Spyro, Cynder, and all other Spyro related characters are property of Sierra studios.
Draco, Contrinus, Chip and Cydra are property of my co-author, Cydra.
Matt, his merc team, the NSC and related tech, the ancients/atlanteans and malefors dragon generals are mine.
CPS Chronicles: Forgotten Blood
Chapter 14: Past Imperfect pt 3
Cynder looked around at the tall buildings around her. They reminded her so much of the architecture of Warfang, but it was made of metal and looked more high-tech. "I can see your designs have been influenced by Avalarian customs," said Cynder.
"Oh...I suppose we influenced each other," said the earth dragon next to her. His name was Xavier, one of the dragons living on the island. "It was originally a defense bunker for the Atlantis council. When the war with the old ones ended, we converted it to a colony for...us," he said, seemingly about to slip up before remembering something.
"So how were you able to build this city?" asked Cynder, "I don't think the moles helped here."
"Oh...the Atlanteans helped out alot. They can work wonders..." he said, before looking into a pool. "...in some areas."
"So, how long have you been living here?" asked Cynder. "60 years," said Xavier, "Ever since I've...retired from the army."
Cynder looked up at Xavier. "You don't act like most dragons," she said. Xavier chuckled. "Your friends, they're Shar-khan. You'll probably live to see what I mean," he said and left it at that.
Just then, both dragons heard loud shouting not too far away. "What's going on?" asked Cynder. "From the sounds of it, I think your friends are having an argument with Morgan," said Xavier.
It was indeed an argument. Morgan and Matt were practically screaming at each other. "I WILL NOT SACRIFIC IMPORTANT DEFENCE RESOURCES ON A...SUICIDE MISSION!" yelled Morgan. "AND I'M SAYING THAT IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING, WE'RE ALL DONE FOR!" shouted Matt. "ONE DRAGON VERSUS 5000! DO THE MATHS!" replied Morgan, angrily. "IT'S JUST A SURGICAL STRIKE! WE SNEAK IN, WE SNEAK OUT!" snapped Matt.
"NO!" said Morgan before taking a deep breath. "No...This is the last Atlantis facility left. We lost Nirvana City last week and the last spaceport with it. This portal, once it's online, is our only escape," he said, pointing to the arch in the middle of the town square.
"Those creeps aren't going to give us the chance to escape," said Matt, also lowering his voice, "They'll come in and obliterate us before that happens." "And what does that have to do with your wild goose chase?" asked Morgan. Matt said "I told you, he's a purple dragon. You think Malefor is bad? You wait till there's double the fun."
"That may be a problem, but I doubt you'd be able to sneak into Malefor's lair without setting off all the alarms," said Morgan, "I respect that you wish to rescue your teammate, but there's not sensible way to do it."
Matt glared. "For a Shar-khan...you're a wuss," he said. Morgan abruptly punched Matt in the face. Matt groaned and tried to put his nose back in position. "I figured I'd break this thing at some point during this crazy trip," he said nasally.
"You drak'nk." said Morgan. "You have no idea. You weren't at Danavor Port..." he said, coldly, "You leave this town...don't come back." "No need to resort to slander," said Matt, "We're going, we're going."
When the others came out, Cynder asked, "Just what happened in there?"
"Apparently Spyro is 'a waste of defensive resources'," said Matt coldly. "I see," said Cynder, "So we can't expect any backup from Morgan, right?" "Nope...and if we leave we are in trouble, you heard Morgan," said Chloe. Matt was smirking. "You know, you think people would know I'm good at nicking stuff." he said, holding up what looked like one of Morgan's teleporter device. He'd stolen it when Morgan had made the mistake of leaning forward.
"Not bad," said Chloe, "But I suggest you come up with a plan for how to use it before Morgan figures out he's been pick pocketed." Matt tossed it to Chip. "Chip? Would you?" "You can't really expect me to just fix any bit of tech that falls into my hand," said Chip, "That's just plain stereo- Wait, I've got it." "So, we go in, grab Spyro. Be back before anyone notices we were gone," said Matt.
Suddenly Morgan's voice yelled, "Hey! Where is my teleporter?" "Uh, scratch that last remark," said Matt, "Time to warp." Four of Morgan's men, probably Shar-Khan themselves, came running round the corner with the man himself. "Stop those guys!" he yelled, pointing at them. "Bye," said Matt cheekily, as they vanished
--
The groups' vision came back to find themselves in some kind of alleyway. "Whoa, was that a rush," said Wilson as he rubbed his temples, "You sure this is the right place?" Matt wandered out of the alley and peered around curiously. A couple of dragons, barely teenagers were standing near the end of the street, wearing armor.
Their eyes, however, were all wrong, glowing creepily. "That's why," said Matt as Chloe shifted to dragon form. The first of the guards came up. "Humans, what are you doing out after curfew?"
"Curfew? What curfew?" asked Kala. "Humans aren't allowed out at any other time after noon. Lady Devina's orders. There are Atlantis special forces in the city."
"Noon? Can't it be at six like the other cites?" asked Draco. "Shut up, human," said the other dragon guard, cruelly. "Er, they're with us," said Cynder, "We've got errands to run and it helps to have people with pose-able hands." The first guard looked at Cynder. "Fine, make sure they have visible permission next time." The second guard said, "Lady Devina has a presentation in the square...everyone is to attend, no exceptions." Matt watched the guards walk off and said, "Phew, that was close." "We're going to need some disguises," said Techo.
The square was packed. It seemed that Cynder wasn't the only dragon with 'human helpers', but apart from that the majority was being kept separate from the dragons. Luckily, it turned out that there were several Shar-Virk around the city and Matt n co had found a group that could 'donate' their uniforms
"I hope this works," muttered Matt.
While in dragon form, he called out, "Hey boys! Look what I got here!" He pulled Draco into view, who said, "Hey, where are the white women at?" The guards looked at each other and then ran at Draco, who managed to 'slip' from Matt's grasp and head back into an alley.
The group ran round the corner and stopped. They didn't recognize the collection of devices, but they knew an assault rifle when it was aimed at their kidneys. "Oh, not again," said one guard.
A brief scuffle later, the gang walked out, wearing their 'new' uniforms. "Where are the white women at?" questioned Matt. "It was the first thing that popped into my mind," said Draco. "You didn't really mean that, did you?" said Contrinus with a slightly threatening tone. "Of course not," said Draco quickly, "You know you're the only one for me."
Matt and Chip both said "Wuss." under their breaths. They got a good look at the square. "What the hell's the big deal?" muttered Matt. "Well, it certainly isn't any street performers," said Kala, "Except to that guy over there who's doing the living statue impression." "That's a robot," said Techo.
It was indeed a robot. Matt could sense the plasma humming in the cannons that made up its arms as it turned to look at them. "Nobody panic, we're not on any record here," said Matt quietly.
"It's weird, I didn't use to have any fear of those things," said Chip, "But now I feel vulnerable to them."
"That's the feeling of no built-in body armor," said Matt. The square opened up onto a large wall topped with a lightning field like the one used at Cynder's tower. The huge gates opened slowly to reveal a double dozen of Shar-irk and dragon guards and... "Devina." said Matt and Cynder at the same time. Both of them had a reason to hate her, even though she hadn't done it yet.
"So that's what she looks like," said Draco, "Didn't really get to see here before." "Me neither," said Kala.
Devina stepped aside a second later to reveal Spyro walking forward in a daze between two dragon guards. He looked like he'd been at the same mushrooms Matt and Kala had found.
"This is the new future of our world," said Devina, "He shall be Malefor's heir when he, if ever, dies. Until then, Spyro shall be his second-in-command." Matt and Chloe luckily apparently had some extremely low psy-rating and managed to subtly grab Cynder as she tried to go forward.
"Not now," muttered Chloe, "We have to be discreet." "Right," said Matt, "You can get that dragon bitch later." "Seems a little puny to be second-in-command," shouted one of the Shar-Virk. "True," said Devina, "But we have a way to fix that." She closed her eyes and a third eye opened up in her forehead.
Matt gulped. The last time that had been used, Draconus had gotten a free 'get out of jail' pass. pyro also seemed to come out of it and started struggling for a minute till his eyes fell on Devina fully, then he fell into the same stupor as before.
"Well, this can't be good," said Chloe. "Don't look directly into it," said Matt as he partially turned his head away. Cynder didn't look away however as Spyro's eyes started glowing, the same glow that spread over Spyro entirely.
"Ok, that's unusual," said Techo and they all nearly jumped with surprise when Spyro started to surge in size. Within seconds, he was almost the same size as Cynder had been outside Pariah. The glow faded from his body to reveal the same Spyro they had met at the alternate Warfang.
"Ok, this is a bigger problem," said Contrinus, "No pun intended."
"Contrinus is right. We need a plan that's better than 'shoot everyone'," said Chip who suddenly made a funny face. "Oh, great, not the best time."
The others quickly crowded around him. "Keep out sight," muttered Matt, "Nothing raises more suspicion than someone transforming, especially if it's into the opposite sex." That surprised the guard who had been to near and had been swept up. "Does that mean I can go?" he said nervously. "Uh, sure, keep your head down," said Matt. The guard ran off and just in time too.
--
The group had managed to find a quiet area in view of the fortress. "Ok...place is kitted out like Kryos," said Matt, after an hour of watching the patrols. "I wish NegaMorph were here," said Chloe. "I don't," said Wilson. "You don't?" asked Cynder. "Can you imagine that guy as a human?"
The group all stopped. "Hmm...Igor lookalike?" Matt said and ducked Chloe's punch. "Obviously," said Draco, "This is going to involve a lot of stealth... Well, that eliminates sending Matt in." "HEY!" yelled Matt, angrily. Chloe said, "That might be the only option though. Thing's built of granite from the looks of things," she said.
"No problem," said Chixie, "I'll just hack into the computer system and... Oh wait, I'm all flesh. Darn it."
Techo pulled out a spare wrist computer. "Use that," he said.
"Thanks, you're such a sweetie," said Chixie, "Maybe you could take me out to dinner sometime." The whole group froze as they realized what happened. "This moment never happened," said Techo. The group nodded, the most desperate one coming from Chixie who's brain had just told her what she'd said.
"I do have an idea, but we'll need that energy field knocked out," said Matt, "Somewhere like that will need food deliveries."
"What? You plan to bring in a pizza?" said Draco. "Not really, but who'll notice a few more servants around?" said Matt "Wait a sec," said Chixie, "I found a gap in the security field. You should be able to sneak in there."
--
The inside of the main fortress was an extreme change from the half-ruined area outside, in good repair. Unfortunately, there were dozens of the tank bots Matt and Cynder had met at Avalar the dam those years ago. "Careful. They pack a wallop," said Matt as two tank bots rumbled past the groups hiding place.
"I'm surprised those things can fit inside these halls," said Draco. "Maybe if we can keep behind them, we can sneak around them," said Draco. "Oh please," said Chixie, "That only works in videogames." To prove that, one of the droids rotated its torso 180 degree's to look behind it for the moment.
The group waited until it had turned the corner out of sight. "Ok..." said Matt and the group ran for an open door. Two human servants were cleaning the corridor as they came in. They looked terrified as the group arrived.
"Relax," said Matt, "We're here to... make sure those rumors about plague weasels sneaking in with the food are not true." The two humans just ran off down the corridor. "Oh hell," said Matt. "I said we shoulda let Matt sit this out," said Chloe.
--
Meanwhile, Devina approached Malefor in his throne room. "Ah, Devina," said Malefor, "What's the news with our ally-to-be?" "Slow," said Devina, "He's proving rather hard to crack." "How loyal is he at the moment?" said Malefor. For a second, his image flickered. A Shar-Virk wandered over to the throne stand and kicked it, making the image stabilize. "Taleth says the Atlantis navy is still trying to cut Avalar off and there is no sign of the Atlantis special force that Taleth says landed," Devina said.
A dragon with silver scales stepped forward and said, "We're doing the best we can." Malefor glared at the dragon. "Please look human, Taleth," he said coldly. The dragon shrugged and shimmered into a human form. "Look. These guys we're looking for, they might have already been here. The drop was probably just gear. They could be in this room with us," he said. Malefor sighed. "Fine, just kill them when you find them."
"By the way," said Malefor, "How is our purple friend doing?" "Well, I've gotten Spyro to obey most of our orders now," said Devina. "No, not him, Zyvar," said Malefor, "Although it's good to know that I have another purple dragon on my side. Very good indeed."
Another Shar-Virk in human form came in. "Sirs. We have a serious problem. Someone shut down section 4." he said. "Then go and deal with it, simpleton," snapped Malefor. As soon as the Shar-Virk left, Malefor said, "Now, what about Zyvar?" "A Miss Echidra will be here by tomorrow. She is a skilled necromancer. I know her from a year ago. If anyone can get Zyvar on his feet again, she can." said Taleth.
--
Several guards got to one of the doors and one opened the door to see Techo, Draco and Wilson holding rifles. "Hi," said Wilson. The guard slammed the door and dived for cover as pulse rounds shot through the door, hitting his squad mates. He turned dragon and crawled into a side room to see three dragons facing him. "You look tired," said the dark blue one, "You should take a nap." He whacked the guard on the head, causing him to topple over unconscious.
Matt looked at the others. "Hey. At least we got in," he said. Chloe sighed. "Why didn't you ask for directions?" she said, head in her paw. "Why ask for directions? We've got a perfectly good map," said Matt. Chip sighed. "They caught on to me, turned off their connections. But if I'm right, it's this way," he said.
Meanwhile, Spyro was pacing around his room. "How did I get in here again?" he said to himself. "Should I leave or stay? Am I supposed to be waiting for somebody?" He stumbled for a second. It was like he wasn't used to being so big, but that couldn't be right. There was distant gunfire. Lady Devina had mentioned some intruders.
"I better go deal with them," said Spyro, "Or could they be my rescuers? Why would I need rescuing? Ugh, I'm so confused." Suddenly the door flew, open, one of Taleth's men, staggering back as energy bolts hit him, until he slumped down. A black dragoness and a human holding a rifle came in. "Spyro?" said the black dragoness hopefully.
Spyro stared at the black dragoness. She looked like Lady Devina, but rather different. And there was something awfully familiar about her. "Do I...know you?" asked Spyro. "Spyro...it's me, Cynder...don't you know me? Please...we can't be too late," said the dragoness, eyes tearing up.
"Cynder, that name seems so extremely familiar," said Spyro, "If only I can remember..." "What can you remember?" asked the human. Spyro thought about it and said, "Actually, the only thing I can clearly remember is the last couple of minutes in this room. The rest I'm not so sure about." "Let me guess, your clearest memories are just after Devina see's you?" said the human.
"What exactly are you implying?" said Spyro, sounding slightly angry. "Devina's playing blender with your memories. She did the same to my brother," said the human. The one known as Cynder nodded. "Chloe's right. Devina's evil. She's just using you to make you a pawn for Malefor."
"No, that can't be right," said Spyro, "Devina wouldn't manipulate me like that. You must be lying!"
Chloe sighed. "Do you remember Draconus? The one who almost killed me and Cynder? He's impossible to forget...not someone like him," she said.
Spyro groaned and said, "I can't get a clear picture of anything. So many memories, I don't know if they were mine. Was I ever dancing with a hippo named Clarence?" The two looked at each other. "I don't think so...though the holodeck did short circuit once," said Chloe. Cynder said, "I remember how you helped me back when I nearly fell back into darkness...please."
Spyro shut his eyes and said, "I'm trying! It's so hard to think clearly! Oh, I think I'm getting a migraine."
Just then, two Shar-Virk guards arrived and said, "Freeze! You two are under arrest!" Chloe looked worried at the guards, one who held a blader against Cynder. The other said, "My lord. Are you ok?"
Spyro shook his head and said, "I am now..."
--
The group got to the throne room doors and knocked it open. Well...knocked it open was an understatement. Matt blew it off its hinges. That was quite useful as it knocked down the guards holding the door shut. "Ok. Everyone drop their weapons and spells," said Matt, who over the years had learnt a modification of the usual 'drop the guns'.
"Actually, I think it is you who should drop your weapons," said Devina, who was holding Chloe in her claws. Matt glared at the people in the room. Most of them people he'd have the misfortune to meet again. Taleth, Anton, Devina, even Malefor was there. Cynder was between two transformed Shar-Virk and adult Spyro was there too. "Holster them," Matt said after a pause.
The group reluctantly put their weapons away. "I might have known something like this would happen," said Chixie. Matt glared at Malefor. "Ah...captain tosspot. Lording it over us," he said. His eye still stung from where he'd received the slashes.
"You're not in a very good position to be insulting anyone," said Malefor, "That is, unless you don't have a connection with this human female." "Oh...never said that...but I know for a fact she'd kill me if I didn't try anything, gecko man," said Matt.
"Shall we throw them into the dungeon?" asked Taleth. "Do you not like your hearing?" said Matt, happily. Spyro said, "Maybe we should see what they know?" "A good idea," said Malefor, "Let's see, which one should we strip their mind apart?"
Devina looked at Chloe. "Why not start with the closest?" she said. "Don't you dare," said Matt darkly. Taleth looked over at him. "I think we found our Atlantis hit team." he said, sensing the Shar-khan energy emitting from Matt.
That momentarily put Matt off his guard. "What? We're not- Ow!" Kala had quickly kicked him and said, "Yes, you found us out." Malefor sighed. "Tear his associate's head off...as an exam..." he began and his image flickered as Matt knocked Taleth aside and lunged at him, falling through the hologram. "Ok...unexpected," he said, against the wall.
"Do we have to do that?" said Spyro, "Couldn't we extract the information by less gruesome means?"
"Examples must be made...DO NOT QUESTION ME AGAIN!" roared Malefor. "I will expect a report." he added before vanishing.
Just then, Chloe sent a shock of electricity through Devina's leg. "Ow!" she yelled and dropped Chloe. Devina turned to Spyro and said, "Destroy her!" "But Devina-" started Spyro but was stopped when Devina turned her hypnotic eye on him.
Cynder blasted one of her guards with a shadow fire blast and sent the other reeling with a banshee blast and heard the battle roar as the now, brainwashed Spyro prepared a fire blast to hit Matt's team.
"Spyro! No!" yelled Cynder. She surged to adult size and tackled Spyro.
The Shar-Virk all pulled out ion blades or transformed. "Take them apart." said Taleth as they lunged. Draco as knocked down by a female fire Shar-Virk in dragon form. "Last words, scum?" she said, eyes glittering with insanity.
"I have a jealous mate?" said Draco. "What's that supposed to-" The Shar-Virk was knocked out when Contrinus smashed a vase against her head. Chloe however was exchanging ion blades with Taleth. "You fight good for a newly changed...want a job?" said Taleth, smoothly.
"And work with an oily creep like you? Forget it," said Chloe. "Ah well...I tried." said Taleth and doubled the attack. Matt however was having an extremely bad day. Both Devina and Anton were on his case. "Two vs one? Not fair," he said, blocking a blade slash from Anton before being forced to roll to avoid a stomp from Devina.
"If you had stayed in your proper place, you wouldn't have to die," said Devina, "Like your friend over there." Matt looked to see Janeth was about to spear Kala through with his blade. Matt put his hand up and the same boomerang of plasma he'd made during the banshee base escape shot out, knocking Janeth over in shock. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" yelled Matt.
Devina immediately sensed the danger and try to take Matt out with a psychic attack, but was repelled the enormous amount of anger Matt was feeling. "Get...out of my head...once...is enough," snarled Matt, angrily. A faint blue heat haze began to appear around him. Anton saw what was happening. "Devina?" he said, backing up towards a heavy pillar.
"I think that's his Fury attack charging," said Devina fearfully. Chloe saw it in time to kick Taleth back and yell. "COVER!" Matt yelled with an extremely dragon-like roar, sending a wave of blue-white hot plasma in all directions, sending Devina into the roof hard enough to smash it and knocking down or incinerating any of the Shar-Virk still in view.
When the attack finally ended, Draco, Chixie, and Contrinus looked up to see half-melted walls and a fuming Matt in dragon form. "Wow," said Draco, "What a bang!" Matt was advancing on the unconscious Devina. "Oh...so tempting," he said, readying as plasma orb in his paw.
"Matt, don't!" shouted Chloe, "Destroyed her could damage the timestream as much as Spyro being corrupted." Matt glared at Devina. "I'll get you...one day." he said, extinguishing the plasma orb. "Damn...he's ok, Cynder," said Techo, looking at the unconscious Spyro. He'd caught a good part of the blast but as luckily just covered in soot.
"Ok, let's get him out of here before the whole city is upon us," said Chixie. There were already distant footsteps, headed for their location. "Chixie, can you tune us back to Avalon? They got the only arch." said Chloe.
"I'm trying," said Chixie, "It's not as easy as it looks. Stupid girly fingers." The teleporter orb luckily activated just as a group of dragon guards burst in, led by a familiar, if unwelcome face. "You!" growled Ghoulwyrm and he swung his clawed hand at Matt. It was mere inches from cleaving his face off when he disappeared with the rest.
It didn't help Ghoulwyrm's mood that Matt stuck his tongue out as he vanished, leaving an echoing laugh. "GRAH! IF I EVER SEE HIM AGAIN..." he started. "Oh, shut up, Zyvar," said Taleth, getting up, "I slipped a tracer on that idiot's sister. Should have a signal...any tiiiime...there we go. Someone get a healer to wake up Devina."
Devina was just barely becoming conscious. "Little wimp, big boom, ears hurt..." Unfortunately, the first thing she was Ghoulwyrm. "Ah! Zombie dragon!"
Ghoulwyrm sighed. "Yes. I know, I died, I got better, get over it!" he said. Apparently Devina's reaction was not the first.
"Can't say much for your appearance," said Taleth, "Especially since you practically have no skin on your skull." Ghoulwyrm growled and swung his fist at Taleth. To both of their surprise, the fist went right through Taleth's head.
Taleths eyes crossed. "Eurgh. Don't do that again," he said. Seleni said, "What was it like?" Taleth shuddered. "Like having an egg yolk in my skull."
Ghoulwyrm started at his hand. "Hmm, it appears that my undead status made me more powerful than I thought."
"Good, given I have a portal sized headache, YOU can make sure I'm safe while Taleth demolishes Avalon. But bring those little pests back..and Spyro back ALIVE AND UNHARMED!" said Devina.
Ghoulwyrm growled slightly and walked into the corridor. "I just learn I have more powers than before and what's the first thing I'm assigned? Guard duty! Talk about under-appreciation."
Devina snarled. "Then take it up with Malefor. I'm sure he'll be happy to listen," she said, angrily, her headache not helping her temper.
One of Ghoulwyrm's eyes slid down one of the grooves on his neck to glare back at her. "Perhaps I will. He'll probably see me as more useful than... Wait, how did I do that?"
"Just go make sure I am not disturbed unless it's a message from Lord Malefor. If you get it wrong..." she said and made the shadows grab Ghoulwyrm. "...I'll make you wish you never resurrected," before slamming the door.
Ghoulwyrm snarled and muttered, "Bodyguard duty. As if a creature like me should ever sink so low. Maybe I'd be better off without those wyrms riding on my tail." He was just settling down when four Shar-Virk in full armor walked round the corner. "Out the way, lich. We have business in there," said one.
"No one gets to see Devina, not nobody, not no how," said Ghoulwyrm in a bored tone. "Uh, did we mention we have a message from Malefor to Devina?" said another. "Like I'd fall for that," said Ghoulwyrm.
"It comes with a leg of mutton," said another. "Ok, go on in," said Ghoulwyrm, moving aside.
Devina woke up to see four Shar-Virk, one welding the door shut with a blast of flame. "What's the big idea?" she said. The leader walked forward. "I am Arceon Vornis. I believe you have been searching for me and my men."
"Yeah, yeah, so what's the message already?" said Devina, "I am not in a happy mood today."
Vornis made a motion with his hand and several blocks of ice formed around Devina's paws. "You misunderstand. I am Arceon Vornis of the 5th column. We've come to give you what you deserve."
"What is that meaning of this? Release me at once! Zyvar!" shouted Devina as she struggled to break free of the ice.
One of Vornis's men pulled out pieces of a staff and began clicking them together. Vornis continued. "You are charged with mass murder, conspiracy to cause extinction of our people, we have a special punishment in mind."
"You think you can kill me with that little stick?" said Devina. "Who said anything about killing you, but the technomancy guild say it'll hurt," said Vornis, taking the staff off his associate and aiming it at Devina.
--
Ghoulwyrm jumped as he heard a scream from Devina's room. Ghoulwyrm phased through the door and said, "What's going on in here?" Devina was slumped in the corner, eyes glazed. The lead human in the room was holding a glowing gem. "Oh...hello, lich." the guy said and sent a blast of ice at Ghoulwyrm before he could react.
Ghoulwyrm may be undead, but he was still as vulnerable to the cold as any cold-blooded creature. Within seconds, he was trapped in a solid block of ice. Then Vornis pulled out his communicator and spoke into it, "This is Vornis reporting in. The staff worked like a charm."
--
Matt's vision came back to see the skyline of Avalon...oh and several dozen Atlantis soldiers and Morgan. "You got a nerve..." said Morgan, before seeing the unconscious Spyro. "And that was all without a single drop of kr'ta," said Matt proudly.
"I have a feeling you were late," said Morgan, "You said he was a kid. Someone call Xavier."
"Well, I don't think he was corrupted all the way," said Cynder, "Just really, really, confused." Morgan looked at Cynder and said, "Didn't you used to be a lot shorter last time I saw you?"
Matt looked up. "Yeah, I think shrinking is a good idea." Cynder shook her head. "What if he wakes up and tries to attack us?"
"Well then, I'll come along to make sure he doesn't go rampant," said Matt, "Besides, I...kinda missed out on self-control training." At those words, Morgan turned a nasty glare on him. "Just...keep your temper."
--
When Spyro came to, his head was throbbing. "Oh," he groaned, "What size was that club?" He managed to get a good look and see Cynder. "YOU!" he said, jumping up, ready to fight again, before simply slumping down, from sheer exhaustion. "Easy, young one. We're not your enemies," said a second voice behind him.
Spyro looked behind him to see an earth dragon. "What's going on here?" asked Spyro. "We're here to help you settle your memories," said the earth dragon.
"I am Xavier, formerly of the Atlantis special hybrid force. You have been an unfortunate guest of General Devina," said the earth dragon. "What do you mean 'unfortunate'?" said Spyro. "She's been trying to brainwash you," said Cynder, "Don't you remember her mesmerizing you before you blacked out?"
Spyro shook his head. There was a flash, of a arch, falling through a strange tunnel and falling into a clearing. Humans grabbing him, a large black dragon with a glowing third eye. "Ugh, I don't know what's real anymore," said Spyro. "Well, we're going to help you find out," said Xavier.
Meanwhile, Techo was busy fiddling with some spare parts. "I still think this whole 'future' thing's too farfetched," said Morgan, who was watching, "Even if your friend did switch sexes before my eyes." "Well it isn't a picnic for me, pal," said Chip.
Techo clicked the last thing into place and part of it to Chip's old body. "Ok...here ya go, Chip," he said, tossing it over.
"It'll be so great to be genderless again," said Chip, "The size increase was a plus, but the hormones are just unbearable." Chip pushed a button on the reality generator and there was a bright flash of light.
Morgan looked on as Chip's human form glowed and shot into the tin shape on the floor next to it. "Ok…what was that? A vaporization?" he said, a bit skeptical, poking the metal body with his foot.
"Hey! Watch it!" said the metal body as he pushed his foot away, "Just because I'm small doesn't mean I can punt around."
Morgan jumped back. "Ok...so part of your story fits, but the part about the colony..." "It's true. I saw it in a history scroll myself," said Chip, getting up unsteadily. One of Morgan's troopers said, "Nonsense. This whole colony is secret."
"For the moment," said Chip, "But I'm getting a feeling they may this place at some point in the future."
Just then, they heard a familiar voice yelling, "Get your hands off me! I don't need to be shoved around!" Then a soldier came in with Chloe. "Sir," said the soldier, "We've found a tracking device on her. It's Shar-Virk in design." "Ok, before you fly off the handle," said Techo, "I'm pretty sure that it was slipped on her during the fight."
Morgsn looked at Chloe. "For old one's sake, Aniko. Let her go...and get double teams on the scanner stations." "That's the trouble. Long range picked up one of Taleth's ships approaching. It'll be here within the hour."
Morgan rubbed his forehead and groaned, "Well that's just peachy? Anything else? Is there a sea serpent in the bay?"
"No...but it looks like Taleth brought alot of friends," said the trooper. Morgan waited till his men had gone he sighed. "You said the colony was destroyed...no survivors found."
"I'm afraid so," said Chip, "However, it did compare the incident to something similar. I think it was Roanoke Colony or something?"
"That was just a screw up with a time warp...sent em forward 300 years," said Techo before stopping.
Techo turned to Morgan and said, "Sir, how big is the portal arch?"
"It was designed originally for bulk military, back when this was a military outpost...hmm," said Morgan.
"I suggest you get everybody together for mass evacuation," said Techo, "We wanna disappear before they drop the bomb on us."
"If nobody is there to put up some form of resistance, they'll catch on...hit us faster," said Morgan. He said something in Atlantean into a device on his wrist. "I will return...make sure your friends go through."
--
Chloe and Matt hurried to find Spyro and Cynder. "Too bad we can't stay here," said Matt, "I know it's like an eon until our time, but this is still our home world." "Uh, Matt," said Kala, "You do remember what will happen with Draco and Kala when we get back, right?"
Matt didn't look at Chloe and when he spoke it sounded strained, "Yeah. I know." "Matt, we will find a way to get rid of Avarona for good," said Chloe, "Things will be back to normal. You'll see." "I hope so, I really do," said Matt as they arrived at where Xavier had said to take Spyro.
They saw Spyro sitting in front of Xavier in a trance. Xavier had his eyes closed, but a third in his forehead was starting at Spyro. Only instead of it being red like Devina's, it was blue.
"Do you know exactly what's going on?" whispered Chloe to Cynder. "I don't know. He said Devina shut away Spyro's memories and that he's trying to release them again," said Cynder, the anxiety clear in her voice. "How long has this been going on? We kinda have visitors," said Chloe.
"It's been going on for 10 minutes, but I think they've still got some time to go," said Cynder.
"Can we tell them to step on it?" asked Matt. Xavier said in a slow voice, "This cannot be rushed, I must remove the dark energy as well."
The trio watched as Spyro slowly started to shrink. But he wasn't just losing height, he was losing years.
Finally Spyro had shrunken back to his usual age and size. Xavier stepped away from him and Cynder walked up to him. "Spyro?" she said softly.
Spyro blinked and shook his head. "Remind me to never get into a staring contest with Devina," said Spyro.
"Okay," said Cynder then hugged Spyro as close as she could. "I thought I was going to lose you," she said.
"I guess I understand what it was like for you now," said Spyro, "But I won't cross that bridge ever again."
Chloe smiled at the scene before looking over at Matt who was just staring, gloomily. "Matt...it'll be o..." she began before a boom shook the room and a siren began ringing.
The group ran outside and saw several Shar-Virk ships floating over the city. "Oh, that's just great," said Matt sarcastically.
There were still plenty of people, both dragons and humans running around in panic. It wasn't helping that the main road into the city was now a battleground. A dozen or so droids were marching forward on a force of grublins and Shar-Virk that were trying to force their way into the city.
"We better round up the others," said Matt, "We'll need everyone to get through the portal."
A group of Shar-Virk came round the corner, led by Seleni came round the corner. "There they are! Spare the purple one and kill the others!" she yelled. "Oh boy," said Matt. "We don't have time for this," said Chloe as she tossed a lightning ball at the Shar-Virk.
The blast knocked the Shar-Virk, it hit into a fountain which made the shock worse. Matt sent a blast of plasma out that knocked another one down while Seleni made the mistake of homing in on Cynder. "Out the way, kid," she said, readying an acid orb in one hand and her blade in the other, completely oblivious to how Matt and Chloe were knocking her support team around like ten pins.
"You're not the only one with poison powers," said Cynder as she slashed her glowing green claws at Seleni. Seleni jumped back. "Oh...the hatchling has bite," she taunted, walking back and nearly falling over Spyro.
Seleni turned and saw Spyro. "Ok, kid, you're coming with me," she said. "I am not going anywhere with the likes of you," said Spyro and breathed out an inferno of flames. Seleni yelped and tried to bat out the flames on her arm, only to be tripped up by Cynder and knocking herself out on the floor.
Spyro looked at Cynder and asked, "Wasn't she the one that gave a really hard time?" "According to NegaMorph," said Cynder, "But I don't see how she would have been that hard." "We'll have to ask Matt about that," said Spyro.
Matt finished off the Shar-Virk in front of him in time to see them knock Seleni out. "Nice one," he called before a distant explosion was heard. "Ok...time to go...Chip, Techo...you got our ticket home ready?" "Almost," said Techo, "Do you guys have Draco, Contrinus, or Wilson?"
"Wilsons bringing them. We have definitely outstayed our welcome," said Matt as a Shar-Virk vessel flew overhead, firing on buildings.
The group headed through the streets, headed back for the arch room. Dozens of grublins were all over the place. The way was eventually blocked when the last approach was chocked with grublins. "Ok...not good." said Chloe. A grublin turned and snarled, getting the attention of the rest. "Definitely not good," said Matt.
Suddenly, a mutlicolored portal opened in the air nearby. "What the heck?" said Matt before PlasMorph, wearing a dressing robe and fez, came flying out while driving a small bumper car. "Hey guys," said Morph, "Just popping in to check on how you guys are doing. What's going on right now?"
The group just stared. "Wha?" said Matt in a dazed voice. It was all he could manage given the circumstances.
"Uh, Morph, we're in a bit of a crisis now," said Chloe, indicating the surrounding grublins. "Oh, ok, I think me and my SMID buddies can help with that. Shriners, ho!" Out of the portal popped out GIR, Cosmo, and SpongeBob SquarePants, all driving the same kind of bumper cars and wearing the same dressing gown and fez.
Matt for once was absolutely speechless. "You know...one day...I'll find out how he gets around," he said faintly. The grublins were probably faring worse than Matt's sanity, judging from how worryingly accurate the bad driving was.
"You know, I know how bad SpongeBob was at boating school," said Chloe, "But I didn't think it'd that... Ooh, right over his chest."
Finally, Morph and his partners in automobile carnage vanished again, leaving a badly depleted grublin force. "Quick, while they're still counting all their limbs to make sure they're there," said Matt, spotting a dazed Shar-Virk getting back up and kicking him as he passed.
"I've never realized how lethal a bumper car could be," said Chloe. "Good things those guys just burst into gems, otherwise this place would be really messy," said Spyro. "Right, let's go," said Matt. As they were leaving, Matt could have sworn he heard Morph's voice cry "Dare to be stupid!"
--
Most of the colonists had gone through when they arrived in the arch square, just leaving a few Shar-Khan and the gang. "Ok...shall we go before Taleth gets ideas, like how the city would look better with a lovely anti-matter glow?" said Matt.
"I agree," said Chip, "We just need to go through that portal and everything will be back to the way it was before." "Wait," said Kala, "Then that will mean..." "Yes, I know," said Matt, "I'm not that enthusiastic about it either."
Contrinus glared angrily at Matt. "You knew?" she shrieked. Matt simply replied. "And you didn't? You think that it would all reset except the bit you didn't want too?" he said in an annoyed voice.
"We're not going!" snapped Contrinus as she grabbed Draco's arm, "I am not losing Draco again."
"Ok...hope you plan for a 40 second future. This place is toast or did you miss that part?" said Matt angrily.
"Not to mention that even if you did survive, which statistically impossible, you'd be stuck in human form forever?" said Chip. "And your presence here could disrupt the timestream as much as Spyro's did," said Cynder. Draco looked at Contrinus. "We have to go. We don't have a choice."
"But, I don't want to lose you," said Contrinus. "You won't lose me for long," said Draco, taking Contrinus hands in his own, "I will return to you one day, I promise."
"Can we please go before we find out what the middle of a mushroom cloud looks like?" said Matt urgently.
--
Seleni pushed her way onto the bridge of Taleth's ship. "Those...HATCHLINGS! Show me up, will they?" she said, walking over to a fire control console, pushing the technician at the station aside.
"Hey, wait a minute!" said the technician as Seleni started to activate the weapons system, "We've got orders to bring the purple hatchling back alive."
Seleni grabbed the back of the technicians head and slammed him into the console a few times. "Anyone else countermanding me?" she said, getting nothing but silence. She pressed the launch button, firing as anti-matter javelin at Avalon. "Hehehe...nobody shows me up," she said, giggling insanely.
--
Just as the gang was about to enter the portal, they heard the base's computer sound off, "Warning, javelin missile approaching city, evacuate immediately."
Matt looked at Contrinus and Draco and knew he'd hate himself. He pushed them through the portal and looked to see a single needle-like object headed for the portal. He turned to look at the arch and noticed something on it...a mark he'd seen before...in New York museum. "Oh heeeellll," he said and dived through.
The others dived through just in time before the missile struck the ground not too far from the portal.
The whole city vanished in a dome of superheated anti-matter that ignited the second the warhead casing cracked. Luckily the gang were not concentrating on this, rolling to a heap on the other side of the portal. It all seemed back to normal.
"Ugh, I'm glad that's all over with," said Chloe, "Time travel is so confusing." Matt got up unsteadily and he and Wilson took aim at Draco and Kala. "Ok...hands up," he said. "Matt, I'm hurt," said Draco, "Don't you trust me at all?" "Considering who's currently at the helm now, not at all," said Matt. "You know, I think there's this old saying," said Draco, "'You can only be trusted by how much you trust others'." Suddenly, he fired his laser vision of the heads of the nearby colonists.
This caused pure pandemonium. The colonists, both dragon and human had only just gotten over one warzone and now they'd been shot at again. Matt pushed a few aside, homing on Draco.
Suddenly, 'Kala' tackled him and pinned him down. "I might have used this opportunity to fool around with your head some," she said with Avarona's voice, "Oh well, business first." One of her hands morphed into a deadly dragon's paw and prepared to rip Matt open.
Matt tried to reach for his gun or ignite a plasma orb, but Avarona had a good grip on him. There was a whistling noise suddenly and an explosion knocked her and Matt flying. The NSS Warlock was slowly emerging over the horizon, small clouds of smoke emerging from the autogun that had fired. At the same time, Morgan and two of his Shar-khan had managed to get close. Avarona and Shard got up unsteadily. "Like it will stop us." she said.
"Please tell me that ship's on our side," said Morgan. "Actually, it is," said Matt, "Not sure what it's doing here though."
"You guys are so going to get your exorcised butts kicked back to hell," said Matt as he pointed his gun at them. Shard laughed and said, "Like you have the guts to fire it." "I will free your hosts," said Matt. "Like that'll happen," said Avarona, "Take a good look at this face, cause you're never seeing Kala again." With that, the two of them changed into their dragon forms. Matt started firing stunner rounds as they flew off, Avarona laughing coldly.
--
Apparently Stephen had been sent by Neilsson when a huge temporal charge had been detected. He was quite shocked to see about 6000 dragons and humans, not to mention 1000 soldiers.
The two of them quickly got down there and found Matt. "What's going on Lynch?" said Neilsson, "We get a distress call from you and when we show up, you have a whole town of soldiers and dragons with you." "City, actually," said Matt.
Neilsson sighed. "We're already in trouble with the elders for overcrowding. Who's this rent-a-cop?" he said, looking at Morgan.
Morgan looked at Neilsson. "I am Shar-Khan Morgan. At your service," he said, bowing. "Shar-Khan? What? How?" Neilsson looked completely dumbfounded. "It's a long story," said Chloe.
Neilsson looked ill. "There's more of you...it's just not fair," he said, gloomily. "Better get used to it," said Stephen, "Because these guys are going to need a lot of living space. Chloe looked at Matt. "So...what made you so annoyed about the arch?" Matt sighed. "You will not believe me if I said."
Earth A-001
March 21, 2001
An archeologist team was busy digging up a new ruins site in Scotland. The dig has already shown many promising finds.
The most interesting were the ruins of some advanced city, or at least the basements of them. The main find however had been a strange arch found buried under a layer of granite. "Is it...intact?" said the dig leader.
"It appears so, Dr. Noir," said one of the diggers, "It seems to be made of a metal of some kind. But they couldn't have been able to forge medals back when these ruins were intact, could they?"
Dr. Noir looked at the arch. "We don't know anything about who lived here. Make sure it is packed perfectly. It will be perfect for the Atlantis exhibit in New York."
Spyro's rescued but Kala and Draco are lost again and we've also seen the very portal that originally brought Matt and Chloe to Nullspace. Tune in next time and leave a review.