Chapter 12 Food for Thought


A small gorilla's eyes focus out one of the many broken windows facing the colony's main street to the four armor-clad bears that continue to sniff the area for any signs of food. His rapid pulse begins to calm, watching them enter the building across the road.

"Thank the gods!" The terrified ape remarks to himself, realizing his trick worked in leading a hungry pack of Polar Bears from an easy meal.

However, he knows he has not saved his life yet. A loud grumble roars from his stomach, as nothing has found its way into the poor creature's mouth for days, and hopelessness sets in as his eyes refocus in the dark general store.

Only a few boxes remain untouched on the shelves, as the rest of Bosco's shop has been stripped clean by the inhabitants of Conderoga's moon. No one knows what happened to the large shopkeeper three days earlier and that uncertainty caused a riot within the town. The colonists stole what they could carry, not knowing when another shipment would come to resupply them, and the pirates have taken the rest.

All the food and provision were quickly stolen, leaving just a couple of boxes of dry goods lining the broken shelves of the dark shop.

"Crackers!" His sad voice whimpers, seeing the only thing edible left behind, as the real food was scavenged by the much larger creatures.

"That bitch of a dragon!" The small ape remarks angrily, choking several salty dry crackers into his mouth, hoping to calm his pain-filled stomach. He can see Danielle clearly in his mind, as she was the last one to be with Bosco, and now he is gone.

"That savage beast must have forced him to go with her! There is no other reason for him to leave us like this," he says quietly to himself, trying to remain silent in his anger.

Suddenly a light shines from the back of the general store, and his eyes open wide with fear.

"Bosco!" The ape yelps with a nervous tone in his voice as several crackles of thunder begin filling the room with an electric hum.

The small simian places his box of crackers down. He cautiously climbs along the top of the shelves, providing himself with a full view of the rear of Bosco's store, and the back office in which the brown bear spent most of his time.

"What the hell is that?" He remarks with a curious tone, seeing an oval disk of swirling energy floating inside the shop keeper's room, giving off a light as strong as the sun.

His eyes open wider as the light flickers and an odd-looking individual, with long pointed ears, emerges from this vertical pool of energy holding a weapon. He scans the room, and the ape holds still, knowing he is within line of sight, but hidden in the shadow of the darker front room.

"Daxter!" The terrified gorilla hears clearly, and suddenly he notices the other creature with him, as the large rodent-like sidekick leaps off his friend's shoulder.

"Check the perimeter, buddy!"

The small ape panics, as this orange and white animal scurries into the room he's hiding, knowing he will eventually be seen, and slowly he backs away with short movements. However, he stops as another being begins emerging from the round disk of energy. His heart stops as the silhouette of a thin female dragon steps out of the portal, and believes he recognizes her.

"I knew it..." he whispers to himself.

However as the color of this dragon takes his eyes, the small ape is suddenly mortified.

"..Wait a minute...how is there another dragon?"

"Cynder! What are you doing here?" Jak barks at his commander, showing anger within his eyes for her sudden and early arrival. "I said wait until we secured the place...I am not taking responsibility for you, if you won't listen to me, and you will have to explain to Spyro and Sparx why... you... died!"

Cynder smirks at the smaller Skylander, hearing his sarcastic comment, and knowing her power far exceeds his, but still lowers her head with respect.

"Sorry Captain...I know my son placed you in charge of this mission, and I will behave from here on out. However..." she says, and pauses as the second dragoness begins emerging from the portal behind her. "...I thought it would be a better idea to have her here as well, just in case we come across someone she knows, and are willing to help."

Jax shows his frustration, as Mya slowly strides beside the dark dragoness that walked into the portal before her. But her attention is drawn to the room's appearance, quickly surveying the damage done by a food riot.

"What happened in here?" She says with genuine concern.

She knows exactly how it should look inside her friend's office, as she has spent countless hours in this room with the brown bear. Her eyes focus on the armed Skylander, showing that concern for a common friend.

"Someone really tore this place apart, Jak!"

"Well it's obvious now that Bosco is one that Malefor read about...and he took her looking for you," Jak replies.

Little knowledge was written in Danielle's history, explaining how she ended up on Raptoria, but as Jak and Daxter both know the shop keeper well, he suddenly grins at Mya.

"He has a transport ship, and I know he would help any lady in distress, especially if she was looking for her daughter."

Jak scans the room again, then smiles wider.

"And he sure as hell would never let this happen to his store, unless he had to leave in a big damn hurry!"

Daxter suddenly reappears from a gap between a row of boxes, leaping upon Jak's shoulder, and whispers into his ear. Without a word to either dragon, the humanoid Skylander presses a small button on his gun, changing the weapon's shape and the ammo it will use, making this scatter-gun a more accurate long-range rifle. Jak then spins around, points it directly at the small ape hiding upon the shelves in the front room.

"DON'T YOU MOVE!" He barks, however his actions startle the terrified ape, and he falls from his perch.

"Oh my heavens!" The scared gorilla barks out, quickly getting back up to his feet, and running for the exit.

He makes a turn around the large shelf he fell from, staring at the door only a hundred feet away, and picks up the pace of his gallop, even using his hands in an uncivilized manner to help him move faster. He knows what awaits outside, and realizes his options are practically zero, but continues to run from what he believes is certain death. However, just as his arms reach out to the doors, a black shadow emerges from the floor, surrounding him in a cold dark mist.

"HELP!" He barks, as his body constricts within a tight grip of the bitter air around him, holding him like a pair of strong arms. An eerie silence fills the air, as his call for help doesn't make a sound in the void, only echoing inside his head.

Settle down...Magilla. An easy-spoken female's voice returns, and he quickly calms as a feeling of pure contentment consumes his body.

Who are you? And how do you know my name? he asks within this live dream, and his eyes suddenly begin to see light again.

They focus upon a dark dragon's face as Cynder returns from the Shadow Realm with a guest. She can see the fear begin building again, hearing the thoughts of this terrified ape clear as day, standing short before this new dragon he is not familiar with.

"I am no one to fear," Cynder remarks, gesturing her paw at Jak to lower his weapon.

The small ape looks to his left and suddenly realizes he is in the other room.

"How did we get here?" He cries out with a panicked voice, having no understanding how they moved from the front of the store to the rear in seconds.

Cynder smiles, then disappears from his view, leaving the same cloud of shadows he saw before hitting the front door. She reappears several feet away, beside the portal that fills the room with light and the Shadow dragoness looks back at the stunned eyes of this frail creature, then widens her grin.

"I have special powers that I will explain in a moment!" She says simply, then walks into the portal and disappears again. The Spirit Elder returns only seconds later, holding a small bowl of fruit, and places it before the staving gorilla.

"But before we get to that, I think you need to find your strength first."

The startled ape's eyes open wide, and he stares at the dark dragoness with pure doubt. Cynder quickly picks up on his concern and grasps an apple from the top of the pile.

"NO...I didn't poison them," she replies to a question he only thought of, and tosses the pristine red fruit into her mouth. One loud crunch, that sends a chill down the ape's back, hearing the crisp sound of perfection from a hearty apple, quickly changes his mind.

"Why would you give me food?" The small gorilla questions through a mouth full of grapes and a large peach he jammed in his face as well.

Cynder smiles again, seeing his aura begin returning from the brink, as starvation was starting to take its toll. She places a gentle paw upon his back and gives another sample of her power by taking every memory he is thinking of.

Because you have done the honorable! She replies, and the small ape's eyes open wide, as he watches his life play out for the last few days.

How are you doing this? He thinks, and again Cynder answers.

Like I said...I have special powers.

Several moments of his life play out in a second, and none involving the pain of loss, only showing him the bravest things he did in this crisis.

You helped others, when you needed help yourself, and that is the sign of a good soul.

Cynder places her other paw upon his full mouth, keeping him from responding, and calming him further with the Spiritual Energy inside her. She heals every wound sensed within his broken frame, as he has fought to stay alive in a place that became hostile the moment Bosco disappeared. As the food supply left, so too did civility, and the weaker were quick to become targets. Cynder can see the countless friends from his race, lost to the main stay of this system, and all without respect in the manner of their death.

I can see the pain you endured, and I don't want you to feel helpless any more...Magilla.

You can read my thoughts?

Cynder removes her paw from his mouth, and rests upon her haunches before him, making sure he can see her eyes.

"I can only see or hear what your emotions tell me, and these images are screaming, showing me the horror you are facing now."

The Spirit dragon's green eyes clear the doubt in Magilla's mind, as only the truth can be seen within them.

"I can help you leave this place behind, and you will find the peace you are craving..." She says with a soft voice, reaching out her paw towards Mya, and the little red dragoness quickly walks over to her. "...but I will need your help, as I must find where this dragon's mother has gone."

Cynder watches as the ape's aura breaks in two, showing confusion in her question, and anger towards the red dragon standing beside her. However, his emotions still show compassion, knowing the dark dragoness has saved his life, and he answers with the truth.

"I don't know where that dragon went..." he says, then his anger shows as he focuses on Mya again. "...I thought she went looking for this one and took our only source of survival with her!"

Mya lowers her head, hearing the rage filled tone of his voice, and several tears fall from her eyes.

"I only wanted to go home, Magilla..." She says somberly, then returns her eyes to his, showing the same look of truth that Cynder just showed. "It's what you've been shouting at us to do since we got here six years ago."

The small ape balks at her blunt response and more so as Mya extends a gentle paw to him, resting it upon his shoulder.

"But I didn't want this to happen, and I'm sorry if what I did caused you pain."

Magilla quickly lifts his long arm up, grasping Mya by the muzzle, and holding it closed with his still weakened grip.

"NO...I'm the one that's sorry, young dragon..." he says, and Cynder quickly picks up on the regret that fills Magilla's soul. A vision so powerful that she can see it without touching him. "I should have told your mother what I saw that day and what I knew was happening when Lord Cypher took you aboard his ship."

Magilla slumps down to his rear as he looks up at her, showing more regret, but none for himself.

"I can't imagine what he did to you and I have no excuse for leaving a young lady like yourself in that horrible situation. I could have stopped it and none of this would have ever happened."

Mya suddenly feels awkward, knowing someone could have stopped her kidnapping before she even left Conderoga, but also realizing she would have never made it home to the Dragon Realms. The red dragoness remove's the paw holding her muzzle, gently lowering it down to Magilla's chest.

"I don't blame you for doing that," Mya replies, then pauses for a moment, and looks around the destroyed room. "I was afraid of them too, and I would have done the same if they took you."

Magilla smirks to hear this bold-faced lie, as he knows how well tempered and forthright this dragon really is, having done everything to incite her himself.

"Yeah... I'm sure you would've done that!"

Mya grins, hearing the sarcastic tone in his voice, and realizing now, though he never showed it, how well he had actually respected her. However, with time against them, and knowing this ape might have the answer they have been trying to get for the last ten hours, Mya quickly embraces him hard, raising up on her hind legs to get him off the floor. The Fire dragoness knows this planet's ways, and becomes her old self to snap him out of this emotional trance.

"I have no time to argue with someone who can't even stand up on two legs!" She says bluntly, and Magilla drops his feet to the floor, taking cue from her sudden and stern Conderogain attitude. "We know where my mom went. But we don't know how to get there, and if you can't help us, then you should...just keep walking!"

Magilla's eyes open with those last three words, recalling the countless times he said this to her, as she tried to make friends on a new planet. His heart suddenly breaks, realizing this whole time...he was the monster, and not her.

"What do you need to know, Mya?" He asks with a genuine tone, and the red dragoness smiles hearing his sudden acceptance of her being.

"Where is Raptoria?"

Her calm tone returns with this inquiry, truly wanting information, as none of the Skylanders were familiar with this small planet in the Outer Realms. Magilla's jaw opens wide, hearing of the world that is off-limits, and wondering why she would ask such a question. However, the look Mya's eyes give, show only one reason.

"Don't tell me your mother went to that hellish place looking for you! That's suicide!"

He pauses, taking a gulp of his saliva, realizing who he is talking to, and truly believing he is now addressing an orphaned dragon.

"I'm sorry, Mya, I didn't mean to say it that way."

Magilla pauses again, seeing the look on the young red dragoness' face fill with depression and quickly he switches gears.

"I can show you the way and I'm sure she will be fine!" He says, and places his hand upon Mya's shoulder. "If she is anything like her daughter, then even that Raptorian scum will be no match."

Cynder taps her left wing against Jak's empty shoulder, and shows him an arrogant grin as they quickly find the info needed with her idea of bringing Mya. However, before she can snidely bark out an 'I told you so', the sound of shattering glass from the front of the shop startles everyone.

"WE KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE, MONKEY!" A loud voice calls out, and Magilla cowers the ground, knowing exactly who has found him. "YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET AWAY THIS TIME!"

"Oh no!" The terrified ape remarks, looking around at everyone in the room with fear in his eyes. "We have to get out of here now, or these pirate bastards will find themselves a hearty meal!"

"PIRATES!" Mya remarks with anger in her voice, and quickly her eyes focus on the four figures that storm into the back room.

"Easy, fellas!" Jak barks out, stepping in front of the irate red dragoness and cocking his gun. "You have no reason to be in here, so just leave now, and I won't hurt you."

The four heavily-armored Polar Bears being laughing, showing no concern for a creature a fraction their size, even with weapon in hand.

"What are you going to do with that pop-gun, boy?" The leader of this group asks, with a steady laugh in his words and a smug look upon his face. "This armor will take any blast from that little gun... and not even show a mark!"

Jak smiles himself, and presses the button on his weapon he pressed before, changing the gun's shape and ammo again.

"Captain!" Cynder barks, seeing a purple orb begin to develop on the tip of his gun. "No need for a peacemaker, we have more than enough fire power to handle them without destroying the whole place."

All four bears show shock, hearing the nonchalant attitude from the rather large black and red dragon beside him, and the leader steps forward.

"YOU CAN HANDLE US?" He yells, raising his massive paw to strike.

Cynder does not move, already feeling an intense heat building up on her right side and the thoughts of revenge for her kidnapping. Mya suddenly unleashes an inferno from her muzzle, slamming the chest-plate of the large white bear's armor. It heats to a red glow in a second, sending the large pirate back on his rump, yelping in pain as the scorched metal begins burning his stomach.

"KILL HER!" He barks at his friends, quickly pulling the melting piece of metal from his chest, and returning to his feet. The three remaining pirates draw their weapons to retaliate against the now glowing red dragoness. However, they do nothing as the portal behind this mysterious group flickers heavily with a purple and gold hue.


Five minutes earlier . . .

The sound of waves crashing against the rocks below the prison window slightly calm his nerves, but Malefor wants more than ambient noise right now. His anger is almost uncontrollable, standing inside Dragoon Bay's dungeon, and looking down upon the Grizzly whom has only said a few words.

"She asked nicely for information to find her mother, Lord Cypher...and I think after what you did to her, that young girl deserved more than the insult you slung at her."

The angry pirate finally looks up at the massive dragon and shows a smug grin.

"Well, that's too bad now... isn't it?"

Malefor returns his smug grin, as that was the straw that broke his back. Without any warning, Lord Cypher is grasped by a large purple paw, and slammed against the wall of his cell. Malefor then lowers his muzzle down to the large Grizzly, whose entire chest is encased within his huge purple palm.

"THEN I WILL ASK YOU MYSELF, AND I BETTER NOT HEAR THAT SAME FOUR LETTER WORD YOU TOLD MY GRANDDAUGHTER!" He barks in his face, his chin horn striking Lord Cypher's throat, making him feel pain with every word.

"WHERE IS RAPTORIA?"

"It's... it's...three light years from Conderoga...in a restricted section... of the system," He whispers, struggling to speak as Malefor presses harder against his chest. "...the co...ordinates are in my ship... ship's computer."

Malefor releases him, and Lord Cynder falls to the ground, coughing hard to catch his breath. The purple dragon shoulder's slump down, and he smacks his forehead with the same paw he was holding the large bear with.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" He says sarcastically, then looks down at the pirate with anger in his purple eyes, much like the anger Spyro showed, before taking his arm.

"Oh yes! I remember now..." Malefor continues smugly, lowering his paw down upon the crumpled bear, and smothering him into the ground with a good deal of his forty ton frame. "...the ship blew up when I went aboard a few hours ago, and is now sitting at the bottom of the bay."

Lord Cypher can hear the anger in Malefor's voice over the sound of several bones breaking in his body, and begins begging for mercy.

"Please stop!" he cries under the large dragon's paw, and unbelievably Malefor stops his compression, but does not remove his paw from the Grizzly Bear's back.

"Why?" He asks with conviction, lowering his head down to show the anger in his now pupil-less eyes. "Did you stop when Mya begged for mercy, you bastard?"

Lord Cypher begins sobbing, as Malefor applies pressure again, and his words suddenly become humbled.

"I'm sorry...please, give me a chance...I swear I will tell you everything!"

Malefor removes his paw, allowing the large bear to feel a moment's rest, but Lord Cypher can see from his pure white eyes, he is not going to wait long for answers.

"I only wanted money, and the Raptorian Leaders pay handsomely for dragons, alive or dead!" The pirate remarks, then lowers his head, knowing he is breaking an oath he swore his life on. "Only a few of us know about this, and have kept quiet about it for years, taking what we could without killing anyone."

He looks up at Malefor, whom still shows a vast amount of rage, then lowers his head again.

"I know that means nothing, and I truly ask for your forgiveness," he continues with a broken voice, feeling sorrow for what his actions have brought upon him, and quickly gives the information a young red dragoness just asked for. "You'll find the coordinates at my home on Conderoga's moon."

Malefor's eyes return to normal, and he smiles, before reaching his paw out towards Lord Cypher again.

"NO! WAIT! PLEASE!" He barks, believing the large dragon is now going to finish what he started.

However this time his paw is softly placed upon the Grizzly's back, and the purple and gold dragon heals him instead of breaking him.

"Thank you... I appreciate your cooperation," Malefor remarks, and removes his paw from the pirate's back.

"AQUA! GET IN HERE!" the large dragon barks out, and quickly the cell door is opened by the blue and green dragon standing guard. "Give this bear two full rations of food and have someone look at his arm, see if anything can be done to fix what Spyro did."

Malefor's eyes return to the brown-haired Grizzly and can see the shock in his eyes for this sudden change of attitude and compassion for an enemy.

"This is not a reason to take me lightly, pirate, and believe me, you will have plenty of time in this room to think about what you did. However, with that time, maybe you can prove you are someone who deserves another chance at life."

Malefor's stern words send a chill down the pirate's spine, as he never thought he would see the light of day again, yet somehow a ray of sunshine is shown to him by the ones keeping him locked in a dark dungeon.

"Trust me...I have known my own share of guilt, and I will return to speak of it with you, but first I must take care of my family."

Lord Cypher suddenly feels at odds with himself, realizing his freedom rests with this dragon, and knowing what lies in waiting for him.

"Stop, Your Highness!" the Grizzly bear sudden barks out, as Malefor begins walking out, holding the purple dragon in his place for a moment. "You will need a code to disarm the security system inside my personal chambers or it will destroy itself the same way my ship did. And I don't think you would be so lenient when you speak to me again, if that were to happen a second time."

Malefor stares him down, and Lord Cypher returns a slight grin as he reveals another booby trap that he almost let by. "The code is Phoenix..." he continues "...and if the alarm still goes off, just smack the side of the control panel, and it should stop."

The purple and gold dragon suddenly smiles himself, seeing the truth in the large bear's eyes, and nods his head with approval in his honesty. Malefor gestures his paw to the guard, and both dragons walk from Lord Cypher's cell.

"Do you really trust what he has told you, Sir?" The guard asks curiously, as they head up the wide staircase and into the Main Room of Dragoon Bay's small palace.

"I can see it in his eyes, Aqua...he is not trying to deceive me this time, so I must take his words at face value. He may have the answers we need to find Mya's mother, and I cannot pass that up." Malefor returns, as they crest the last step and turn towards a room with a flickering light.

However, he stops just before the door, holding the blue water dragon's attention to his next words.

"But the answer to your question is NO! I do not TRUST him and neither should you!"

Aqua nods his head, understanding that he should still consider the prisoner dangerous, but also that he should not be treated unfairly. The two dragons then enter the room they were to meet up with the rest of the group, and Malefor quickly smiles as he gazes into the already opened portal. His eyes focus hard for a second and quickly clear the distortion of blurred images into a clear picture. The purple dragon can see Cynder clear as day and doing what she does best, using her Spirit to guide a lost soul.

"HEY! Where the hell did my lunch go?" Aqua suddenly remarks, looking around for the large bowl of fruit he left on his desk, and Malefor begins to chuckle harder.

The massive purple and gold dragon points a black talon towards the portal, and shows a smug grin to the Guard of Dragoon Bay's dungeon.

"It appears the Great Spirit Elder is making new friends," he says with a good deal of laughter in his voice, seeing a bowl of fruit being devoured by a small ape-like creature. Aqua just stares at the swirling disk of energy with confusion.

"You can see through that thing?"

Malefor's grin widens as a quick thought flashes through his head of the countless millennia spent staring into a shallow pool of water before learning himself how to see images within the ripples. Like a Reflecting Pool, these portals show images in waves, and Malefor's experienced eyes focus through this pool of energy with ease.

"Well, did she take my cup of tea too...Cause I don't see that either," Aqua quips sarcastically.

With a grin of his own, however, he notices Malefor's expression change, and the Elite Guardsman of Dragoon Bay immediately tenses up seeing the large dragon become agitated.

"What is it?" Aqua barks, stepping beside Malefor, and waiting for an answer from the only one whom can see into the other realm.

"It appears they have also found enemies, Aqua, and may need assistance," Malefor replies, and the water dragon takes a step towards the portal, readying himself for a battle. However, a sudden surge of intense heat and a fierce fiery orange glow holds Aqua in place.

"WHOA! What was that?"

Malefor smirks again, seeing Mya devastate a creature three times her size in an inferno, and a well of pride consumes him. A feeling he has never felt before fills his heart as his blood line shows off a power that reminds him of his own. Even raising Sparx through childhood, Malefor could always see a difference in the young dragon's elemental power, as it reflected Spyro's genes. However, the intensity, the power, the pure heat that Mya produces, feels as if he has lit the flame himself and Malefor cannot control his smile.

"That's my..." He starts to say, then notices thing get out of hand quickly, as three polar bears threaten to retaliate.

"...excuse me, Aqua...I think I need to make my presence known!"

The portal begins flickering as Malefor's chin horn hits the pool of energy first, followed by his gigantic head, and in an instant he is transported across the heavens. With a quick blink of his eyes, refocusing them to see normally instead of through waves of energy, the large dragon watches the fear of god fill the eyes of four polar bears in Bosco's general store. They stare in awe, as the rest of Malefor's near forty ton frame squeezes through the oval disk of energy.

"Do you little cubs have an issue here with my granddaughter!?" The massive purple dragon barks angrily.

All four Polar Bears turn even whiter than they were, quickly dropping the weapons in their paws, and running for the front door. Malefor's grin returns, listening to the pirates stumbling away, and he looks down at the red dragoness still breathing heavily from her display of power. He places a gentle paw down upon Mya's back and she jumps ever so slightly from the shock of his touch. However, Malefor's pulse is quickly felt through his palm and she slowly relaxes realizing who has touched her.

"Are you OK, young lady?"

"I'm fine..." She says with a deep grunt, snorting a plume of flame from her nostrils with one last cleansing breath, but still feeling the anger within for all pirates. Mya then turns to show that rage in her eyes, making sure the large dragon behind her understands his help was unnecessary.

"...I was not going to let them hurt anyone again!"