Chapter 10: Two blazes: Red and Blue

Sorry that this chapter is out so late! But I had injuries and revision that prevented me from completing this chapter. Hope you guys like the extra length of it!

Special thanks again to B1ackbird! Who is my new beta and has helped so much with this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any canon characters or locations from the Spyro franchise, however any OC's are mine.

And with that the fight had begun.

But it began slowly, the two dragons circling like cats, their bodies low to the floor, as they both worked out their plan of attack. Flame knew he was at a rather big disadvantage in this fight. Ash had more combat experience, was stronger than him, had a longer reach and was almost as fast as him.

Flame recalled his teachings, never attack first unless the opportunity presented itself. He had to get in close and use his superior speed and smaller form to his advantage.

He wanted to, No, he needed to win this. He hadn't even shown his combat skills to either Zap or Telsa, and he wasn't about to embarrass himself by losing.

"Anytime soon Ash?" he taunted.

Ash just chuckled. "All in due time Flame."

Flame knew that this taunting was all supposed to lower his caution and make him more vulnerable to his brother's assault. He wouldn't let that happen.

Just after he finished speaking Ash rapped his tail on the ground. Flame quickly glanced at the sudden movement made by his brother. Holding his attention for a split second. Long enough for him to strike.

He pounced, taking advantage of Flames momentary distraction to strike. Flame was too quick though. Springing back before Ash's paw slammed into the ground. And in no time at all, Ash was on the attack.

Flame inwardly cursed himself for falling for such a simple trick as he defended himself. Ash swung his paw upwards for an overhead strike, but Flame swiftly danced to the right of the descending paw.

He then had to contend with Ash's complicated paw combos. Left, down, right up his paws flurried, Flame just dodged and blocked flicking out his paws to counter Ash's multiple combos, his body twisting and turning to anticipate every attack.

However he noticed that Ash's attacks lagged slightly, he seemed slower. That's when he realised: "He's going easy on me! I'll show him!"

Ash swiped a paw upwards, as he did Flame dodged to the left and lowered his head, attempting to butt him into the air.

Ash anticipated this and lowered his own head to counter. Both of their heads collided with massive force. Ash was thrown back, claws screeching in protest as they gouged thick lines on to the floor, his momentum slowly dissipating and he finally stopped.

Now it was Flame's turn to go on the attack. He lowered his head and charged towards his brother. Just before he collided, Flame used the momentum of his charge to swipe upwards with his right paw.

Ash nevertheless just flicked out his right paw and easily smacked it out of the way. Flame lashed out with his own paws, favouring short sharp swipes, but every move he made, Ash just slapped aside.

"I need to unbalance him." Flame thought as he attacked again and again his brother's seemingly impenetrable defence. Flame knew he needed to knock Ash over, or the fight would go badly for him.

He swung his body sideways and his tail's flame blade flew horizontally at Ash's front legs, the blade whistling maliciously through the air. Ash jumped up onto his back legs to dodge the blade, flaring out his wings to stabilise himself.

Now was the time to strike. Flame aimed an overhead swipe at Ash, who countered by crossing his paws, stopping the attack. Flame now knew he was defenceless, and swung his other paw in a massive uppercut.

He didn't expect what happened next though.

Ash threw his body backwards, planting his wings on the ground to support himself. He executed a backwards roll on his wings. As he rolled his tail shot out the blades sliding back, and ensnared Flame's throat with the four pronged claw. The momentum of his back flip sent Flame flying across the room and straight into the wall.

An audible wince could be heard from the two spectator's as Flame slowly peeled of the wall and fell to the floor, groaning from the shock. He was needless to say, very angry.

"That damn tail! It always gets in my way! Well let's see him try to stop this!"

Flame turned to see his bother's piercing gaze, trying to anticipate what he would do next as he launched himself into the air, flapping his wing downwards. Flames wings curled inwards when he had gained enough height and he through his paws forwards so that his body rolled forwards incredibly quickly.

He spun forwards, his tail slicing through the air, as he executed a move he and Ash called, 'The Screw Attack.'

The attack was not supposed to land, but to unbalance. Sure enough as his death roll thundered towards his brother, Ash leapt backwards to safety.

"Perfect." Flame uncoiled his form as he hit the floor, landing in front of his brother, and swinging at him with sharpened claws. But just like before Ash just hit the incoming paw aside. Flame was soon attacking with ferocity and grace, hoping to find an opening in his brothers impenetrable defence. To his utter surprise, he was gaining ground quickly, Confidence filled Flame, as was only a matter of time until he landed a blow.

It was after he swung his tail low, hoping to trip up Ash that he realised his mistake.

He had backed his brother up against the wall and fallen right into Ash's trap. Ash was a master at using the environment around him to his advantage. Now with his back against the wall. Ash was far deadlier.

As the tail came swooping towards him, Ash back flipped perfectly over the incoming threat, missing the incoming blade by a hairs length, and pressed his back legs against the wall. Ash pushed off the wall and shot towards Flame.

In slow motion, Flame saw the golden dragon soar towards him, head hung low, and he knew he couldn't defend himself in time. His head connected to Flames chest, knocking all of the air out of him, as he flew backwards and crashed into the floor. Flame saw double as his vision readjusted after the shock of the impact, and he breathed deeply to recover the air that had been lost. Then he slowly rose, readying himself.

He looked up a split second before Ash's head impacted again, catching him by surprise. His brother's head suddenly shot backwards and he was thrown skywards, the air rushing past him as the pain in his chest intensified.

He spun through the air, trying to regain his balance. Flame unfurled his wings and stopped himself from going any further. But he still wasn't ready for what came next.

Ash hurtled through the air after him, and caught him under the snout with a massive uppercut. The punch being so powerful that Flame flipped backwards. As Flame spun, his heart fell as when he returned full circle he caught sight of his brother, but all he saw was Ash's tail descending towards him. The steel mace impacted with his head with a bang and shot him downwards. As Flame saw the rapidly approaching floor, he knew he had lost.

The impact was hard. Not enough to break bones, but hard enough that Flame certainly felt like all of his bones were broken. A great weight landed onto his back, and something gripped his neck. He shook and squirmed but it was no use, the grip was unbreakable. Flame went limp, signifying his submission.

He had lost. Again. Those words rang in his head. They stung him. Every time he fought his brother, he just came crashing down. All he wanted was to win, just once, but he never got to. His brother was one of the only dragons who could ever beat him in combat. Losing made Flame feel like he was weak, useless.

As his brother released him and held out a paw, Flame grasped it and pulled himself back onto his feet. One thing haunted his mind though. "Ash, why did you go easy on me?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ash POV

"So, he did notice." Ash thought to himself.He had tried to hide it from Flame, but his brother must have noticed his lagging blows. He had hoped to avoid this but….

Ash chuckled, which only confused his brother even more.

"The truth is Flame, I wasn't going easy on you. I'm absolutely exhausted."

Flame was incredulous: "You idiot! I should have known you would fight no matter what condition you were in. Why didn't you say anything?"

Ash didn't answer that, he just hung his head low. Truthfully, he just wanted to cheer his brother up. Even if he wasn't back up to full strength, he knew he could still hold his own in a fight. Ash knew that Flame always loved a good fight, even when he was a hatchling Flame was always trying to bite or scratch him at times. "Cheer up Flame, now let's check on our judges, and see what they thought." He said playfully as he placed his paw on his brother's shoulder.

Sighing, Flame yielded, and the two brothers turned towards the two spectators.

The first thing that came to his mind when he and Flame saw Zap and Telsa: Amazement. The brother and sister were staring at them with faces of awe. They seemed like they would have stayed that way for a while had he and Flame not spoken. "So Zap, Telsa, how did we do?"

Zap's face broke out into one of the largest grins that Ash had ever seen. In a voice that betrayed his excitement:

"That. Was. Amazing! I've never seen anyone fight like you before! Where in the world did you two learn to execute moves like that!"

"From a very old, and very experienced dragon. Whose training regime just about kills you." Answered Flame.

"Killing to you, you mean." Ash jokingly replied, tapping his brother lightly on the shoulder with his paw.

Zap chuckled: "I'll see you guys later, I've got to go tell Spyro about this. Come on sis!"

Speaking of Telsa, she seemed quite happy, but instead of speaking, she just nodded curtly to both of them before joining her brother. Zap opened the door curtly for his sister as she walked through, and he followed behind her, closing the door as he went.

"Is she always so reserved Flame?" Ash asked curiously.

"Yeah, she's a bit jittery around anything new. Just shy as all. Anyways, all this fighting has gotten me starving, how about we get something to eat." Licking his lips voraciously.

Now that he mentioned it, Ash was pretty hungry, his stomach growling in protest to its lack of nutrition. Flame's proposal sounded like a good idea.

"Sure, why not." He replied with a shrug.

Both of the dragons walked out through large doors, and once again strolled down the massive corridors of the temple. Before long they took a door to the right, and the brothers found themselves on a balcony suspended over the city of Warfang. But Ash noticed a change in his brother: He was smirking.

"Follow me Ash, try to keep up." With a tone of confidence in his voice.

Without hesitation, the red dragon leapt off of the balcony, and soared towards the city. A few moments after, Ash took off in pursuit. As they rushed through the air, Ash took a look at the winding city streets and noticed the small inhabitants rushing all over the place carrying wood and other such building materials. Then he realised they were moles, the small creatures sometimes greeting one another before continuing their associated tasks, such as rebuilding destroyed structures. Before finally the two dragons effortlessly dropped towards the city's centre.

Once both of them touched down, Flame led Ash in an easterly direction. As he did, he took in his surroundings. Warfang seemed to be mostly intact at this point at the city, over in the distance near the walls however, was a different story. On the intact sections of the wall, he spied maybe six dragons in total, the same amount sent on that rescue mission. Despite with the few moles scuttling around, the city seemed….. Quiet. Nothing like the bustling streets full of dragons he was normally used to at his home. This brought a question to his mind. "Flame. How many dragons are there in Warfang?"

Flame eyes narrowed as he calculated the question, "Hmm. Well, not counting us, Spyro, Cynder or the guardians…. Eleven.

"Eleven? So the six adults, Telsa and Zap make eight. Who are the other three?"

Flame scratched the back of his head after Ash had said that. A sure sign that he was nervous. "They're….. other friends of mine that you haven't met….. But hopefully soon there will be a few more dragons around anyway. After the war ended, a few cheetahs went out to scout for other settlements. Hopefully they'll be back soon. And here we are."

The building in question was a stone building, at the same height level as the other structures around it, so about two floors. Unlike the other buildings around it, this one seemed well kept, but not the best looking. A swing sign on the front read:

"The Flaming Flagon?" Ash spoke out loud.

"Yeah the name choice is bad, and the looks outside are not the best, but that's not why I come here, come on." inclining his head towards the entrance.

As the two of them walked inside, Ash found himself staring at expensive oak panelled walls and floors, with matching tables and chairs. A fireplace roared in an opposite wall. The strange thing was however, that no one seemed to be around.

"Wow, this place is fancy."

No sooner had he said that, that behind a small desk to the left of them a small mole walked out from the door behind it. He was dressed in a small suit with a bow tie. Which looked horrible, but who could blame him for trying. The mole spread his arms out when his beady eyes caught the two dragons.

"There's my favourite customer, how ya doing Flame?" The mole spoke in an unfamiliar accent. He put extra emphasis on a's and seemed unable to pronounca any u's.

"Not too shabby Fernando. Just here for some food, when its quiet during the day." Flame replied. The way he acted towards the mole it seemed, suggested to Ash that these two knew each other well. As they both reacted warmly to one another.

The mole now looked at Ash, "So who are you good sir? Flame's date? Hahahaha, I'm just joking. I've been trying to set up that crimson hothead with a nice, lady friend." Flame was now smiling slightly, with an obvious blush. "But nooo." The mole continued. "He could have any colour of the rainbow, but he just won't have it. Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink…"

"Okay, okay Fernando enough jokes." Flame said, with a little agitation. Ash however, did not inquire further.

"I'm just messing with ya. Okay, now down to business. What can I get you boys?" The mole leaned over his desk to stare at the two with an inquisitive look.

"I'll have the, roast chicken and steamed vegetables, with lemonade please." Flame replied curtly.

Fernando nodded in approval, "Your usual then Flame? Nice choice. And what about you sir?" He addressed Ash.

"Ash. I'll have the same please." He alsp replied curtly.

"Two of the same eh? That'll be….. Four red gems then boys." The mole counting the amount out on his fingers.

It was then that Ash realised that he had no money, and the gem currency confused him terribly anyway, he was more used to a coin system. Feeling rather embarrassed he was about to tell the mole. But he saw Flame reach into a pouch hidden under his left wing, and pull out four red gems, which he passed to Fernando. The mole receiving the gems graciously.

"Splendid, now if you boys will take a seat, I'll be with you shortly."

And with that, he whisked himself back through the door from which he came. Whilst Ash and Flame seated themselves at a nearby table. The restaurant was pretty quiet, due to the two being the only ones seated in the whole place. Ash felt now was the perfect time to ask his brother, a question that had been on his mind the whole time he had been back to this world. "Flame. When do we go home?"

Flames eyes closed momentarily, and he exhaled a deep breath. "I was afraid you'd ask that. Ash, right now I don't want to make the long journey west, and find a smouldering wreck."

"You really think the Dark army could get past the defences, and the army?"

"No, not truly. But if only ten thousand of the Dark army were besieging Warfang when Malefor returned. Then I shudder to think how many were attacking Alamor and the Royal Army."

Sympathy dawned on Ash. He now understood Flame's predicament. He just didn't want to know what had happened to home. "I understand Flame. We won't go back now. But we will go back. That I promise."

As if on cue, Fernando now appeared, with two metal trays, and two glasses full of bubbling liquid. How he held it all in his small paws, Ash didn't know. "Good sirs, your dinner is served."

He deposited one tray and one glass to each of the two dragons. He lifted the lids on the trays to show steaming green vegetables, and two glistening brown chickens. All of which smelled exquisite.

"Enjoy ya meal boys."

And with that Fernando once again disappeared behind his counter. Flame licked his lips and picked up the cutlery, ready to tuck into his meal. But before he could Ash interrupted: "Hold up Flame, Before we tuck in, I say we toast."

"Toast? To what?"

Ash now picked up his glass: "To the two of us still living. To us, the two blazes, Red and Blue, still burning on no matter what the world throws at us. And to the brave soldiers back home, hopefully still battling on against all odds."

Flame now grinned at this proposal, and picked up his own glass. "Now that I can toast to. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The two dragons reached forward to clink their glasses together before returning to their delicious meal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile in a location far to the west

The forest ahead was the last place anyone wanted to go. The dead black trees with massive branches, the strange noises coming from within, and the minimal light of the night all attributed to the creepiness of this dead place.

This was what was arrayed before the two young adult dragons standing at the forests edge, one a light red, one yellow and dark blue. Both with spiralling horns, and both clad in silver armour, which even in the limited light of the night still glistened. Brightly.

"Well Faren you'd better call command and tell them that we're here. Not for long hopefully….." said the yellow dragon, the armour shifting slightly over his large chest.

The red dragon flicked the switch of a very small metal protrusion on his armour's left shoulder, inside which contained a white crystal.

"Castle this is patrol Charlie, come in." He spoke in a clear voice.

"Patrol Charlie this is castle reading you loud and clear. Send message over." A distinct male voice replied.

"Castle we're at the last known location, and are about to commence mission."

"Copy that Charlie. Proceed with mission as ordered. Contact us with any developments you see. Happy hunting, Castle out."

The red dragon flicked the switch again and then turned to his companion. "Come on Cain, let's go."

"I hate woods…" His shoulders stooping as the expression on his face turned to annoyance.

And with that the two dragons entered the malicious forest in front of them. The terrain was bumpy, with mounds appearing every few metres. The trees above them splayed branches everywhere, meaning that flying was out of the question. There was little visibility. But enough light came from the full moon overhead, the light penetrating the thick layer of black branches above.

"Hey Faren, uhhhhh, do you mind telling me the specifics of the mission?" Cain spoke half serious-half jokingly.

Faren groaned as he heard this, "You slept through the briefing didn't you? One of these days Cain, I am going to report you. We're on a search and rescue op, after we lost contact with a six man scout team two days ago. This is their last known contact location."

"Their communications guy probably just broke his bloody crystal."

"They had two men with crystals. That's why we are supposed to find them and report back to command. Too bad they couldn't spare any more though. I would have liked another two guys."

"Roger that." Cain replied refocusing on his surroundings. Just then, the two of them saw a slight increase in light up ahead. "Clearing up ahead, let's see if they went through here, I haven't seen any of their tracks at all." said Faren.

The two dragons kept on trudging through the forest, until they both broke through into the clearing. What they saw, shocked them to the core.

"Ancestors above!" gasped out Cain.

They had found the scout team, but in no way had they imagined that this was what had happened to them.

It was a massacre. The six dragons lay all dead in different parts of the clearing, all with horrific wounds. One had half of his face torn off. Another had been speared with his own tail blade, which had been severed from his tail. But by far the most horrific, was a dragon quite close to them, who had literally been torn in half, his upper torso splayed on the ground.

Faren raised a shuddering claw to his shoulder, and flicked the switch their. "C-Castle." He said, his voice shaking. Gulping, he continued: "This is Patrol Charlie come in."

No response. "Castle this is Patrol Charlie, come in!" He said a little more forcefully this time. Again, there was no response. It was then he realised that somehow the signal was not getting through, or that command could not respond.

"Castle in the blind. This is Patrol Charlie. We have found the missing scout team. All dead. I repeat, all dead. Request immediate reinforcements to our current position near the teams last known point of communication. Charlie out."

He turned to Cain's horror stricken face. "We need to find out what did this, check the bodies for any signs."

Nodding, Cain walked picked his way over to the right, careful not to tread on anything. Faren walked over to the other side of the clearing, to check on the furthest body.

This blue dragon, he now saw, had been killed by asphyxiation, due to his throat having been torn out. His armour was shredded from multiple three score wounds, that seemed to have ripped through the hard steel as if it were paper. When Faren looked closer at the wounds he noticed something. The three score wounds were claw marks. And not just any claw marks. They seemed to be…. Dragon claw marks?

He immediately dismissed the idea. No sane dragon would attack these soldiers. And even if it did, there were six of them. But then he realised something which he had missed before.

There were no enemy bodies.

He now knew that they needed to get out of here, fast. As he spun around, he noticed Cain was lying on the ground.

He wasn't moving.

Fear taking hold of his heart. Faren rushed over to the other side of the clearing to check on his friend. Cain's eyes were glazed over in milky white. His neck had been broken, and teeth marks, oozing crimson blood, ran along his neck. Despite all this, Faren still checked for a pulse. There was none.

Cursing and slamming his paw on the ground, tears began to roll down his eyes as he stared at the broken body of his old friend. He closed his white eyes in an act of respect of the body.

"Rest in peace old friend."

His sorrow turned to anger and rage. Whatever had killed Cain was most likely still here, skulking in the shadows. Whatever it was, he wasn't just going to kill it. He was going to burn it until nothing remained but ash and cinders. "Whatever you are! Come and face me! Or are you to cowardly hiding in the shadows!?" He cried out at this cold malicious killing ground.

Suddenly, he felt a change. There was a slight wind in the air, as if announcing the killer's arrival. In the centre of the clearing, a dark mist seeped out of the ground. And something rose from the earth.

It was a black dragon, about the size of a 16 year old adolescent. It rose out of the earth vertically, its black wings splayed out, and oozing the dark mist. Its form was strange. Faren could see it, and yet it shifted ever so slightly, as if this dragon was not yet complete. On the end of it's tail was a wicked black scythe like blade. Two curled horns, like a ram's, protruded from its head. It held its position for a moment. Hovering, completely still like a phantom. And then it opened its eyes. Two devilish violet orbs that seemed to bore into Faren's very soul.

But true to his promise, this thing would burn. Roaring, Faren exhaled a searing inferno that bathed the black dragon in scorching orange flames, singeing the ground and anything near this monster. He could not see the dragon any more. Had he killed it? "Surely it can't be that easy?"

Sure enough, something slammed into his back and sent him flying into the other side of the clearing. He gasped as the air was knocked out of him as he hit the ground roughly. He turned sharply to find the black dragon, unscathed, staring at him with an emotionless expression.

"So that's how you want to play huh? Fine, I'll just tear you to shreds!" Unleashing a roar, Faren charged towards his opponent and leaped into the air, soaring towards the dragon and aiming to crush its skull. He was so close, his claws nearly touching the thing's head. But his paws touched only air as he landed.

"What the?" The black dragon now stood just a metre in front of him, staring at him with a blank expression.

Faren sung at it with his claws in a mad frenzy, unleashing blows that no opponent should have survived. But this was no ordinary opponent. It moved with a speed that Faren thought impossible. Dodging every single blow that was thrown at him, moving its whole body within the span of a second. That's when a soul crushing terror took hold and Faren knew he would never defeat this thing.

As Faren swung an overhead blow, the black dragon grabbed it with his own paw around the wrist and unbelievably, pushed it and a growling Faren back with a magnitude of strength that should not have been in a body that size. The dragon head butted him, stunning Faren and slashing two diagonal swipes across his chest with unbelievable speed, the claws slicing through the hardened steel like it was butter. Before Faren could even let out a cry of pain , it turned, slamming its tail into him with bone crunching force, sending him flying into a tree.

Faren's whole body exploded with pain as he landed, but he didn't cry out. He looked down at his chest to see the eviscerated ripped flesh, with red blood pouring out. That was when he knew that he was going to die here. And he would never see his family again. "I'm sorry Mom, Dad, Lowren. I'm sorry I couldn't make it home…."

Suddenly a claw closed around his throat and lifted him choking into the air. As he stared into this monster's emotionless eyes, he needed to know one thing before he died:

"Why?" He gasped out

That's when he saw the first emotion register in this dragon: curiosity. It tilted its head sideways, as if wondering as to why its victim had asked that question. Then, its eyes displayed cruel amusement as it displayed a row of razor sharp fangs.

"Feed…" It hissed before with lightning speed its head clamped around the red dragon's neck. Faren let out a horrible scream of pain.

A scream that echoed through the empty woods, never to be heard again…..

Hope you enjoyed that longer chapter! Please leave a review if you can!