget about those cracks I made earlier about your… being purple and… stupid and fat…okay? Just get outta there, Spyro."
The bell started to shake a little bit. Sparx starts to back away from it and BOOM! Spyro blasts his way out. Sparx gets a big smile on his face.
"Did you say something, Sparx?" Spyro asks calmly.
Sparx looked embarrassed, "Me? No, I was just…talking out loud."
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Back at the temple…
Ignitus has carried Flame to his old room, and laid him down on his old bed. Before he leaves the room, he turns around and looks at Flame as he sleeps. He's grown so much… He's turned into a very strong, young dragon. A small tear rolls down his face as he thinks about how much as happened. He's so grateful that Flame is alive, after spending all these years thinking that he was gone forever.
Ignitus returns to Cyril and Volteer. He sits in his old spot, and they sit in theirs. This room, the room with the pool of visions, is where they used to spend all their time together as guardians.
"Well," Cyril begins, "I bet we never imagined this happening again."
Volteer smiled, but Ignitus didn't.
"I think we should save this conversation for when Terrador returns," Ignitus suggested.
He loved Cyril and Volteer, as they were some of his closest friends, but a part of him has always given more respect to Terrador than anyone else. Terrador was different… he was special. Ignitus and Terrador had been friends since they were children, and they knew each other so well. He really wasn't in the mood to celebrate until Terrador was there with them.
Volteer agreed, "Yes, Ignitus. You're right, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves just yet."
A few hours later…
Flame wakes up. Ugh…my head hurts. He looks around and sees where he is. The sight is all too familiar to him. My old room… He slowly gets up. Ow, my wing. He suddenly remembers what's going on. I'm so stupid. Why would I even try to go up against Cynder. My dad must think I'm an idiot.
He left the room, and made his way out to the balcony. It's where he always went when he was young. When he was sad, when he was happy, when he was lonely, or when he was with a friend, the balcony was always the place to go. He loved looking out at the city, watching everyone move around, living their lives. Unfortunately, there was no city left to look at. Still, he looked out. Not thinking about anything, just looking.
Not long after, Ignitus walked out onto the balcony as well. Flame looked back at him, surprised. He quickly turned his back, and looked down. Please don't come and talk to me…. please don't…. Flame pleaded.
Not saying a word, Ignitus sat right beside Flame and looked out at what little of the city was left with him. Flame kept staring at the ground.
After about 30 minutes, Ignitus broke the silence, "How do you feel?"
Flame didn't say anything. His wide eyes didn't move from the ground.
Ignitus knew why he wasn't talking. He hates me. He hates what I did to him. I treated him so badly. Why would he want to speak to me? Maybe he thinks I'd hurt him again. Ignitus wanted to make things right between Flame and himself.
Ignitus began to apologize for what he had done to Flame when he was younger, "Flame, listen-"
"I feel okay," Flame stopped him, "My wing hurts, but other than that I'm…I'm okay." He lied, he wasn't okay, but he didn't feel comfortable talking about his feelings with his dad.
Ignitus thought it might be best to leave it at that for tonight, "Okay, Flame." He gave a warm smile, but Flame wasn't looking.
They both continued to look out.
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Spyro and Sparx continued and they spot a few apes, talking about going into the centre of the volcano, where Terrador is. They decided to follow them down the train tracks on one of the karts.
"You don't know how to drive this thing!" Sparx exclaims.
Spyro replies, "It's on rails, how hard can it be?"
Sparx shakes his head, "Ouf, famous last words…" But they decide to go on it anyway.
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"Aaaahhhhh!" They both scream in unison as the kart flies off of the rails and into a lava pit.
They watch as the kart sinks into the lava. Then, they look at each other and quickly walk away like nothing happened.
Finally, they reach the centre of the volcano. They see Terrador and they notice that Cynder hasn't come yet. Terrador is a big green dragon. He has a dark green body with beige spines and wings.
The three boys must battle the conductor of the train to rescue Terrador. This is one of their hardest battles yet. Once again, they succeed and they rescue Terrador, except this time, they don't head straight for home.
