Hey guys, time for the next chapter! Now we find out the backstory of Drake and his clan. Sorry for the delay! Here we go, enjoy!

New Allies

Spyro and Cynder were seated around a campfire, Drake and Demi set across from them as the Apes tended to the wounds of Cheetahs from both groups. "So the war ended at last?" asked Drake, being surprisingly hospitable for an Ape. "I'm glad the Dragons won."

Spyro was surprised. "You are?" he asked. "No offense, but…" he continued, unsure of how to say it without insulting him.

"You're an Ape," said Cynder, clearly holding bitterness from what the Apes had done to her. "No Ape we ever met were enemies of the Dark Master."

Drake sighed. "Believe me, I know it's a shock any of us were good."

"You think?" asked Sparx. "What tipped you off? The stunned silence after you showed up?"

Drake ignored that, concentrating on the moment at hand. "I know the Apes were in the wrong…you aren't too far off to see the ones you fought as monsters, they were…" he said. "I was…"

"You aren't anymore, daddy…" said Demi, quietly. She was clearly a shy little Dragoness, though it wasn't her upbringing, it was just personality.

"Drake," said Spyro. "If you don't mind telling us, how did you end up out here?" he asked, confused and not sure of what exactly happened. "We're here on a mission to stop the Gargoyles, but why are you out here?"

"And how come Demi is here with you?" asked Ember, being rather blunt due to her naivety when it came to social skills.

"Ember!" said Cynder, shocked. "She might not know she's…you know…" she said, trying to inch around saying it bluntly. Demi called Drake her father, but did she realize she was adopted? If Spyro thought he was a Dragonfly, why couldn't Demi think she's an Ape?

Ember realized what she'd said and looked guilty. "Oops…sorry…I didn't think about that…" she muttered, feeling rotten for not thinking about that.

"Don't worry, Demi knows she's adopted," replied Drake, knowing what Cynder was saying. "I didn't want her thinking she was an Ape at all so I told her when she was old enough to understand. I wanted her to be proud to be a Dragon because there's no way she could ever be proud to be an Ape, not after all the awful things we did to the Dragons," he explained, smiling down at Demi, who was still watching timidly. "As for how we ended up here and why Demi's my adopted daughter…that started 24 years ago," he began. "When Gaul ordered the raid, we knew what we were doing was wrong, but the promise of power from the Dark Master was too great to ignore, so we did it anyway," he said, then looked remorseful, knowing he'd done a horrible thing. "I'm sure by now you know what an awful thing war is, all the fighting and death," he continued. "I was just a young soldier at the time, didn't really understand what I was in for…"

"I don't think anyone knows what going into war will be like at first," said Spyro, remembering fighting Malefor's forces as a child.

"At least you fought for what was right," replied Drake. "That night I found out just how wrong we were…as the attack progressed, we made it into the egg chamber and did as ordered…but then it happened," he said, looking deeply disturbed. "I only smashed one egg that night, just one…that was one too many. That was the worst moment of my life. I guess I just had more of a conscience than the average Ape because the moment I looked down on what I did, I felt sick to my stomach," he continued, Demi nuzzling his arm to comfort him. "Looking down on that poor little dragon I'd killed in its shell, I realized that I'd just taken away a life before it could ever draw its first breath…" he explained, looking extremely guilty. "If you don't forgive me for that, then I wouldn't blame you…I murdered a child who had never gotten to see the world. I can't think of anything a person could do that can be worse than that."

Ember had more trouble listening than Spyro and Cynder, due to never having seen war firsthand, but looked up at Drake slowly. "But you're better than those other Apes, Drake," she said, trying to put her own opinion out there. "You did a nasty thing, but you feel nasty for doing it," she said, trying to explain the best she could what she was thinking. "You're different than those mean Apes because you have a heart," she continued, giving a smile. She raised her heart-shaped tail tip and showed her heart necklace. "And believe me, I know hearts."

Cynder, despite her bitterness towards Apes, couldn't help but smile. "Ember's right…" she said, Ember was a lot smarter than she seemed sometimes. "If you feel remorse…that means you're better than most of the other Apes we've ever met," she continued, Spyro nodding along with them.

Drake smiled lightly and gave a sigh. "Thanks…coming from Dragons, that means a lot…" he replied, meaning it. "Anyway, at the moment, I realized no matter what the Dark Master had promised us, it wasn't worth what he wanted us to do for him. So I did the only thing I could; grab the nearest egg and run for it. I'd have grabbed more than one, but it was hard enough fighting my way out carrying one egg, let alone more. Helped there was one angry Dragoness tearing her way through the Apes in the egg chamber to guard them that took a lot of the attention off me. Fire Dragon I think," he continued, remembering that vividly.

Cynder couldn't help but smile. "I think that might have been my mom," she said, remembering what Ignitus had said.

Drake looked Cynder over and chuckled. "Come to think about it, she did look a lot like you," he admitted, finding that ironic. "Deadlock herself was going on quite the warpath," he said, knowing of Deadlock. "When I heard she killed the Naga Queen and took over, I wasn't surprised one bit."

"She killed the Naga Queen?" asked Cynder, surprised, having not known that.

Drake nodded. "That's how someone not from the leader's bloodline can take over the Naga. A pitched battle between the two. Their rules never specified only a Naga could give the challenge, so Deadlock was able to make it and win."

Ember nodded. "That does explain a lot though."

Spyro gave a nod in reply. "Yeah, I was wondering how a dragon became their leader."

"From what I hear, she's actually an excellent leader," said Drake, recounting what he'd heard. "I guess three minds gives her the knowledge to run things well," he continued, then noticed he'd gotten off topic. "Well, back to the story, some other Apes felt the same as I did and joined me in running. Together, we got out of there and ran, knowing if we didn't, Gaul would have our heads."

"I can understand the feeling," said Spyro, remembering his fight with Gaul and what had been done to Cynder. Even though he'd fought Cynder, Gaul was still a frightening creature, he couldn't blame Drake for fearing him. Gaul was probably worse because he chose to do it, unlike Cynder who'd been brainwashed.

Drake nodded. "As we ran, I did some thinking. I realized that I'd been willing to murder innocent Dragons and for what? Power? Honor? It didn't matter, it was the wrong thing to fight for and I was ashamed of myself," he explained, looking down at the memory. Nothing was worse than realizing you were the bad guy. "We made it out here to the Unknown Lands and settled down, far away from the war and the Dark Master. We knew we'd be killed on sight by either side and could never go back, so we remained out here and did our best to move on with our lives," he said, then put a hand on Demi's back. "Then Demi hatched…I promised from that day on I'd protect her with my life and raise her as my own daughter…and that's what I did."

Demi smiled up at Drake. "Thanks, daddy…" she said, clearly adoring her father no matter what he'd done in the past.

Drake nodded. "You're welcome, Demi," he replied with a small smile. He then looked back to Spyro and company. "During that time, we found out what the Gargoyles were doing," he explained. "And we decided we should take the opportunity to redeem ourselves by thwarting them whenever we could. Unfortunately, we can't make much headway, since for every Gargoyle we kill, Empress Tyrania just makes more."

Spyro nodded. "…Well we're actually here to take her down ourselves," he explained. "The Chronicler told us that destroying Tyrania would take all of her Gargoyles with her."

Drake looked uncertain. "You really think you can do it?" he asked. "We'd be glad to help overthrow that demon and free her territory, but it's risky."

"We can do it," said Ember, happily. "Spyro and Cynder beat the Dark Master all by themselves," she said, showing her hero worship of them.

"You beat the Dark Master?" asked Drake, shocked. As an Ape, he knew exactly what Malefor was capable of. He'd not been aware the Dragons he'd been talking to had defeated him.

Cynder nodded. "Malefor was freed on the Night of Eternal Darkness, three years later we fought him. After a long fight, we ended up at the core of the world…

Flashback

Spyro and Cynder plunged deeper, following Malefor as he descended. Finally, the trio of dragons hovered in the fiery chamber, the planet's purple crystal core in the center. The two heroes were both hurt and tired, but Malefor wasn't finished yet.

The Dark Master, enraged that he seemed incapable of destroying these two insects before him, hovered across from them, flapping his massive wings to keep himself aloft. "You cannot defeat me! I am eternal!" bellowed Malefor before trusting his head forwards, letting loose a powerful torrent of Convexity in one last attempt to obliterate the last hope the world had left.

Seeing this, Spyro and Cynder countered in kind, sending twin streams of Convexity to meet Malefor's. The beams met in the middle, fighting over dominance, but even fighting together, Malefor's power was enormous and they seemed to be losing.

Spyro refused to let them be defeated. "Just…hang…on!" he called to Cynder, reassuring her that he wouldn't give up so long as she didn't. Cynder agreed, both putting everything they had left into their attack.

Slowly, the heroic dragon's beams began to tear through Malefor's, forcing the Dark Master's assault back. Malefor's eyes widened as finally, Spyro and Cynder's beams proved the stronger and tore through his own. Taking the full force of their attack, Malefor was sent crashing hard to the crystal core below, his body being sent grinding across the surface of the crystal. Wounded, but not finished, Malefor rose to his feet, slowly approaching the two.

Spyro and Cynder, for a brief moment, nearly felt hopeless. They'd hit Malefor with everything they had, and it still wasn't enough. It wasn't that they felt they'd be incapable of beating him, it was they didn't have time. If Malefor was defeated before the world ended, they might have a chance of stopping it somehow, but it was taking far too long…that was until something amazing happened.

Around Malefor, purple energy forms of five dragons emerged from the core, taking flight and glaring down at Malefor. "What is this?" bellowed Malefor, watching in confusion, taken off guard completely. Without a word, the spectral dragons descended on the sinister Purple Dragon, grabbing hold of him and pulling him down. The crystal he'd been standing on began to glow brightly, his body being sucked into it. Realizing what was happening, Malefor tried to hold himself up with his front paws, but even he was no match for the strength of the spirits of his elders. "NOOOOO!" he bellowed as his grip was lost and he was pulled completely into his tomb, his leg reaching out desperately before being pulled in.

Spyro and Cynder could only watch in awe as this transpired, their magic tether vanishing into thin air with Malefor's demise.

Flashback Over

"And just like that, he was gone," said Cynder, finishing the story. "We probably could've defeated him if we had enough time, but we just didn't. Thank the Ancestors they came to help us."

"Still, it wasn't easy, and we're a little rusty after years of peace," said Spyro. "But with your help, I'm pretty sure we can defeat Tyrania."

Drake was surprised. "I know you told me the war was over, but I had no idea you two fought the Dark Master and won," he said, still trying to process it. "I mean, I knew something happened when the world started breaking up but was reversed, but I didn't think two dragons had done it alone."

"Spyro did that last part," said Ember. "He pulled the world back together all by himself!" she said, giving him a flirtatious look and getting way too close.

"Yeah…" said Spyro, scooting away from Ember slightly. "But that was all I did by myself…and Cynder saved me from the core afterwards instead of saving herself like I'd asked her to."

Cynder had shot Ember a glare when she started flirting again, but the pink dragoness didn't see it. She then smiled when Spyro mentioned that. "Well I couldn't just leave you behind," she said, even now she wouldn't. "You did the same for me in Convexity, and I did promise Sparx I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

Sparx smiled. "Yeah…seriously, thanks for keeping that promise, Cynder."

"And we had more help; from our friends and Ignitus the Fire Guardian helped us reach him…at the cost of his own life…" Spyro said, even if he knew Ignitus had come back to life, the memory of that moment still haunted him. "He's the new Chronicler now, but that doesn't make it any easier on us, you know?"

Drake nodded. "I can understand that, the death of someone you care about is never an easy thing to remember, no matter what the circumstances…" he said, having lost some good friends in the raid and likely the war. "…Alright, we'll help. It's time those Gargoyles got what they deserved."

Demi looked at the other dragons, getting more comfortable with them. "I don't know a lot but…I'll help however I can. Daddy couldn't teach me much about my Earth powers since he's not a dragon."

"Well Spyro's the Purple Dragon, maybe he can teach you," said Ember. "Right Spyro?" she asked, using the flirting tone again and getting close to him.

Spyro backed up slightly. "Uh…yeah! I know Earth elemental attacks, I'm sure I could help teach her," he said, Ember making him uncomfortable.

Cynder subdued her anger yet again, having an increasingly difficult time doing so. Had Ember gotten a bit more forwards since they'd gotten out of the Dragon Realms? "Spyro learned Earth from Terrador the Earth Guardian, so I'm sure he could teach Demi a thing or two," she stated, trying to distract Ember from her flirting.

"What do you say, Demi?" asked Drake, looking down at his adopted daughter. "You know I'd never make you do something you didn't want to."

Demi looked shyly at the other dragons, then nodded lightly. "Sure, I'd be glad to…" she said, smiling slightly. She never had the chance to learn about her Earth power, which she was happy to take.

Drake nodded. "Alright, you should start immediately, since we'll need to be ready to move when the time is right."

Spyro got up. "Alight, follow me and I'll teach you, Demi," he said, leading to a nearby clearing along with Sparx, Demi following shyly behind, looking back and receiving an encouraging nod from Drake.

Drake turned his attention back to Cynder and Ember. "I know Spyro is the Purple Dragon of prophecy, but what about you two?" he asked. "I've never seen a Black Dragon before."

"I'm the first," replied Cynder. "As for my past…I've got a bit more of grudge on Malefor and the Apes than the average Dragon…" she began, not wanting to insult him. "On the night of the raid, Gaul made off with one egg, mine…" she said, memory going back to all those years ago. "Not long after I hatched in the Ape's lair, they began my "training". I don't' remember much, except for the pain…" she said, looking sad. "They tortured me to make me train my body, because that's all they needed from me. They tried their hardest to break my spirit…they came close," she continued, venom clear in her voice. "Then…this is the worse part I remember…one of the worst anyway," she explained, raising her tail blade and showing those on her wings. "These used to be bone…Gaul tore those ones out of me and forged metal into my bones in their place…they made sure I was conscious through the whole thing…if I lost consciousness, they woke me up and continued…by the time it was over, I was in shock…that gave them the chance to do something even worse…"

Ember watched Cynder's body shake from fear, clearly traumatized from what happened all those years ago. Ember couldn't blame her after what had been done to the poor Black Dragoness. "Cynder…you don't have to go farther…" she said, worried for her friend. It made her wing claws and tail hurt just imagining it.

Cynder shook her head. "No…" she said, not wanting to succumb to her past, she'd been fighting that battle for her entire life. "I have to finish…they drug me to the Well of Souls, chained me above it," she continued, trying not to let herself fall too deep into her own memory. "…Then they took the only thing I had left from me…my freewill…" she continued, finding tears in her eyes as she remembered. "Malefor's darkness turned me into a monster…Dark Cynder is what we call it now…I…she did so many horrible things…" she explained. "Drake…I know exactly how it feels to think something you did is unforgivable…That's why I wear this jewelry I do…to remind me of what happened so I can fight the darkness still inside me…I know it wasn't my fault…but I still remember," she continued, letting a few tears fall so her emotions didn't overwhelm her. "I'll always remember what I was forced to do."

Ember put her paw on Cynder's shoulder, trying to consol her. "Cynder…are you ok?" she asked, feeling Cynder's heart racing as the Black Dragon shook heavily from her painful memories. Ember couldn't blame her, after what she'd been put through, who could blame her for being traumatized?

Cynder looked over to Ember. "Yeah…yeah, I'll be fine," she said, shaking her head to clear it as she calmed down.

Drake came over and put a large hand on Cynder's shoulder. "I know I wasn't involved in what happened to you…but my race was," he said. "I'm sorry for all that was done to you…my race will never apologize for what they did to you…but if they won't, I have must."

Cynder was shocked, looking up at the massive Ape. But she slowly smiled. "It's ok, Drake…you didn't do anything wrong…but I know what its like to feel like you have to apologize for something that wasn't your fault…" she said, having felt like that since Spyro freed her. "Anyway, Spyro broke Malefor's spell and freed me. I got most of my powers from Malefor's darkness. I must admit, using those same powers to defeat him felt good."

Drake nodded, returning to his seat. "I can understand that," he replied, then looked to Ember, knowing Cynder's past was painful to speak about and he shouldn't dig deeper. "What's your story?"

"Well, not much," said Ember, embarrassed. Compared to Spyro and Cynder, she really didn't have an exciting back-story, at least in her opinion. "My dad sent me and my mom out to live in the wilderness to escape the war and a Cheetah found us not too long ago," she explained. "My dad got kidnapped by the Gargoyles, we're going to help save him and their other slaves."

Drake nodded, understanding. "Well I'll help," he said. "After what the Apes did to the Dragons, helping reunite one with their family is the least I can do."

Cynder smiled. "I can understand that…and I'm sure we can put in a good word for you and your group with the others, Ember here's the new Fire Guardian," she explained, looking to Ember, reminding her she was special too.

Drake's jaw dropped. "You're the new Fire Guardian?" he asked, having had no idea this little Pink Dragoness was a Guardian. "I'm sorry, if I'd known I'd have given you more respect," he said, knowing the Guardians were, like Spyro, worthy of respect, even if she was only 24 years old.

"It's fine," said Ember, getting a little hot under the scales from the attention. "I'm just doing what's expected of me. I'm pretty strong though."

"Don't sell yourself short," said Drake. "Being a Guardian, from what I know of the Dragons, is a high honor, you deserve to be proud."

"He's right, Ember," said Cynder, giving her friend a smirk. "You've worked hard, I can tell. You've got every right to be proud."

Ember smiled lightly. "Thanks Cynder…" she said, looking down at her claws and thinking about how hard she'd trained to reach this level. "Speaking of training, I hope Demi's is going well."

"Alright, show me what you can do," said Spyro, setting up a dummy for Demi to practice on, then got out of her way.

Demi nodded, gulping and taking a battle stance. She let loose a shotgun-like blast of green energy and rock, but was ill prepared for the recoil and got knocked flat on her back. "Ow…" she muttered, getting up and shaking it off. She then tried again, only to get the same result. "Sorry…I'm terrible at this," she said, clearly lacking self-esteem.

"Well I wouldn't say terrible more like-" started Sparx.

"No, you're not," said Spyro, interrupting his brother by covering his mouth before he said something that shouldn't be said. He went over and helped her up. "Your stance is the problem," he said, getting in position next to her. "Plant all your weight in your legs, that Earth Shot has a lot of recoil to it," he explained, showing proper position.

"Ok…" said Demi, unsure as she mimicked Spyro's stance. She let off another Earth Shot, her aim being off due to the recoil and missing by a large amount. Her expression dropped as she still saw it as a bad mess up.

"Hey, don't feel bad, you did better that time," said Spyro, trying to encourage her.

"Yeah," said Sparx. "At least you didn't get knocked flat on your butt again."

Spyro put one paw on her neck and the other on her chin, readjusting her head and neck. "Brace your neck for the recoil, be ready for it," he said. "No one gets it their first try, even me," he said, giving her an encouraging smile. "Try again."

Demi looked nervous, but concentrated on the dummy. She let loose another Earth Shot, this time grazing the dummy. She tried several more times, getting closer each time until finally, she hit it head on and blew it apart, her face turning to shock. "I…I actually did it…" she muttered, in disbelief.

Spyro smiled. "Way to go Demi!" he said, patting her on the back. "See, practice makes perfect."

Demi nodded, smiling shyly. Yeah, her dad praised her a lot, but having someone else praise her made her kind of nervous. "Alright, what's next?"

"Let's try again," said Spyro, putting up another dummy. "Just to make sure you've got it down," he said, the young dragoness managing to hit it right off the bat, blowing it to bits. "You got it!" he praised. "And that's actually a pretty powerful Earth Shot. You've got the makings of a strong Earth Dragoness."

Demi got hot under the scales. "R-really?"

Spyro nodded, smiling reassuringly. "Yeah, you really do," he said, setting up another dummy. "Now we need to try it while flying."

Demi looked shocked. "F-flying?" she asked, having a hard time believing that was even possible. "I barely managed a normal Earth Shot!"

Spyro nodded. "Don't worry, I'm here to teach you," she said, giving her a reassuring look.

"You sure this is a good idea?" asked Sparx with a sigh.

"Yeah, she's a quick study," said Spyro.

"Really?" asked Sparx. "You think so?"

Spyro nodded. "If she works hard, she might get all the basics down today," he replied, before Demi tried a flying Earth Shot, the recoil launching her backwards and getting her head stuck in a hole in a tree.

Demi squirmed, trying to get free herself before finally giving up. "A little help…please?" she asked, embarrassed.

"You were saying?" asked Sparx, smirking widely.

"She just needs some training!" said Spyro, rather defensively, before running to help Demi get unstuck.

Pyrus groaned, blinking awake and finding himself alone in a shack in the woods. "Where am I?" he asked, looking around. "Hello? Is anyone here?" he asked, scared.

"Hello there," said a female voice behind him.

Pyrus spun around and saw a large, female fox hanging from a board above him, her face right in front of his. "Hi!" she called, rather loudly.

Pyrus fell backwards with a cry of shock. The fox had beautiful white fur and blue eyes, looking quite majestic overall, which left Pyrus somewhat awestruck. "What are you?" he asked, heart racing.

The vixen giggled and five, long, beautiful tails spread out behind her. "I'm a Kitsune," she explained, flipping down and looking at Pyrus. "My name is Delilah. Glad to meet you! You're Pyrus, right?" she asked, speaking at mach four.

Pyrus looked confused, the fact she was talking at high-speed didn't help. "How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things," said Delilah, spreading her tails. "As Kitsune get older, they get new powers and more tails. I've only got five, so I don't know everything, but I know a lot about stuff," she said, speaking fast.

Pyrus looked amazed, but also confused. "Wow…wait, why are we in a shack in the forest?"

Delilah gave a friendly smirk. "Kitsune aren't like you dragons. We're free spirits who can't stand to be in one location too long. We have place to live, we just go wherever the wind takes us…So are you feeling better now?" she said, not liking to dwell on something she considered boring.

Pyrus nodded, after overcoming the confusion he had from her rapid speech. "What happened? How did I get here?"

"I found you out cold in the woods," explained the queen of the Kitsune. "So I brought you here."

Pyrus looked sad. "I passed out…I killed those Rats…I've…I've never killed anyone before," he said, looking disturbed. "Heck, I've never hurt anyone before…"

Delilah put her paw on his shoulder. "Do not worry," she said, getting just a bit more serious. "You didn't want to kill them, did you? You were just protecting yourself, right?"

Pyrus nodded. "Yeah…they threatened to take me to Kaze and I protected myself…oh, Kaze is a-"

"Thief boss, I know," said Delilah, in a friendly fashion as she tapped her head, reminding him of her intelligence. "Well they tried to hurt you, you protected yourself. That's all there is to it."

Pyrus shook his head. "But…I don't like it, it feels so wrong…"

Delilah nodded. "That's a good thing," she replied. "Killing isn't supposed to feel good," she said. "If you kill for fun then you're are evil and heartless," she continued. "In the Unknown Lands, sometimes you have to kill to survive, since there are a lot of people who would kill you if you don't fight back and protect yourself," she explained, maintaining a calm tone so he could understand. It was a rather sensitive topic so she needed to make sure he understood. "But so long as you don't kill people for joy and only fight in self-defense, you've done nothing wrong."

Pyrus felt comforted somewhat, but wasn't completely at ease. "…Will Kaze's gang come after me again?"

Delilah nodded solemnly. "Yeah. You're Prince of the Naga, you're extremely valuable and they'll stop at nothing to capture you," she explained, surprisingly bluntly. "…I'll help you," she continued. "While I'm not a fighter myself, I can give you some help if you need it."

"But won't that put you in danger as well?" asked Pyrus, concerned for his new friend.

"I'm a spirit," said Delilah, smiling. "I can get hurt, but I am not in any real danger," she explained. "And I can do a lot of things to help you out."

Pyrus nodded, glad that was the case. "Alright, but I'm going to protect you if I can. I don't want to let a friend get hurt if I can help it."

Delilah nodded. "Alright, Pyrus, where you heading?"

"The Gargoyles territory to meet up with a pair of dragons to help stop my mother," said Pyrus, looking troubled. "Deadlock is doing something really bad," he explained. "I have to stop her…even if I don't want to."

Delilah nodded. "I understand. If someone's doing something wrong, stopping them is the only option," she said, then smiled, back to her fast manner of speech. "Lead the way!" Pyrus nodded and headed out, Delilah trotting along after him.

Spyro and Sparx watched as Demi finished flattening a large number of dummies with an Earth Fury, dropping huge exploding boulders on top of them. "You did great Demi!" said Spyro, running over to her.

Demi got hot under the scales, flattered. "You really think so?" she asked, panting from using a Fury Attack.

Spyro nodded. "Yeah, you're a fast learner!"

Demi smiled. "Thanks…I'm tired…" she said, not wanting to bother him or make herself sound selfish or lazy.

"I think that's enough training for today," said Spyro, having taught her the basic moves. "You did great, you deserve a good rest," he said, putting a paw on her shoulder. "You've got a lot to learn, but you can do it."

Demi looked down shyly. "You really think so?" she asked, her lack of self-esteem showing.

Spyro nodded. "And I'm sure you'll learn to do a lot better, you learn fast," he continued, giving her a kind smile. "Now let's get you back to the camp so you can get some rest," he continued, leading her towards Drake's camp.

"Spyro…thanks," said Demi, avoiding eye contact due to her shyness. "I'm not very open a person…you helped me and it helps me a lot."

Spyro smiled back at the young Earth Dragoness. "You're welcome," he said. "…You're kind of shy, aren't you?"

Demi nodded, embarrassed of her shyness. "It's just…being around an entire tribe of people three times your size is a little…intimidating…I know they won't hurt me…" she said, trying to word it right. "It's just…I don't feel like I fit in…so I kept to myself and my dad most of the time…"

"I kind of know how you feel…" said Spyro. "Well, kind of the reverse, actually…I was raised by Dragonflies…I was born bigger than everyone else, even my adopted parents. I never felt like I fit in at first…but I saw they cared about me…I decided that's all that mattered, no matter how I looked or how big I was."

Demi gave it some thought and nodded. "I understand…I'll try…thanks Spyro…"

Spyro smiled back. "You're welcome, now let's head back to camp, come on," he said, leading the way.

Cyros watched from the woods nearby as the ground left and seemed touched…almost. "I can't remember the last time anyone helped me with anything…except you, Kage," she muttered, the Naga standing by her side.

"As Spyro said, it's what a friend would do," said Kage, standing still beside her.

Cyros shook off her momentary moment of sentiment. "And that's why you're the only one I can trust…" she said, giving a bitter look as she thought of her mother and brother, trying not to let herself become to attached and trusting of Kage. "Anyway, I think that little group is having things a little too easy," she said, smirking sadistically. "Time to have a little fun with them," she said, giving a dark laugh.

"Why, my lady?" asked Kage. "After all, they are a part of your plan regardless."

"It's fun to mess with people," replied Cyros, coldly. "And what I have in mind will give them a tad more…incentive to fight their way to Tyrania."

Kage sighed, following slowly, not sure where this would lead.

Yeah, that was pretty brutal on poor Cynder, but can't help it, her past was terrible after all. Well Pyrus has an...intresting new partner, doesn't he? And what is Cyros up to? Nothing good, that's for sure. Anyway, see you next time!