Returning to the Underground, Spyro introduced Hunter to Torn, and finally decided to tell his whole lifestory to everyone since Jak had told them his. He started by illustrating the Dragon Temple attack, finding Ignitus in the wild and learning of his heritage, and the details of how he and Cynder defeated Malefor, their own world's greatest enemy. Also, he illustrated of how they had arrived here through the Armageddon Arch, and how Hunter had arrived through it after them. They also stated how Ignitus's image had come to lend them hope and encouragement through the mystic gem. Clearly their story had gotten to them, Torn had thought he had heard and seen it all, but this was almost too much to bear. Jak and Daxter were listening intently, and after hearing Spyro's story, sat speechless and wide-eyed after hearing of their adventures.

"Okay, I've heard some wild stories before, but this kicks the bucket," Torn said.

"Wild? More like all levels of crazy talk is what it is!" exclaimed Daxter.

"Nothing crazy about it, its our story, though I guess how you perceive it is up to you," Spyro answered.

"Just when I thought I've heard it all," said Torn, "Then again it ain't every day you come into contact with aliens either."

"Very true," Hunter replied. The cheetah had clearly surprised the Underground leader upon arriving, but after Spyro and Cynder vowed that he was with them he let it fly. Though a walking cheetah that was as tall as he is was gonna take some getting used too. As the shock died Jak felt the need to ask an important question, "Torn, I've been meaning to ask you, why is that old place in the ruin so important to the Shadow?"

"There's a powerful energy force at the old house, the metalheads seem drawn to it," Torn explained.

"hmph, no surprise, we used to know the old man who lived there," Jak replied.

"Speaking of the Shadow," Spyro asked, "Where is he?"

"Right here, purple one." A strange voice said from behind.

Everyone turned toward the door to see a short old man walking from out behind the beds. He was wearing stumps for shoes and a strange pair of glasses that made his eyes appear wider than they should be. His clothes seemed naturally woven, and he had what appeared to be a huge nest growing on top of his head. But the most peculiar thing about him was the color of his skin, an ill forest green, the guy seemed more like a forest hermit then a rebel leader.

"So, you're the new troublemaking recruits, and the strange creatures who have caught the cities attention."

"OH NO! Not you!" Daxter yelled as he saw the green man.

"Is he sick?" Sparx asked Spyro noticing his green color.

"Welcome to our humble Underground movement, I am known as the Shadow, but you may call me Samos…and you all are?" he asked everyone.

"Hunter of Avalar"

"Spyro"

"Cynder"

"I don't believe it Jak, we went through all this to meet his holiness? Old log of the head grandpa green?" Daxter shouted with the Shadow giving him a glare at his comment.

All the others look at him like he was crazy, but Jak shared his friends shock, "Don't you know who we are?" he asked Samos.

Spyro looked at him completely baffled, he thought Torn had said Jak never met the shadow before, so how can he know him now?

"Sorry kid," the Shadow answered, "Never seen you before, and I never forget a face, especially one that ugly!" he finished pointing to Daxter.

"So it begins" he said, annoyed. Sparx snickered, he liked the old man already due to already getting on the ottsel's nerves.

"How can this be? We came through the rift with you, into the future, right? How can you not know us?" Jak continued.

Everyone now looked at him like he was crazy, including Samos who was at most completely speechless, he couldn't understand a word the boy was saying, but he didn't have time to ponder when Daxter blurted out…

"Yeah! You used to look older than dirt, and uglier than a knotted stump, what gives?" Everyone in the room then shot Daxter an angry look.

"Did you get a little nip and tuck while we were gone?"

Samos had had enough, "Listen boys, I don't know what kind of twigs you have been chewing on, but I don't have time for this, we have a baron to overthrow, a child heir to protect, an invasion of metalheads to stop and a city to save!" Cynder perked up inconspicuously when she heard him say, 'child heir.'

"The schedule seems pretty full right now," he finished while walking up to the stands behind the desk, "besides I haven't gone through any rifts or portals, I hate teleporting!"

"Sure sounds like the old Samos," Daxter spoke to Jak.

Samos then turned his attention to a map on the wall, "Right now, I'd like you to go to Haven Forest, and root out a few metalheads, that forest is my source of power, but I can't protect it much longer, search and destroy any metalhead scouts you find."

He then turned to Jak and said, "Good luck, and welcome to the fight."

Jak nodded in understanding, he could figure out this whole mess later, for now, there was work to do. He let Daxter jump back onto his shoulder and both of them disappeared through the door to the surface.

The dragons turned to follow them, but then Samos stopped them saying, "Let him handle this alone, I think the lot of you have been through enough for one day, besides I would like to have a word."

"Okay" Spyro said.

He then turned to Torn, "Torn, fetch them some of that old pet armor, let's see if it'll fit them."

Torn nodded and turned into another hall toward the armory, leaving the Shadow to have a discussion with the outsiders.

Morning came to Haven City once again, and it was quite bleak and morbid. In the Underground hideout, Spyro was snoring calmly, clearly it had been a while since he had gotten a good long rest. His body was well rested on top of one of the bunks, with his tail extending over the bed. On top of him, Cynder's head rested on his neck, her body leaning against his, keeping them both warm on top of the soft comforter. Spyro was reminiscing in his sleep of what happened last night…

Samos had brought them some armor to replace their old ripped up cloaks. The armor once belonged to the huge guard dogs they once had, but since their dogs were no longer with them, they decided to see if the dragons would fit them. They had their cloaks removed with some aid from Hunter, since putting them on was a real pain before. Anyway, with them off, Cynder and Spyro then started attaching the armor. The gauntlets fit snug onto their paws, and were pretty comfortable, despite the constant rubbing, but that didn't bother their scales one bit. Each dragon had put on a set of underarmour, red for Spyro and blue for Cynder. After cutting some holes open for their wings, they were able to fit securely. Next came the chest plates. Spyro's was a yellow colored with an orange outline shield shape plate, it had two latches, one that attached around his neck, and the other around his body waist, just in front of his wings. Whereas Cynder was a metallic gray, with chrome furnish. Hers was much different than Spyro's, it was actually an armor piece that fit through her head, laying just off her shoulders and stomach, she kind of liked the feel of it, and Spyro and Hunter were both impressed. The final garments were neck bands with cape attachments, they were originally for keeping the old guard dogs warm, but now they would help the dragons cover up the rest of their bodies.

Samos asked, "Well how's that?" The dragons examined themselves, gazing at their new Underground battlesuits. Spyro then finally spoke when he was done self admiring, "I like it, it's a good fit"

"Why is it you guys always get all the cool stuff?" Sparx asked.

"Maybe because we can actually carry them," Cynder answered. Everyone laughed, including Torn. "Haha you're a riot she-dragon."

"I must say, this old pet armor actually reminds me of our styles back home." Hunter commented.

"It sure feels good," said Cynder following Hunter's remark, "What do you think Spyro? How do I look?" Everyone waited for a reply, but Spyro just kept his look on her, admiring the shine her new armor was making in her eyes. Snapping out of his daydream he then came to his senses and said, "You look…..fit for battle."

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"Try not to scratch that stuff up too much," said Torn. "They were the only ones I could find that could fit."

"Consider it noted," Sparx replied.

"It's been a long day, you all should get some rest, Spyro, I assume you and Cynder can share this top bed." Samos said pointing to the first in the row.

"Sure that's fine."

"Hunter, you can have the one under," the cheetah gave a nod to his generosity.

"And I'll just find a spot wherever, 'yawn' as usual." Sparx said yawning, he then buzzed off to comfortable place by the hanging zoomer and began napping.

"Wait, there's still something I'd like to know," Cynder stated.

"Yes?" Samos asked.

"When you were talking with Jak earlier, you mentioned something about a child? What role could a child possibly have in all of this?"

Samos then turned to face Torn, they both nodded in agreement, knowing it was time to come fully clean. "Fascinating question actually, you see a few months ago I stumbled across a young boy wandering the streets all alone, he was lost, didn't know where to go, so I took him in. While I was preparing to bring him to the Underground, I noticed hanging around his neck was an amulet, an amulet with the shape of the Seal of Mar."

"Seal of Mar?" Hunter asked.

"What is that?" Spyro followed.

"Mar is the original founder of Haven City, and a legendary warrior as well, he lived many years ago, when he fought to defend this city from the hands of evil, enfused with the power of eco."

"What is this eco?" Cynder asked.

"Eco is the living energy of our world, it binds our world together, enriching life and feeding it."

"Like how the crystals feed my home." Spyro replied, finally understanding.

"Yes I guess that's one way to look at it," Samos answered somewhat understanding the analogy.

Cynder re-entered the discussion, "Jak mentioned something about eco before, except, he called it 'dark' and that he was tortured with it."

"Yes," Samos replied with a feeling of gloom, "Eco can create life when used for the right causes, but it can also be wielded for wrong, for destruction." The three newbies looked at each other, feeling a sense of dread.

"Dark Eco is the bane of our world, it's the most dangerous substance found on our planet, whatever it touches it destroys."

"How awful," Cynder said feeling gloomly. Spyro shared her discomfort and followed by saying, "And to think Jak is infected with that stuff, and he's still alive."

"Yeah," Torn said over Sparx's snoring, "The baron's been experimenting with eco, trying to create a super warrior to be used as a new war weapon, up to now it's said that all of his test subjects died from exposure, except for Jak." The dragons and cheetah hung their heads, depressed over what they had just heard.

"Eco has been used to fuel the city for years, it powers the city shields, preventing the metalheads from breaking through," Torn explained, "although just recently, we learned that the baron cut a deal with their leader."

"A deal?!" Spyro exclaimed, up to now he thought the baron was trying to destroy the metalheads by whatever means.

"Yes, in return for supplying eco shipments weekly, the metalheads agree to keep their grip tight on the city's edge, and thus keeping the baron in power," Torn explained.

"Complete unjust!" Hunter exclaimed.

"Sacrificing innocent people, just to keep himself in power?! How much lower can this monster sink?" Cynder said softly hanging her head.

"The baron is power hungry, and he'll go to whatever means to get it," Samos stated.

"He needs to be stopped right now!" Spyro said angrily.

"NO!" Samos shouted, "Now is not the right time, protecting the boy is all that matters right now."

Spyro asked returning to the original question, "What is it about this boy that is so important?"

"An old city prophecy says that the one true heir of Mar himself will return to reclaim the Haven throne, which Praxis has forcibly taken, and only through wielding the power of the Precursor stone, he will restore true balance and order to the world," Samos illustrated.

Hunter listened with interest, then finally put two and two together saying, "You think this boy is Mar's heir?"

"The Mar amulet around his neck is good indication."

Spyro asked, "What is this Precursor stone?"

"That is of no concern now, right now we must prepare for the struggle ahead, and you all can do that by getting some much deserved rest, Good night"

thirteenth chapter edited, for first time readers, stick around because but there's more to come!