On the captured boat, Apex walked slowly towards Abril, who was watching over the prisoners while looking up at the phantom ship to see why all the guards were crowding around one specific area.
"So, honey, how'd you die?" he asked.
"Shut up, you know how!" she hissed, pushing him away from her.
"Oh right...now I remember" smirked Apex, taking out an apple from his pocket and taking a bite. "Well, sweetheart, it's like I always told you...actually I don't remember really saying much other than 'don't die'".
She angrily grabbed his apple and hurled it into the sea.
"I was eating that!" protested the tiger.
Tundra eyed Rae nervously, who's own expressions couldn't be made clear since his face was concealed by a crimson and black helmet.
"So I take it we have a back-up plan" he whispered.
"Well the Blade's right here, all that's left is to capture it" he replied. "Of course that's easier said than done".
"A lot easier" gulped Tundra.
"So your Salazar's replacement" Abril looked at Rae, unimpressed.
"I am?...Did I say that..I don't know who..where" he stammered.
"You've been boasting about it for the last 30 minutes" she recalled.
"I did? Oh right, then it's true. I am the new Grand Admiral".
"Maybe we can compromise" suggested Asilas, but as he spoke one dead figure with no face placed a sword in front of him.
"Yeah, a compromise" agreed Apex, nodding slightly. "Firstly...no secondly, I will give you Asilas, the small dragon, the weird red guy, and you can keep Bonebags-
"Moneybone" interrupted the skeleton.
"-Whatever he counts as dead anyway, and I get my ship back. Just get rid of your zombie friends" he offered. "Oh and firstly, I will need Cynder back".
"That will soon be impossible if you do not assist us!" called a voice. Captain Woodrow Reyes jumped down onto the Red and confronted his old "friend".
"Oh...Woodrow, you look good" he smirked, trying to stammer his way out of his predicament. "Did you get your hat back? I got mine, how's the wife?"
"Long dead" answered Reyes. "But I have a more pressing matter: Cynder is dying thanks to Flame and without proper medication, which we do not possess, she won't live for long".
"Ah, so want me to take the Blade and find a way to save your precious little devil" guessed Apex, smiling at the chance to get his ship back.
"No, I want you to take this trash you call a ship, and bring back something to heal her in four hours or-
"Why should I care? All I want is Spyro back...and my ship. So?" Apex lied about the part about Spyro.
"Want I should kill that red dragon or the poor pink one?"
"Kill them, I don't know either of em".
"There must be something other than the ship you want" Woodrow rolled his eyes. "And your not taking Cynder!"
"Ah...I see, she's...and you are...now I remember why she is so 'precious'" Apex grinned evilly.
"Yes, we need her as leverage"
"Hm, you need her as leverage or you want to keep her as far away from me as possible?"
"Yes!"
"And you think Salazar's gonna treat her like a Queen? No, he needs her for his own leverage-
"Wait!" interrupted a croaky voice.
They turned to see Exedra on the ship.
"I told all dragons to stay clear, why are you here?!" demanded Reyes.
"Apex, I beg you to take my son, Spyro, with you" he demanded. "I will not have him share my grim fate to serve on this ship".
Reyes snorted. "Well at least you've given me something to bargain with".
Apex looked at the dark dragon, his physical appearance was misleading but at the same time he saw some similarities between him and the purple dragon, such as the eyes. And Spyro didn't seem like the traitorous wretch Flame is.
"Perhaps you'd like to take this discussion to my superior" suggested Reyes.
Apex entered the desolate quarters of Admiral Salazar and turned his attention to the rustic, dark antics that surrounded the room. As he walked further on into the shady room, he glared a the sculptures of dragon's and other monsters. One looked sought of like a skeleton while the other resembled a ninja styled warrior.
Salazar was beset; at the end of the room, sitting in his chair, with his fingers leaned against one another and the dark shadows of the room covering his face, except for his glowing red eyes.
"Take a seat and stop playing with my trophies" ordered Salazar.
Apex stopped touching the golden dragon figure's long tongue and sat down in front of the desk.
"I hear you trying to retake your ship, but you know as well as I do that you intend to stop my plan- the ship is a bonus objective but not primary" Salazar saw right through his deception.
"I intend to get Rae back to Earth, for that I need Eon's help. Additionally, I want Cynder back if you please" said Apex, leaning closer.
"How long do you intend to keep her hidden from me, I will find her. It took me a day to get her here already. I have waited too long for this moment, I have everything carefully calculated and prepared for".
"You're gonna find and kill Eon; use Cynder to open the portal to the Cursed Realms permanently; use Nitrix Slazar to kill the Dark Master; then return to the living on Earth" Apex listed his plan for him.
"Precisely, for that I need Cynder- who is currently in a critical state".
"And how does your captain fit into this plan? He won't let you kill Cynder".
"That is why I am misleading him. Why do you think I nabbed Spyro-so he could be re-united with his dad- you will take Spyro and find Eon, he is the only one who has what is required to heal Cynder from her wounds. He will listen to you once he sees Spyro. We will meet you at Eon's palace in the sky with Cynder".
"So basically we're just swapping Spyro for Cynder before she dies?" asked the tiger, swinging on the chair.. Salazar nodded. "Could've just said that then. So you're gonna make Reyes think you will get Spyro back with Cynder as leverage when really it's the other way around? And yet I get nothing".
"I'm sure Eon has plenty of things to offer you" grinned the ghostly admiral. "Do you accept my offer or not. Or should I kill you right now and you can return to my crew?"
"I accept; I go free in exchange for healing Cynder".
"Remember, there is always a price of freedom and your's comes at the cost of having now three hours to find Eon and make him give you the medicine before Cynder dies, or we find and kill you anyway. Find him in two and I'll consider dropping my so-called 'replacement' back to Earth".
Apex knew better than to trust Salazar. The grand admiral always had a back-up plan, he was right he waited to long for this moment. He must have everything prepared.
"I suggest you hurry up and get back to your ship" said Salazar, interrupting his thoughts. "I'll be keeping Moneybone by the way". he added that demand, knowing that Eon would guess something's up if he saw his skeleton enemy.
Apex darted out of the office and headed towards the Red.
"Once we get to the skies, we will kill both Apex and Eon, then take Spyro back to complete the ritual" Salazar assured Reyes.
"But say if they hide Spyro or resist?" he questioned.
"They won't so long as we have Cynder".
The tiger turned to the young purple dragon, and Tundra who was fan-girling at seeing a purple dragon. Rae was steering the ship as fast as he could to get to the Mystic sea (the portal to the Skies).
"Apex, my father is on that ship, I'm gonna get him off" he declared.
"Currently not possible, not with a two hour deadline" dismissed the tiger.
"Ship ahoy!" pointed Asilas, at a small approaching vessel.
A small dinghy with two small dragons was adrift in the sea. It was Flame and Ember. Flame could fly, yes, but Ember was severely weakened by her constant shock attacks that she couldn't even lift her wings.
"Don't worry, Ember, it'll be ok" he promised.
"You beast, why did you do that to Cynder?!" she bellowed at him, raising her head. Her fiery voice matching his colour. "All you had to do was bring her here, but instead you decided to beat the living crap into her first, and over what exactly? Lies?"
"I didn't know" he defended. "I thought she was the one-
"See this is your problem, your level-headed arrogance once again messed everything up. Spyro's like that but at least he knows if what he does is right or wrong" she continued to scold him.
I'm gonna get Cynder of that ship one way or another.
When Asilas and Tundra pulled them up, Spyro immediately pounced on Flame, pinning him to the ground and placing a claw over his face.
"Now look what you've done, you nearly killed Cynder and now because of you she's stuck with Salazar! Now we have two hours to do their bidding or die as well, thank you very much!"
"Hey...at least you got to meet your father" stammered Flame, grinning.
Spyro got off him only to give him one of his trademark headbutt.
"Relax romeo, you'll get your chick back because I know which direction to go to get up there" said Apex pointing to the skies. "This ship is too crowded. The pink one can stay (we don't really have a choice since her wings are tattered) but that misleading monkey can go".
"I'll meet you back on land" promised Flame, taking to the skies.
But he wasn't heading to land. He had his own plan to free Cynder and he wasn't gonna stop until he did.
"Finally my own people!" cheered Moneybone, prancing around the deck as the dead tried figuring out what's wrong with Cynder. He approached the wheel and saw Abril. "Hey, beautiful, how's life".
She responded by whacking his skull and throwing him back onto the deck.
"Any more bandages?" demanded Reyes.
"We have no more, we're dead why would we?" replied the guard.
The Earth dragon that was caring for Cynder tried covering up her huge gaping wound with his claw, but that only caused more blood to spill out and cover the floorboards.
"You idiot, not like that!" Reyes roared at her, making her back away. "Oi, Bonebin!"
"Moneybone!"
"Whatever, do you have anything that could fix her bleeding eye?"
"No, that's not even possible is it?"
"Why not use our poison spell?" suggested Salazar.
"Sir, you know what will happen then. Her wounds will heal but she will be delicate for 24 hours and then die!" argued Woodrow.
"Well she's dying now, do you have anything better? What will we then use as leverage if she's dead. Eon will have what we need to heal that spell and Apex is going to him".
Reyes looked at Cynder as she coughed more blood onto the paws of a female ice dragon that was attending to her.
"Your point is logical" agreed Reyes. "Bring out the poison spell!"
"May I make a suggestion?" asked Moneybone, fiddling with Salazar's stuff. "Maybe you should keep her locked in a bedroom or something so she can rest and so no one will harm her. Like you said, she will be delicate once the spell is inflicted on her".
"The skeleton raises a good point, although with Flame gone I can't think of anyone else that would harm her" agreed Salazar.
"Lets just hope he stays gone" said Reyes.
If you haven't noticed, I changed Spyro's fathers name from Syth to Exedra, sounds much more cooler. I actually got the idea from a user called Dusk Mane Necrozma, who PMed me the idea as well as a name for Spyro's mother which I will use later.