Chapter 12: The Eve of Battle
Unspecified Forest- 10:36 AM
We had managed to get a decent breakfast going, Terrador had manage to score us a few fish by popping them out of the water with rock pillars, I watched as each one landed on the grassy shore, flip flopping and gasping for air, they eventually died and were ready for consumption. I have to admit, eating fish was a lot more bearable for me than the usual deer carcass, man when I got back to Plainsville I was gonna have me a good old fashion cheeseburger, I miss having food that's already prepared for me, it may be horrendously unhealthy, but at least cheeseburgers don't bleed, usually.
Of course, the fish bones were an issue, but with my sharp claws I managed to pick most of them out by hand. Of course the dragons gave me odd looks while I did this, I guess they weren't used to my finicky human ways. I was never really big on fish, but it was the best thing ever compared to what I had been eating as of late.
While I ate I noticed that Cynder and Ember weren't shooting stink eyes at each other anymore, I guess Spyro was able to talk her down after all. Spyro himself also seemed to have cooled down with the whole "Go home Matt" thing. I guess he finally got the message that I was seeing this through to the end. That's when I really got to thinking of what it was going to be like when we got sent back home, to be honest, part of me didn't want to go, for once in my life I felt important, like I was doing something that mattered for once instead of going with the motions like everyone else. But I had to go home eventually, I had a mother and sister back home, and quite frankly I miss having hands instead of paws, yeah I could still kinda hold stuff, but it was weird and awkward.
"You okay?" I heard Ember ask me, the first time she seemed like herself since she found out about Spyro and Cynder. "Just... thinking about home is all." I said. "You miss it?" She asked. "Yeah, part of me does..." I confessed. She looked at me confused for a minute. "Part of you?" She repeated in question. "Yeah, part of me doesn't want to go, this is the first time I've ever done something important. It's going to be hard going back to being a nobody." I admitted, I don't know how that sounded to her, but it was how I felt. "You won't be a nobody Matt, you're helping save our world, that's not something that'll go away." Ember said. She had a point, no one would ever know it, but I would have saved an entire world, possibly two. Not something most people can claim they've done.
"Matt, can I ask you something?" Ember asked out of the blue. "Uh, sure." I said, not sure where she was going with this. "Spyro, he doesn't really like me very much does he?" Ember asked sadly. Okay Oliver, tread very carefully here, Ember's a bit of a delicate flower, don't want to crush her soul here. "You mean in the romantic sense?" I asked, she nodded. Okay Oliver, nice and steady. "No, I don't think he does." I said as subtly as an atom bomb. Nice one Oliver, you wanna drown her kitten while your at it? Maybe kick Flame in the crotch too? Jackass. Ember looked away sadly and started to cry, yeah I crushed her soul into tiny pieces, smooth move Oliver. "I'm sure there's someone out there for you Ember." I said hoping to salvage what little I could of her crushed spirit.
"Y... you think so?" She asked, I had remembered that Flame had told me of his little crush on Ember, I couldn't tell her directly, it was better if she heard it from him, but it was something. "Yeah, who knows, he might be closer than you think." I said dropping a little hint. She looked confused for a sec, but then looked off to the side, I turned to see she was looking at Flame, who was trying to get a grip on his fish that somehow was still alive and was trying to get away from him. "Y... you mean Flame?" She asked. "Maybe." I said, still not willing to give it away. "I guess he's cute in that dorky kind of way." Ember said unsure.
"Sometimes people can surprise you." I said before taking a bite of my fish. She got up and wandered over to Flame, oh man I hope he was prepared, I think Ember's had enough emotional torment today, what with the dragon of her dreams being yoinked by Cynder.
I couldn't believe it, Flame? Matt wasn't exactly very subtle about it, I always thought of Flame as an older brother, I had no idea he had feelings for me. But then again it did explain allot of things, like why he was always so protective of me, and why, even when we were around other dragons he still felt the need to be by my side all the time. The more I thought about it, the more I seemed to warm up to the idea. "Flame?" I asked when I finally reached him, he froze, the fish managing to wiggle free back into the lake. "Y...yeah?" Flame stuttered.
"D...do you like me?" I asked, "Of course I do." Flame answered. "No I mean like me like me." I clarified. Flame was a bit slow sometimes, but I had a feeling this particular moment had more to do with him being nervous than anything else. "I... I... how did you find out?" He asked. "Let's just say subtly isn't Matt's forte." I replied with a smile. "Yes, I like you, I have for a while but I was too scared to ask, and you were crushing on Spyro..." Flame confessed, I couldn't believe it, all this time? And he was too scared to ask me? I had been following Spyro for over a year, and all that time I has someone pining for me right under my nose. And I was too stupid to notice.
"I... I understand if your weirded out..." Flame said, I gave him a loving nuzzle in response. "You may not be the purple dragon Flame, but you've always been my hero." I told him. It was true, ever since we met after my parents died he was always the one I turned to when I was in danger. He was my own hero, I just hadn't realized it until now. "So... are we... you know...?" Flame stammered, I giggled. "Yes Flame, we're together now." I said to him. I saw his face light up. The day I thought I lost my soul mate, and instead I had found him.
"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Volteer said to Cyril, who just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. "Ahem, as nice as this is I think you two forget that as soon as we finish eating we begin our search for Red." Terrador pointed out. Both of us backed up with a nervous chuckle. This just got really awkward really fast.
Well that worked out swimmingly, now both Spyro and Flame managed to hook up with their dream girls, made me kinda wish I could find my own someday, oh well, I guess I've always worked as a loner anyway. More freedom that way and less drama too.
We finished our meal, and just as Terrador had said earlier we set off to go beat the tar out of Red. To be honest, I was looking forward to kicking that jerkwad's candy ass, it would be cathartic for the hell his shenanigans had put me through. But first we had to find the asshole. And according to the Chronicler the dude didn't have a set base of operations, preferring to keep moving in order to avoid being tracked down. Because of course he did, it wouldn't be nearly as infuriating if he didn't, asshole.
We all took flight, Andy having to hitch a ride on Terrador due to his wing being wrecked. "So what exactly are we looking for?" I asked Terrador, who seemed to be the one taking charge of this operation. "A large gathering of blood crystals, no doubt he'd have them close by so he could begin his plan." Terrador explained. Okay was this world just, allergic to subtlety or something? What was the point of not setting up an evil lair if you were just gonna make your position obvious as hell anyway?!
Bah! My brain hurts! Whatever, why am I complaining? At least he'll be easy to find now! We can poke plot holes in this after we kick his pompous ass. Oh how I would enjoy making this jackass pay for what he's done to me and my friends. "I just hope we don't arrive too late." Spyro said. "Come on Spyro, you gotta stay positive man, go with the flow ya know?" Andy said. "Andy is right Spyro, we cannot allow doubt to invade our minds on the eve of battle. We must keep our spirits high if we are to succeed." Terrador added. Hard to believe just a day ago he wanted to grind us into a fine powder and then eat Mac and Cheese on our graves.
Soon enough I managed to see it, a blood crystal the size of a goddamn football stadium just sitting there protruding through the forest like a tumor. Come on Red really? Why not just hang up a neon sign that says "I'm here you twits! Come kick my ass!". Honestly this is just ridiculous! Did he seriously think we wouldn't notice the comically large blood crystal?! Either he was really cocky, are really stupid. Maybe a little of both come to think of it. "Oh gee, I wonder if he's near that giant f*** off crystal over there?" I said sarcastically. "Matt is it too much to ask you watch that tongue of yours?" Cyril asked. "Yes, yes it is." I said cheerfully like an arrogant jerk. "Regardless, you have to admit Cyril, it is kind of painfully obvious." Terrador commented. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who saw how stupid this really was.
"Perhaps we should exercise caution, he could want us to find him after all." Volteer pointed out, okay that actually terrifyingly made sense. It certainly fit with what I had seen of Red's personality, being so arrogant he would practically invite us to kick his door in and wreck his stuff. "I'm with Volteer here, no way this dude would be this obvious unless he wanted us to come here." Dean agreed. So we kept our guard up as he finally reached the worlds largest blood crystal ever. Being extra careful not to let any of our body parts touch the thing. Man I hope we didn't end up having to fight near this thing. I could imagine it becoming a major problem very quickly if that was the case.
Sure enough there he was, him in all his red, butt ugly glory. He was gawking at his blood crystal like a kid who had just got that toy he always wanted, I kept expecting him to start making out with it. He then noticed our approach. "Ah, it seems as though I have visitors." Red said so sickly sweet I almost gagged. "This ends now Red! There's eleven of us and only one of you! Surrender now and you can still live to see tomorrow." Spyro warned. Red just laughed. "I think you've severely overestimated your numbers boy." Red said before making an all too familiar hand gesture. "Oh no!" I said realizing what he was doing.
But it was too late, blood crystals suddenly surrounded the three guardians, trapping them instantly and taking them right out of the fight. "Dammit! We can't move!" Terrador grunted in frustration. "If you don't mind Terrador I'd like to keep this between me and the children. I did say I wanted to save you three for last." Red mused. "Bastard!" Terrador cursed. "We can take him without the guardians right?" I asked Spyro. "Ancestors I hope so..." Spyro said, thanks Spyro, that made me feel so much better! "No then children, this game of ours is at an end, I will enjoy picking you off one by one." Red snarled.
Spyro wasted no time in firing the first shot, a good sized fireball right to the face, Red growled in pain but shook it off. He leaped up into the air and started to rain fiery death upon us. "I see you've adopted that fool Ignitus' techniques purple dragon! A shame he never showed you how a real master utilizes the flame!" Red taunted. I would have rolled my eyes if I wasn't trying desperately not to die.
Dean shot rapid fire ice shards at Red, who just blocked them with a fire shield of some kind. "Please tell me this is not the best you pathetic children can do! This is almost too easy!" Red scoffed before suddenly dive bombing us, colliding with Dean before he could get out of the way. Dean flew back from the impact, tumbling ass over tea kettle across the dirt. Kate growled in anger before shooting several lightening bolts at Red, who managed to dodge each one with little to no effort before thwacking her upside the head with his tail.
Andy tried to get him with a few rock shots, but Red caught them like footballs and crushed them in his claws. He then dashed forward and grabbed Andy's bad wing. "It seems my puppets did more damage than I thought, didn't they young human?" Red asked before wrenching it with a sickening crack. Andy crying out in agony as he did this. "You son of a bitch!" I cried dashing right for him horns forward, ready to impale this asshole on my horns, however he stopped me by putting his paw on my head and pushing me back, knocking me down. "Such anger Matthew! You don't like it when I hurt your pathetic little friends do you child?" Red mused before wrenching Andy's bad wing again.
I was getting more and more pissed with every scream Andy cried. No way this jackass lives! No one tortures my friends like this and lives to tell the tale! I shot the strongest flame I could right at the guy, but the son of a bitch just blocked it with his own!
I finally realized what it was Red was doing, he was trying to rile Matt up so he'd make a mistake. So he could kill Andy and Matt at the same time! I had to get Andy away from Red, his wing was so horribly mangled it was barely still attached! Thankfully he would hopefully be fine when he returned to his human form, but I wasn't going to chance him dying of blood loss! Red was so preoccupied with Matt it left him open. I shot an earth blast right at his head, the rock hitting his skull with a satisfying crack. Finally getting the deranged dragon to release Andy's horribly mangled wing.
"Aw dude... my wing! Oh god it hurts!" Andy whimpered. I knew I shouldn't have let Andy fight! I should have known Red would be so underhanded as to pick at a weak point like that. "Andy stay calm! You're going to be okay!" I tried to reassure him, but it was clear at this point he was going into shock. I could see the panic in his eyes. I heard Red laugh, he stood facing Matt, who was furious for what he did to his friend. "You see how easy it is Matthew? For me to take away your little friends? To snuff out their meaningless lives in an instant?" Red taunted, Matt said nothing, just breathing heavily and glaring at Red with blood lust in his eyes.
"You hate me don't you Matthew? You want me to die, to suffer just like Andrew don't you? To tare me limb from limb, my pained screams a symphony to your ears. It was the same look I had when Ignitus was chosen as Fire Guardian over me... you and I are so much alike Mr. Oliver." Red explained. "I'm nothing like you you sadistic f**k!" Matt spat. "Is that so? Prove me wrong then, show me mercy, and watch as your friends die one by one." Red said with a manic glee.
Suddenly Red backhanded Matt, sending him tumbling backward. "Matt!" Dean cried rushing to his aid, only for Red to catch Dean's tail in his maw. Dean screamed as Red's teeth dug into his tail. "DEAN! RED YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Matt screamed. Red had no response, instead swinging poor Dean around like a toy, blood spewing from the wound at a disturbing rate. "LET HIM GO DAMN YOU!" Matt pleaded. Red released Dean sending him sailing through the air and crashing onto the ground below. "I bet you wish you had never brought them here now don't you Matthew?! You're beginning to see it aren't you? The futility of your struggle! Tell me Matthew, are the dragons worth losing all of your friends for? I guarantee you I will at least manage to kill one of them. How will you explain it to their parents? Will they forgive you? Hehe, will you even forgive yourself?" Red taunted before stomping on Matt's back.
I couldn't watch this anymore! I wasn't going to let these good people be killed like this! I rushed Red, looking to drive my horns right through him, putting an end to his madness once and for all. However Red saw me coming, and slammed his mighty paw on my head forcing it into the ground, I could feel the pain shooting through my skull on impact. "Nice try Spyro, but not even you can protect Matthew's little friends from me." Red taunted. I tried to get out from under his paw, but my efforts only caused him to apply more pressure on my head.
"This struggle is pointless Matthew, you and your friends are doomed to die here, and no one will ever know. You're mother and sister will never truly know what became of their dear Matthew, a forgotten name among the many eroded by history, you and your friends lives reduced to a punchline." Red mocked, applying pressure on Matt's back, making an audible crack.
Suddenly a thunder bolt hit Red square in the face causing him to stumble backward. "Forget about me asshole?!" Kate shouted before shooting more tunderbolts in rapid succession. I was able to lift my head to see Matt was breathing slowly. "M...Matt... you okay?" I asked, no response. Oh no! Please don't die! Not like this! "Matt!" I shouted. This fight wasn't going well at all! Dammit why didn't he listen to me when I told him to go home?! This wasn't right! None of this was! I heard Matt cough, at least it was a sign he was still with me, but for how long? "Matt? You alright?" I asked again. He slowly moved his head towards me. "I... I'll live." He said, I breathed I sigh of relief.
"You scared me for a second there." I said. "How are we gonna beat this guy? Oh god he's gonna kill my friends!" Matt said panicking. "No he's not! I won't let that happen and neither will you! We just have to stay strong!" I told him.
Suddenly Kate came tumbling by. She struggled to get back up. "You humans certainly are tenacious creatures aren't you? But it matters little, this will be your final resting place, and there is nothing you can do to change that." Red boasted, I wasn't gonna lie, it was looking an awful lot like that would be the case. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight! I was gonna end this, one way or another!
A/N- MEWHAHAHA! Troll Foowd cliff hangers your fight scenes!
Will Matt and friends be able to survive the fight against Red? Stay tuned to find out!