Chapter 14

Hey guys! I'm finally back! Sorry for the extremely long update, I had a multitude of reasons for my absence. My biggest excuse would have to be the recent release of Pokémon X and Y. I made a team that, to sum it up in simple terms, is undefeated currently :3

For those of you tough enough to take me on pm your friend code. I'll be waiting. But for now I believe you have a chapter, albeit short, for you guys to read.

The paddle of footsteps echoed down the hall as a lone dragoness worked her way through the temple. Cynder stopped in front of a door and knocked on it, stopping the conversation inside.

"Enter," boomed a voice that Cynder recognized as Terrador's. She nervously opened the door, and, upon stepping in, was greeted by the three Guardians.

"Young Cynder, I was expecting you to be with Spyro," Terrador said in his usual calm manner. She half-smiled and closed the door behind her.

"Is there a problem ailing you?" Volteer asked, his tongue running as fast as lightening.

Cynder nodded. "There was a dream I had. I saw Spyro fighting some dragon with a dragoness by his side. The dragon, dark-blue scale color, launched an attack, and the dragoness was hurt. I ran over… and saw myself."

The Guardians were silent as they listened to the dream.

"That's not all. The dream cut out when Spyro became dark," Cynder finished.

The Guardians exchanged neutral glances. Volteer was first to speak up. "Is this new form the same aliment Spyro experiment hours ago?"

The electricity Guardian was oddly neutral in expression. Not a good sign. She answered his question with a shake of her head.

Volteer emitted a thoughtful hum. "I will ask medical professionals about their opinion and future procedures."

"Get back here with my brother!" A sudden broke roared breaking their conversation. Cynder, first to recognize whose voice it was, bolted out the door. A burst of energy flowed through her veins as she swerved left and dashed down to Spyro's room.

A faint breeze came through the open double doors, blowing against the curtains and lit flame. Cynder couldn't see Spyro or Sparx. She ran to the porch and barely saw a glimpse of purple dotting the blackened sky. She hopped onto the rail and bounded into the air in pursuit of her friend.

Spade sat staring at his bandaged brother. Ace's chest rose and fell in uninterrupted sleep. Spade stood up, popping bones.

Spade hadn't thought that Spyro would have done such a thing. His mental gears worked to find plausible reasons for the assault. He didn't see why. Surely, Spyro hadn't wanted revenge, had he? Spade's thought bubble was burst by a familiar red dragon entering.

"How is he doing?" Flame asked.

Spade shot his head towards the interruption. "Oh, I've seen no change." Unbeknownst to both dragons, muscles in Ace's legs started to twitch.

"He's been asleep since he arrived," Spade said.

While engaged in their conversation Spade and Flame weren't paying attention to Ace as his muscles began to spasm wildly. Getting a swift smack in the rear by Ace's tail earned Spade's attention.

Spade turned around. "What the?" He stopped in his tracks when he saw his brother undergoing a seizure. Flame leaned to see what the other male was staring at.

"Keep him down!" Flame exclaimed, breaking Spade's staring contest. He nodded and forced as many limbs down as he could manage while Flame dashed out.

After what felt like an eternity to Spade, Pyro came in with a yellow crystal in his paw.

"Hold him down while I give him this," the doctor ordered.

Spade was already doing what he could as Pyro pinned one arm. He grabbed a small yellow crystal from his bag and pressed it against Ace's scales. It sunk into his skin, and the seizures immediately stopped. Pyro let out a satisfied sigh and released Ace's arm.

Spade crawled off his brother before addressing the doctor. "What was that?"

Pyro acknowledged Spade's question, but remained quiet.

"Umm… Pyro?" the bronze dragon repeated.

The maroon-colored dragon's eyes finally looked up. "Yes?"

"What in the name of the ancestors did I witness?"

Pyro looked at Ace, then Spade. "Your brother contracted a very lethal disease." Pyro stated simply, too simple. "Unfortunately there is no cure, only a delaying agent. What we've recorded is that only a purple dragon can distribute. It's like they're the host, but when we examined victims or straw dummies we never found the virus. Only special cases popped during the time. We never manifested a cure, only the yellow gem, like I said, only delays it. After tests we discovered that the virus is attracted to the gem and attaches itself to it. Unlike natural gems which break apart and are absorbed by the body, this gem passes through the body and enters the stomach by going through the walls of blood streams to the stomach lining. From there, natural bowel movements extract the gem." Pyro took a deep breath, having exhausted the capacity of his lungs.

Although Spade somewhat got what was explained, he wasn't happy with the important part. "So my brother is a walking corpse?"

Pyro affirmed Spade's question. "There's just one side effect I find… peculiar."

Spade tilted his head. "What is it?"

No answer. The older dragon's gaze had once again strayed to Shade's brother.

"Doctor?"

"Huh?" Pyro answered as if he had just woken from a dream. "Sorry. The side effect. Any victims who lived through the initial trauma have reported an increase in their elemental abilities, even creating new types of attacks or defenses for their respective element," Pyro finished after his full explanation of the virus.

Spade looked at Ace curiously. "Ability enhancement?"

Pyro grabbed another yellow gem from his coat pocket.

"He needs this in the morning. Give it to him when you wake up," he said before walking out.

Spade watched Pyro and then the sleeping Ace. Slouching down beside his partly comatose brother, Spade exhaled slowly and deliberately. Things had changed so quickly.

Fatigue finally started to grab onto him. He laid his head down beside Ace and fell into much needed sleep.

"Get me out of this sack!" a muffled yell erupted.

"Goodness gracious. How much does he talk?" Silver asked, gazing at the sack with their precious cargo in it. A chuckled from behind her confirmed that her partner was still with them.

"C'mon, it's kinda funny," Fang said, peeking back behind him to make sure they lost their tail.

"How about you hold him then?"

Fang's eyes widened slightly. "Are you crazy?! I don't want that chatterbox!"

"Hey! I'm not a chatterbox!" Sparx yelled through the sack. "When Spyro gets here he'll—hey! That hurts!" Silver had slapped the bag. "That's not nice!"

"Never once claimed to be nice, nor friendly." Silver replied before descending. Fang imitated and landed by her.

"I know you're here!" said a voice, livid with anger. A glint of purple shone as fire brought light to the darkness of the night.

Fang and Silver crept backwards into nearby bushes. They sat for a few minutes, waiting for the purple dragon to leave, but he kept searching.

"Silver, take the lantern and get out of here, I'll distract Spyro," Fang whispered.

"But-" Silver was cut off by Fang putting a claw on her lips.

"No buts, your mission matters more than I do. Drake doesn't care about me," Fang said. "Go, I'll be fine."

Silver, recognizing Fang's reasoning, reluctantly snuck off with Sparx muffled in the bag.

Fang took a deep breath. He hadn't expected to fight the Purple Dragon. He dragged himself out of the bush and mustered the courage to approach Spyro.

"Hey, missing something?" Fang asked casually strolling up to him. Something seemed… off about Spyro this time around. Despite there being almost no light, Fang could tell he was not himself, and he could've swore he saw dark patches.

"Yeah, you've stolen my brother, and you'd better give him back before something nasty happens." A threatening undertone dripped from his voice.

"Sorry, but to get him, you have to go through me." The gray dragon dropped into a defense position.

Spyro chuckled something maniacal.

"I'll enjoy ripping your entrails from your body," Spyro hissed as his whole body was enveloped in shadow.

"Bet you were wanting a fight, eh?" The purple dragon charged.

Hehehe. Cliff hangers. Gotta hate/love them. Once again I apologize for my extremely short chapter but I needed to ease back into my writing so I can start at a steady pace. For those of you who celebrate Christmas I hope you have a Merry Christmas and the rest of you to have a happy rest of 2013 and a great new year. I'll see all of you in 2014!

*Side note: I am enlisting in the Military so I will be doing PT as well and I will actually leaving sometime during summer.