Chapter 9

-Trent's POV-

I woke up with a jump. When I finally recollected myself I was on the ceiling. I was having another nightmare, but this one was different. Instead of being about my life in LA this time, I was on the Mountain of Malefor. I remember seeing Spyro, Cynder, Crystal, and I all fighting Malefor headstrong and were winning. Then, just as we were about to win, Malefor shot out a convexity beam at us. I managed to dodge it, but the others weren't so lucky. Spyro and Cynder were tossed into a pillar, but Crystal was thrown all the way to the edge of the platform we were on. I remember then attacking Malefor, but he countered and threw me into another pillar opposite of Spyro and Cynder. Malefor then laughed.

"So," He began, "did you really expect it to be that easy." He walked over the Cynder and Spyro. Once he reached them, I saw him clamp his teeth into Cynder's neck, and slice Spyro's neck and stomach with his claws. He then walked over to Crystal and picked her up in his bloodied claws. After he picked her up, he looked at me and smiled. He threw her into a stream of convexity. When she emerged, she was awake, but her scales were a deep blue and her eyes went from a brilliant green to a scarlet red. I struggled to get up, and Malefor laughed again. He then nodded to a now corrupted Crystal. She nodded back and started growling and hissing at me. I tried to snap her out of it, but she was to far corrupt. She then charged up a convexity blast and fired at me. I dodged it, but Malefor fired a blast at me and hit my wing, ripping a hole in it. I collapsed to the ground due to the pain, and Crystal and Malefor stood over me, just inside my sight range. I was on the verge of blacking out. Malefor then said, "See Trent. Your futile efforts have not only assured your world's destruction, but also gave me a new general." Malefor then chuckled and nodded to Crystal. Crystal nodded back and charged another convexity beam. I felt a tear run down my head as I came to the conclusion that I failed, and the Dragon Realms would be lost to this darkness. Crystal then fired, and that is when I woke up. I don't know what exactly made me have that dream, maybe it was because I felt unready to fight Malefor, but in the Dragon Realms nightmares have a bad habit of coming to fruition. I got up and walked to my door. I managed to forget about the nightmare for the time being, but I never completely forgot it. I walked out in the hallway to see Spyro and Cynder talking to Crystal. I walked up to them and asked them what they were talking about.

"We were just about go watch the races," Cynder said.

"Races? What kind of races." I asked.

"The dragon races of course." Spyro answered. "It's a competition where dragons young and old compete against each other as they fly though a course lined with rings."

"Sounds like fun." I replied. "I'll come, but only if I get to race." Spyro chuckled a little. "What's so funny Spyro, afraid to lose to a human?" This sparked Spyro's competitive spirit.

"No, I'll fly circles around you before you even leave the line." He retorted. I rolled my eyes.

"Well," Cynder started, "If he is racing, I am to." I turned toward Crystal who haddn't said anything when I arrived.

"Hey, Crystal," I said, "Would you like to race with us to?"

"No thanks Trent," She replied. "I'm a dragon that likes to enjoy the flight rather than get there as fast as possible."

"Ok." I said. Then the four of us turned and walked toward the door of the temple. Once we got outside, we flew to the racing course. There were 4 courses, marked with different colored rings, red, blue, yellow, and green. Ironically the red course was the easiest and the green course was the hardest. Spyro, Cynder, Crystal, and I walked up to the gate and Spyro paid our way in. Once inside Crystal went to go find a seat in the stand, while the rest of us went sign up for the first race. It was on the blue course. It was a series of straight a-ways with very light corners. Spyro said it was because I was still 'new' to flying. We then made our way to the course and found out we were the only three that entered. Well, the show must go on. I told Spyro and Cynder not to go easy on me. They grinned and we lined up on the start line. The stands were pack with dragons, cheetahs, and moles, mostly because of the fact that Spyro was racing in this race. We then looked to the starting tower which dropped the red flag it had and raised a green one. The race had begun. Spyro and Cynder immediately took off, but I ran to edge of the platform and jumped. I opened my wings and leveled off. Spyro and Cynder were about to enter the first ring, so I quickened my pace. I managed to catch up with them at the third ring. As we raced through the sky we held pace with each other, Cynder and I were both holding back on our true speeds to give Spyro a chance to stay with us. Once we entered the last lap however, the gloves came off. Cynder used her wind element to propel herself through the air. Once she was about a ring ahead of us I pushed myself a little harder, getting ready for the last straight. I managed to catch up to Cynder, but as we passed through the gate, I flew straight up. Cynder looked back and I suppose was thinking I was letting her win. Boy was she wrong. I nosed over and power dived through the first ring in the straight. I pulled my wings and feet in and began to catch up to Cynder. I was about to fly past her when suddenly I noticed a vapor cone forming around me. I braced my ears, and heard the crack of a sonic boom. I passed Cynder, and she tried to use her wind to gain more speed, but she was falling behind too quickly. I opened my wings and allowed myself to go subsonic. I saw the platform and pushed myself more to get there. I saw the finish and flew over it. I told them I wouldn't go easy on them. I did a quick loop around the platform in order to slow myself down. I landed and waited for Spyro and Cynder to arrive. When they did, Cynder and Spyro were panting hard. I guess they went all out as well.

"How *puff* did you *puff* do that?" Cynder asked while struggling to speak.

"My dragon body is designed for speed and agility." I said. "I just reduced my drag and it allowed me to fly faster."
"Next time *puff* go easy on us." Spyro said. I chuckled a little. Once Spyro and Cynder could breathe air again, we left the track and went to go find Crystal. She was watching a race at the green course. As the racers completed their laps, we sat down next to her.

"So who one?" Crystal asked. Spyro and Cynder pointed at me. I decided not to say it was me myself. I never really was much of a gloater.

"He didn't even break a sweat." Spyro said. Spyro then punched my shoulder a little bit with a smile on his face. Crystal smiled and we resumed watching the race. It was between and electric dragon and a fire dragon. Apparently the fire dragon was the course champion I found out later on. As we watched them zip through the turns, I had an idea.

"I'm going sign up for this course." I said. The others looked at me surprised.

"Yeah, you might be good in straights, but these are some seriously tight curves are you sure you want to do this?" Cynder asked me.

"Hey, it will be fun." I replied. Spyro shrugged his shoulder and Cynder let it go. I went over to Crystal and whispered in her ear. "I'll dedicate my win to you." She blushed a little, and I went sign up for the race. Just my luck, I would be racing the champion. I walked back out to see the fire dragon already lined up and waiting for me.

"So you want to race me now?" He said with a smile.

"Yes I do," I replied. "Best of luck to you."

"Same for you." He replied. I took my position at the start and waited for the green flag. Just before the flag was raised I looked in the stands to see my friends cheering me on. I looked back at the tower and the green flag rose. The fire dragon and I rocketed into the sky. This was a 1 lap race. The course had 4 straights like the blue course, but it also had 6 different agility sections designed to make dragons slip up. As we entered the first straight I was right behind the fire dragon. We flew through the straight and entered the first agility section. It was an upward loop, and every time you completed one loop you gained more altitude. I had no trouble with this and soon we entered the next agility section, which was diving at high speeds. Was this course made for me? I dived down as fast as I could, but made sure not to break the sound barrier this time. I passed the fire dragon and entered the next straight. At the end of the straight I slowed down and entered the next agility area. It was a series of rings on just behind each other but one would be on the right and one would be on the left. I entered the rings and saw the fire dragon was catching up. By the time I exited the rings, he was one the 4th to last ring. We then flew into the next section which was corkscrews. The fire dragon and I had no trouble completing this as we entered the next straight. As we flew, I slowed down a little to allow the fire dragon to catch up. We were neck and neck when we entered the next agility area. This time the rings were positioned like moguls. As we completed the moguls, we entered the final agility section. It was a hairpin turn that was so tight that you would have to drive a car at 2 MPH to make it through. The fire dragon and I banked left as we pulled off the turn. We completed the turn and entered the final straight. I pushed myself to go faster and was pulling ahead of the fire dragon. The fire dragon squinted his eyes and pushed himself hard. By the time we are about to pass over the platform, we were going to have a tie. I found more strength in myself and flapped harder. I managed to pull just ahead before we crossed the line. The fire dragon sighed in defeat and we landed on the platform. I landed next to him.

"Congratulations on your win today." The fire dragon said.

"Thank you," I replied. "I hope one day we can do a rematch." The fire dragon nodded and stretched out his claw. I reached out and shook it. I smiled a little and I went to rejoin the others. I saw them exiting the stands and ran up to them.

"You need to teach me how to do that." Spyro said nudging my shoulder. I smiled and we continued walking. We got to the gates of the race arena and flew back to the temple. Once we got there however, we saw Volteer, Terrador, and Cyril waiting for us. They looked like they had important news.

"What's wrong Terrador?" Spyro and Cynder asked.

"A cheetah village has come under attack by remnants of the dark army." He replied. "I'm sending you two and Trent to go offer assistance." I nodded and turned to them. The nodded and we made our way to the door ready for to defeat the evil in this world.