Ch. 10: Darkus' Past and Kaos' Mistake

Kaos was wrong. Darkus was a real dragon. The thing was, his scales were thicker than Kaos thought they were, meaning not much heat escaped through his skin. This gave Darkus the double effect of having a natural armour covering almost his entire body, and it trapped enough heat inside him to supercharge his fire-breathing. The only downside of that was that it made his scales cold to the touch, making simple-minded jokes like Kaos believe he was cold-blooded.

This was what was going through Darkus' mind when he heard Kaos' rant about him. That dungeon was a lot less sound-proof than he thought it was.

In all honesty, Darkus had nothing but contempt for his step-brother. Kaos was a complete joke, especially compared to their mother.

According to his mother, Darkus had been an abandoned baby dragonet she had found on the outskirts of Dragon's Peak. His mother being nowhere in sight, she took the little dragon in.

She had laced his premature, undeveloped DNA with that of the legendary purple dragons, including Spyro, fused with liquid Petrified Darkness. Hence his resemblance to the great Skylander. Darkus wasn't as powerful as a true purple dragon, but he was like a knock-off of one; not quite as good as the real thing, but closer to and better than everything other than the real thing, and he had some dark abilities even the original Spyro didn't have.

Darkus couldn't remember his real parents, but he did have one thing that Kaos' mother had said had been around his front-right ankle when she found him: a curious leather strap with a very small clock set in it. Neither Darkus, nor Kaos or his mother had any idea what it was, but scratched on the inside of the clock were the letters 'CA'. He could only assume they were the initials of his long-lost father, or maybe mother. So he wore it everywhere.

Darkus didn't blame Kaos's mother for deliberately changing his DNA. It had made him more powerful and given him an innate knowledge of several abilities and powers he never could have hoped to even attempt without her assistance. And she was the closest thing to family he had ever known.

Darkus didn't feel bad about taking over Kaos' tower as he walked towards it. It was how his mother had brought him up. "If you want something, take it. Never let anything stand in your way," Her voice echoed in his mind. But sometimes he wondered why it was so, because if everyone took what they wanted like that, nobody would ever get anything. He had once asked her about that. "It's a matter of being strong enough to take what you want. Lots of people aren't strong enough. But if you want to get anywhere in life, my dear Darkus, you have to be,"

Kaos was weak. Darkus wasn't. A sly smile crept across the dragon's face at the latest thoughts. If Kaos wasn't weak, he wouldn't have let his mother and Darkus just walk right in and take over. If Kaos wasn't weak, he wouldn't have let Darkus take control of his tower. If Kaos wasn't weak, he'd be doing something rebellious, something to get his mother and Darkus out of his castle. Something like -

A loud clang echoed through the castle. It was a sound Darkus knew all too well, for he heard it every time the mother let him into a captive purple dragon's cage to absorb more of their DNA. Darkus derived a sick, twisted pleasure from making the other being scream. It wasn't strictly necessary, but Darkus enjoyed it. Then he realised what the clang meant.

Five minutes earlier . . .

Kaos quietly snuck down the stairs to the lower dungeon where the prisoners were kept. It was rather empty, neither Kaos or his mum were the type to take prisoners. But an exception had been made for Spyro. He had been evilised, but they weren't taking chances with a being of his calibre.

Spyro was suspended in midair with clamps around all four of his legs, his tail, his neck, and his muzzle. There was a thick coil of rope around his waist, holding his wings in place against his sides.

Kaos tapped a button and a giant boxing glove, similar to Night Shift's famous uppercut, whammed into Spyro's underbelly. The Darkness was literally knocked out of him.

Spyro shook his head, and came to. "Kaos," he growled upon recognising the figure in front of him. "Come to gloat about your victory? I've been here almost five hours. Took you long enough,"

"I know, I know, sworn enemies and all that. I've come to make you a deal," (Kaos)

"What deal?" Spyro asked through his bound muzzle.

"I can't take it anymore! My mother, and Darkus, both absolutely destroying everything I care for! And 'Lights out'. That stupid dragon imposter keeps saying 'Lights out'!" (Kaos)

"You care for stuff?" (Spyro)

"I'll set you free, I'll tell you how to de-evilise the other Skylanders, just, please, PLEASE kick them out of here!" (Kaos)

"You're asking me to deal with the mother of all evil and my exact equal at the same time single-handedly. That's suicide,"

"PLEASE! I CAN'T TAKE THEM ANYMORE!"

Kaos pulled the lever that opened the cage and released the restraints. Resulting in the loud clang that Darkus heard.

Just as Darkus arrived in the doorway, Spyro took flight, scratching Kaos in the face as he soared past and straight out the window. Darkus speedily followed, extending his wings and rocketing towards the other dragon.

Spyro stopped and twisted in mid-air, Darkus sped by him, Spyro dashed underneath a nearby Skyland, coming out at the far side. "Hey, is that Molekin Mine?" Spyro muttered in amazement. It was, although in the two-and-a-half years since Spyro had been there, it appeared to have fallen into disuse.

It was the perfect place to hide from Darkus.

Or lay in wait and set a trap for him. Whichever worked.

Spyro realised the mine-shaft was too small for him to fly through there. Luckily, when the Molekin had abandoned the mine, they had left a couple of mine carts lying around.

Darkus swept into the mine, holding his wings out in an attempt to look majestic. Since they kept scraping against the sides of the tunnel, it didn't really work.

Darkus listened carefully, and heard the sound of a mine cart trundling down the tracks further down the tunnel. "I've got you now, purple dragon,"He climbed into another mine cart and rode down the tunnel in pursuit.

Spyro tiptoed out of a nearby side passage and, once he had established Darkus was far away enough, strutted out of the mine, a victorious smirk upon his face. He located the tracks that lead to the Core of Light and walked along them.

Spyro was just about home free.

Meanwhile Darkus was rattling along in the cart. The other one, the one he thought Spyro was in, was coming up close. As soon as the gap was small enough, he leapt into the other cart - and landed on a box chock-full of TNT. With a fuse that had burnt down to five centimetres. "Oh dear," Darkus thought to say before the explosive blew him straight out of the mine like a cannonball. A cannonball that had been severely knocked around by the force of being uncontrollably pushed a high speeds through a very twisted and curved stone passageway.

Spyro looked back towards the mine just in time to watch Darkus sail across the sky, and smirked again as he crashed into a boulder on a nearby Skyland. "Lights out," he commented, before stepping through the permanent magical Portal that should take him to the Isle of Light.

Okay, so this chapter was mainly to introduce Darkus a little more.

If anyone's wondering, 'Lights Out' is said to be Dark Spyro's catchphrase. Or so I've been told. I don't actually have a Dark Spyro yet.

I know, I know, everyone wanted to see what's happening to Tails and co., but all this is going to become important later. Trust me.

Oh, and if you hadn't noticed, I added Tails' surname to the start of the first chapter. Take a look, it's also going to be important later.

By the way, Numbuh 94, I read your review and the only reason Chill's German accent (well, I think it's either German or Russian) hasn't really been shown is because she was only brought in a couple of chapters ago, and I haven't really had a chance to get her involved in a big conversation where her accent can be seen more prominently. And yeah, the focus is really meant to be on Tails, Cynder, Sunburn and Darkus at present, everybody else is really more 'side-character' type for now, so forgive me if they don't seem as detailed as some of the others. The only reason Hoot Loop was so well detailed was so that I could write about his performance better. And F.Y.I., I got the idea of Hoot Loop copying himself from his bio, which said he was a famous illusionist. And I think that when Zap comes back, I'm going to make sure I change how his voice sounds. It sounds ridiculous in Giants. But you're also right about Swap Force. Why do you think I've switched the focus of the last chapter or so to the bad guys?