"Spyro, wake up!" Gill Grunts voice woke Spyro up from his nap under a tree. "Spyro, get up, already, you lump," The Gillman ordered. Spyro blinked the sleep out of his eyes and gazed up at his friends.
"What's your problem Gill, as you can plainly see, I'm trying to sleep,"
"But it's 9 O'clock!" Gill retorted.
"Well some, and by that I mean 'most', people like to lie in, especially on a Sunday!" Spyro yawned.
"But it's our friendiversary," Gill Grunt said. Spyro was really confused.
"Say what, now?" The dragon asked.
"It's our friendiversary. You know, it's been exactly five years since we became best friends," Gill Grunt reminded the dragon. Spyro groaned. Every year he forgot about their friendiversary and every year he had to improvise on a gift for Gill. He didn't know why the Gillman even bothered with a friendiversary, but he didn't want to hurt his friends' feelings, so he went with it.
"Oh, yeah," Spyro said, desperately thinking of something he could give Gill.
"Here, open my present first, Gill said, giving Spyro a heavy, wrapped gift. Spyro unwrapped it and gasped.
"A Neck Massager 5000," He breathed."
"Do you like it?" Gill asked.
"I love it!" Spyro replied, staring in awe at his gift. "How did you know I wanted one of these?" Spyro asked.
"A little birdy told me…well, a dragonfly," Gill answered, referring to Sparx.
"Now, what about my present, where is it?" The Gillman asked, looking around.
"Um…I got you a…" Spyro struggled. Gill Grunt had got him something he really wanted, and now he felt really guilty. "I got you…" Spyro then saw something. "You're very own apple tree," Spyro said, gesturing to a nearby apple tree.
"My own apple tree, huh?" Gill said. "But that's what you got me last year," He told Spyro.
"Oh, yeah…sorry, I actually got you a…" Spyro desperately looked around, trying to find something Gill would vaguely like.
"What?" Gill asked, waiting to find out.
"A…" Spyro rushed off to his house as fast as he could and rummaged through his belongings. He grabbed the first thing he saw and charged back to Gill Grunt. "Ta-da, you're very own…toothbrush," He said, trying to keep a straight face as he bestowed Gill with the toothbrush.
"It says, property of Spyro," Gill said, showing the purple dragon the writing on the side of the toothbrush.
"Oh, I must have grabbed the wrong thing," Spyro panicked. He rushed back to his house and tried to find something else. He found an old shirt in his closet that he'd never worn. It was pretty awful, though. He flew back to Gill and showed him the shirt. Gill practically freaked out when he saw it. Spyro was really confused. He knew the shirt was hideous but it wasn't scary. That's when he realised the picture on the multi coloured shirt: a troll eating fish and chips. Spyro face-palmed and quickly used his fire breath on the shirt, turning it to ashes. Gill recovered after that and glared at his dragon friend.
"What was that for?" Gill asked, angrily. "That wasn't my gift was it?"
"Of course it wasn't, I really got you…" Spyro improvised, He rushed to the vegetable garden and grabbed a watermelon. He put it down on the ground in front of Gill hoping he would accept it. Suddenly, it exploded spraying Spyro and Gill with seeds and goo. They heard Camo's laughter behind them and turned to see the life dragon sprawling on the ground banging one fist on the ground while laughing. Gill was too concerned to care about Camo's behaviour.
"So, Spyro, back to the whole present situation…" Gill urged, while blowing a watermelon seed out of his nose.
"Um…" Spyro was so desperate that he wasn't even thinking straight. He reached down and pulled some grass out of the Earth. Then he offered it to Gill.
"Spyro…" Gill tilted his head, thinking that it was another of the dragon's mistakes.
"Don't like it?" Spyro asked. "He then reached down and picked up a pile of dirt.
"Dude, did you really remember our friendiversary?" Gill asked.
"Of course I did!" Spyro lied. He had officially run out of ideas. He said the first thing that came to him. "I made an acrobatics routine for you," he said, then immediately wished he hadn't. He didn't know anything about acrobatics.
"Awesome!" Gill cheered. Then sat on the ground and waited for Spyro to begin. Spyro hesitated before flying up into the air and doing a backflip, then he went as high as he could before folding his wings and letting himself plummet. Then, as he was about to hit the ground he spread his wings and hovered for a moment, then he started tap dancing in mid-air, then he landed and began doing cartwheels…badly. He tried to do one cartwheel but ended up landing on his head. He quickly got back up again and simply stood on his front legs.
"Happy friendiversary, Gill Grunt!" He finished before collapsing, mostly of embarrassment. Gill didn't look pleased.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say that you came up with that routine just then, I think you forgot our friendiversary.
"No, I didn't, that's crazy," Spyro argued.
"Yes, you did," Gill retorted.
"No, I didn't!" Spyro threw back.
"Yes you did! Gill repeated. This went on for ten minutes until Spyro lost it.
"It's a lame holiday anyway that you made up!" He yelled. Gill grew hot with anger. He thought that he might fry.
"Fine, if you don't care about our friendiversary, I'll just find a friend who does!" Gill told Spyro.
"And I'm gonna find a new friend who celebrates holidays that actually exist!" The dragon shot back. The walked off in different directions in a huff. Gill stomped over to Flynn's balloon. The pilot wasn't there, so Gill hopped onto the balloon and steered it away from the Ruins. He headed to Dragons Peak, where he figured he'd find a dragon friend to make Spyro jealous. He wandered through Dragons Peak, looking around at all of the dragons. There were dragons of all shaped and sizes, but none seemed like 'friend material'. Gill suddenly got a shock as a huge dragon swooped just inches above his head. He stumbled backwards and stepped on something spiky. Gill leapt into the air, clutching his sore foot.
"Watch where you're going," A young male voice came from behind him. Gill turned and saw a small red dragon. He was a lot like Spyro to look at only he had straighter horns, longer spikes running down his back and a longer snout.
"Sorry about that," Gill apologised. The dragon shook his head.
"Nah, that's fine," He replied rubbing his tail where Gill stepped on it. "I've been having a bad day anyway. I left my place and got something stuck in my tail…," He began examining his tail from every angle. "… and I was trying to get it out when you came along and…hey!" The dragon exclaimed, swinging his tail. "It's gone. Thanks, um…"
"Gill Grunt," The Gillman replied holding out a fin.
"Thanks, Gill Grunt. I'm Flame," (from the original Spyro series) the dragon thanked, shaking Gills Fin. They walked side by side along Dragons Peak, asking each other about themselves. Gill thought Flame would make a great replacement friend for Spyro. He finally asked.
"Hey, Flame, what's your best friend like?" Gill asked.
"Well, Gill Grunt, I don't actually have a best friend," Flame replied.
"Uh-huh," Gill said, knowing that Flame was the perfect replacement best friend.
Spyro walked down to the beach, still steaming mad. He was considering befriending Clam-tron 4000 when he realised he didn't have to have a friend in the Ruins. He headed to Gurglefins ship, wondering where he should go to look. The Gillman was sitting on a deckchair reading a book called 'Guide to pirating for dummies'. Spyro then realised that Gurglefin would make a great replacement friend. He liked to read, so he wouldn't do much and he probably didn't care about any fake holidays. Spyro walked Gurglefin, examining him from every angle. Gurglefin looked up from his book wondering what the purple dragon was doing. Suddenly Spyro prodded his shoulder.
"What do you want?" The Gillman asked.
"Do I have to want something to come and see you?" Spyro asked. The Gillman tilted his head waiting for Spyro to admit that he did want something. "Fine, I do. I just want to ask you three simple questions," The dragon explained.
"I've got time," Gurglefin replied marking the place in his book and setting it on the deck beside him.
"Okay. Question 1: What is your favourite thing to do?" Spyro asked.
"That's easy, practising being a pirate and facing danger," Gurglefin replied.
"Good. Question 2: If a Goliath Drow was trying to kill you, what would you do?" Spyro continued.
"I'd run away really fast and wait for someone to get him away from me,"
"I thought you were practising facing danger," Spyro asked.
"I'm just a beginner," The Gillman shrugged. Suddenly something landed in front of Gurglefin, making him leap up in fear, landing on top of Spyro, making the dragon collapse to the deck. Spyro saw that the thing that had spooked Gurglefin was a gold coin with gremlins face printed on it. There was only one person with coins like that. Spyro looked up and saw Trigger Happy at the top of the stairs with Flameslinger, who had his face in his hand.
"I told you I could shoot my coin farther than your arrow," He was saying to his elf friend.
"Boy, that gave me a scare," Gurglefin sighed in relief.
"I hadn't noticed," Spyro croaked, as Gurglefin was really heaving and was preventing him from breathing.
"Didn't that scare you, Spyro?" The Gillman asked, looking down at the dragon.
"I…can't…breathe," He gasped for air, but didn't get any. Gurglefin noticed that the dragon was in pain and jumped off him, allowing the dragon to take a huge gulp of air.
"Okay, maybe now's the time to move onto the last question," Spyro spluttered, breathing rapidly. Question 3: Have you any interest in a 'friendiversary?" Spyro asked.
"Never heard of it," Gurglefin shook his head.
"Good answer," Spyro replied.
"Hey, Gill, pizza's here!" Flame announced. The two new friends had returned to Flames place. Like Spyro's house, everything in it had been specialised for a dragon. Gill's mouth watered at the thought of eating pizza. He and Spyro had ordered pizza often and Gill had recommended it to Flame so it would be a little like hanging out with Spyro. Flame had loved the idea as they discovered that they both liked pizza. Flame bought the pizza into the living room where Gill was sitting on the couch where he and Flame had been watching the sky goals game. Flame placed the pizza box on the coffee table.
"Smells great," Gill said, taking a huge whiff of the aroma coming from the pizza box.
"Okay, let's eat!" Flame said, opening the box and taking out a slice. Gill then realised in horror what the topping was: anchovy! He watched as Flame took a huge bite out of his slice. The red dragon noticed that Gill was staring at him. He swallowed his mouthful before asking him: "Aren't you hungry?"
"Anchovies…" Was all the Gillman could say. Flame realised what he'd done.
"Oh my gosh, you're a fish!" He gasped, noticing that it must be awful for Gill to watch him eating fish.
"I'm not eating that," Gill said.
"You could just take the anchovies off?" Flame suggested. Gill removed the anchovies from a slice so that the only topping was the cheese.
"Sorry about that," Flame apologised. It's just that anchovy pizza is my favourite," He said, continuing eating the anchovy covered slice. Gill didn't feel hungry at all but he forced himself to eat a couple of slices as he didn't want to seem rude. Once they had finished eating, Gill came up with an idea. He really wanted to make Spyro jealous, so he thought he should allow him to meet Flame.
"Hey Flame, how about we go to the Ruins. I could show you my place and you could meet the Skylanders?" Gill invited once Flame had finished eating the last slice of pizza.
"Awesome! I'd love to meet the Skylanders!" Flame cheered.
"Let's go, then. I parked the balloon…"
"Forget the balloon. Let's fly 'Air-Flame'!" The young dragon offered. They went outside where Gill climbed on to Flames back, making sure that he didn't sit on the spikes. He leapt into the air and flapped off towards the Ruins.
"What should we do?" Spyro asked Gurglefin. They were sitting on the edge of the Ruins (reference to the beginning trailer). "We could go swimming, we could go to the lava pits or we could go fishing. Nah, that's kind of weird, though, since you're a fish," Spyro said his and Gills routine.
"Nope, I don't mind. Anything's fine with me," Gurglefin replied blankly. Spyro was confused. This wasn't normally what happened.
"Um, Gurglefin…" Spyro began, tapping the Gillman on the shoulder.
"What?" Gurglefin asked, turning towards Spyro.
"Aren't you going to get distracted by some oncoming disaster?" Spyro asked.
"Um…no, why, do you want me to?" Gurglefin asked. Spyro groaned and turned away. He missed the way he did things with Gill Grunt. "I did like the swimming idea. Let's go!" Gurglefin leaped to his feet enthusiastically and sped off down the stairs to the beach where he plunged into the water. Spyro reluctantly followed, his head hanging low.
Flame touched down on the Ruins and Gill hopped off. Flame was gazing awestruck around, the Skylanders were out doing their duties. Bash and Slobber Tooth were playing rock-paper-scissors, Freeze Blade and Roller Brawl were having a skating contest and Chill had frozen Chop Chop in a block of ice during battle practise. Flame walked over to Sunburn who was preparing to roast Thumpbacks behind. "Hey!" the young dragon said, tapping Sunburns shoulder, causing Thumpback to notice what the phoenix/dragon was about to do. Thumpback squirted water at Sunburn through his blowhole, making Sunburn groan. He shook the water off his, spraying Flame with droplets.
"What do you want, kid?" Sunburn asked.
"Could you sign my wing?" Flame asked spreading his left wing. Sunburn rolled his eyes and burnt the grass in front of him, turning it to ashes. He then pressed his paw into it and stamped it on Flames with leaving a black paw mark. "Awesome!" Flame cheered, bounding back to Gill Grunt.
"You what do you want to do?" Gill asked.
"Everything!" Flame replied gazing around at his surroundings.
"Wanna go to the beach?" Gill suggested, gesturing towards the stairs. He and Spyro sometimes went to the beach to sunbathe and swim. Flame nodded in agreement and flapped down to the beach. "Hey, wait up!" Gill Grunt called, racing off after his new dragon friend. Flame was high above the water. He then folded his wings, doing a flip in mid-air before diving into the water. Gill Grunt dove in after him. He swam around underwater for a while, closing his eyes, letting the water relax him. Since he was a water element he felt safest when he was in water. Suddenly, he bumped into something. It felt like a dragon so he presumed it was Flame. He resurfaced and so did the dragon he had crashed into. It wasn't Flame, it was Spyro!
"What are you doing here?" asked Spyro, glaring at Gill.
"I'm swimming with Flame, my new best friend. What are you doing in here, Spyro?
"I just so happen to be swimming with my new best friend, right Gurglefin?" The dragon replied looking over at the Gillman. But Gurglefin was gazing at Flame and Flame was gazing at Gurglefin.
"Flame, is that you?" Gurglefin asked, tilting his head. The dragon nodded in reply.
"Gurglefin," Flame gasped rushing over to the Gillman. "It's been a long time." He stood on his hind leg, obviously overjoyed to see Gurglefin.
"How do you two know each other?" Spyro asked, curious as to why these two were so close.
"We were best friend when we were in pirate school!" Gurglefin replied.
"You want to be a pirate!" Gill asked Flame, shocked to find out he had been hanging out with a pirate wannabe. He hated pirates since they snatched away his mermaid girlfriend.
"Yeah, since we were hatchlings," Gurglefin replied, patting Flame on the shoulder.
"Hey, why don't we go and set sail right now?" Flame offered his old friend.
"Sure, let's go!" Gurglefin agreed rushing over to his boat with Flame following behind.
"Well, so much for that," Spyro sighed, looking over at Gill Grunt.
"You know what, Spyro. I didn't like Flame that much," The Gillman said.
"If we're confessing, I didn't really like hanging out with Gurglefin that much either," Spyro agreed.
"Spyro, I need to know. I want an honest answer and I promise no matter what you say, I won't be mad at you. Did you or did you not forget our friendiversary?" Gill asked the dragon. Spyro groaned, knowing that he had to tell the truth.
"The truth is…" He began. But suddenly, he saw the look in Gill Grunts eyes. He looked as if he was praying inside his head that Spyro hadn't forgotten. Spyro couldn't let his friend down. "Of course not," He lied.
"I knew you didn't!" Gill cheered, hopping up and down with glee, making Spyro cringe with guilt. "So, where's my present?" Gill Grunt urged.
"It's at my place. Just close your eyes," Spyro said. Gill grunt closed his eyes at tightly as possible. Spyro zoomed to his house and looked around. He saw something on his table: His Neck Massager 5000. He didn't want to give it to Gill but it was his only option. He found some wrapping paper and wrapped the massager up as neatly and quickly as he could. He then zoomed back to Gill on the beach and gave him the gift. "You can open your eyes, now," Spyro told his best friend. Gill opened his bulgy eyes and ripped open his present.
"A Neck Massager 5000!" Gill Grunt gasped with happiness.
"Do you like it?" Spyro asked.
"I love it!" Gill replied. "I can't believe how crazy this is. I got you the same thing you got me. That must have been why you were so nervous earlier," He guessed.
"That's right," Spyro nodded. "Hey how about we go to your place and order pizza?" He suggested.
"Yeah, but no anchovies," Gill chuckled. The walked down the beach towards the stairs, talking. "I can't wait to try out my neck massager," Gill said. Suddenly, they noticed Flynn rushing towards them.
"Hey Gill Grunt, I saw you take my balloon out earlier, so where is it?" The mabu asked. Spyro looked at Gill, confused. Gill shuffled his flippers awkwardly.
"Hey Flynn, I'll give you a choice. Would you rather get your balloon back now or come and have pizza with us first?" Gill asked, hoping that if he bribed the pilot with food, he wouldn't be as made about the balloon situation.
"Sure, let's go," Flynn replied walking with Spyro and Gill to Gills place. As they walked, Spyro cast a questioning glance at Gill Grunt, who simply gave the dragon a smile that meant the balloon wasn't important right now.
THE END