Equinox: *Kneels next to tombstone* Here lies Eclypse. He died recently due to an overdose of finals work.
Eclypse: UUUUUUGH Sorry this took so long to get out. This chapter was incredibly hard to make and I haven't really had time to work on it with finals happening.
Equinox: We do not own Spyro, The Legend of Spyro, or Skylanders franchises.
Eclypse: All OC's used in this story are either mine, or are used with permission from the creators.
Spyro and Cynder: Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 28: The Tournament, Part 2
Starts from Eclypse
Once Terrador began the round, I shot a quick volley of blizzard shots at Manakete, freezing her paws to the ground. It wouldn't hold, but it would give us some time.
"Cynder! Go!" I yelled. She nodded in response and launched into slipstream, effectively doubling her speed and charged at Ether. However, before she could connect, she was shot across the arena by almost tornado-like winds and hit the wall. I quickly created an ice barrier between the enemy team and Cynder, protecting her from any further attacks until she got back up.
"Shit! I forgot we aren't fighting Apes anymore!" I thought angrily. Manakete broke through the ice holding her to the ground and charge at me with incredible speed. I just barely managed to dodge it. She quickly turned around, smiling. I then realized that she intended for me to dodge.
"Oh SHI-"I yelled right before a gust of wind came from her maw and hit me square in the gut. Just like Cynder, I was launched back into the wall. Although I was prepared for it, that fact didn't stop the impact from hurting. I fell to the ground a few feet away from where Cynder was.
"Well… That was much easier than expected…" Ether growled.
"Heh, you think this is all over after something like that?" Cynder laughed, "Eclypse, you ready?"
I slowly got up on one knee and nodded. Cynder ran into the center of the room and began to spin, creating a sort of mini-tornado. As she began to spin, I froze my feet to the ground to prevent me from getting sucked into the vortex. Just as they were realizing what we were doing, they were forced into the tornado and thrown around like ragdolls. As they flew, I threw Icicle grenades inside the tornado, which were then carried by the winds and flew at Ether and Manakete, breaking and freezing them. I kept throwing Icicle Grenades into the tornado until I ran out of energy. Cynder noticed I was out of mana, so she stopped spinning and came down to help me.
"Are you alright?" She asked
"Yeah, just need a moment to recharge. Can you cover me for a minute?" I asked. This was the one downside to Northern Winds. If I ran out of mana, I wouldn't be able to unfreeze myself from the ground.
"Sure thing." She told me. She turned towards where Ether and Manakete had landed and I checked my Draco-Gear. I wasn't looking good. It wouldn't take too long for me to recharge, but we don't have a whole lot of time…
Switches to Cynder
I turned to face the two dragons who were slumped against the wall of the arena, or at least they should have been. Manakete was definitely down for the count, but Ether was nowhere to be seen
"RRRYAH!" I heard a voice cry. I turned around just in time to see a ball of fire charging at me. Eclypse had made me completely forget about Ether. He must have protected himself in the flurry using his element. There wasn't enough time to dodge the Comet Dash, but I managed to lessen the impact by creating a cushion of air in front of me. The attack still hurt despite this, and I once again found myself up against the wall.
"Heh, too easy." Ether growled as I got back up, "Now, on to you…" He began to run to Eclypse. If he took another attack, he would be out of the match completely. I couldn't let that happen. I charged up a blast of wind in my maw and fired, shooting Ether away from Eclypse. He flinched, but he wasn't damaged by my attack. Using Slipstream, I flew across the arena and followed up with a quick succession of physical attacks. I couldn't let up. If I did, he would see an opening and take it.
"Come on Eclypse… Please hurry…" I thought as I continued to attack. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain pierce my leg and saw that Ether had caught my fore-leg in his maw, biting down on it.
"Auughhh!" I yelled in pain, pulling my fore-leg back to try and free it. I succeeded but stumbled back in doing so, giving Ether a window to attack. He charged a fireball in his maw and fired at me, hitting me directly and knocking me down on my back.
"Good move there, but not good enough." Ether smiled.
I slowly got back up and looked over to Eclypse, who was also finally getting back up.
"I expected more of a challenge from the both of you…" Ether growled. He pointed at me, "You helped defeat Malefor," he then pointed over to Eclypse "and YOU helped defeated four of the Elementals. Perhaps you need your friends to back you up, or maybe you just underestimated me? Either way, I think it's time to end this…"
He got into a combat stance and let out a war cry. Suddenly, fire began to swirl around him until it formed some kind of dome. The heat from it was unbearable, as if I was standing inside of a volcano, and the noise coming from the attack was so loud I could barely hear.
"Wh-WHAT IS THAT!?" Eclypse yelled. I then suddenly realized the answer.
"HE'S TRYING TO MAKE US FAINT FROM THE HEAT!" I yelled back, "THAT BARRIER IS GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER EACH SECOND! WE NEED TO END THIS NOW!"
"HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?" Eclypse asked me frantically.
I had to think quickly. There was no way we were going to get through that barrier normally, it could kill us if we weren't careful. It was just too hot for us to pass through.
Wait a minute…
"ECLYPSE! ON ME! I THINK I KNOW HOW WE CAN END THIS!" I commanded. He nodded in response and ran over to me.
"WHEN I SAY, I NEED YOU TO JUMP AND FREEZE YOURSELF IN A BALL OF ICE." I told him. He looked back at me skeptically. "WE'RE ONLY GONNA GET ONE SHOT AT THIS SO I NEED YOU TO TRUST ME."
My stern tone must have scared some sense into him, as he quickly nodded his head and got in front of me. I began to charge a huge amount of wind energy
"OK, GO!" I shouted. Eclypse leapt into the air and I released the wind energy I had been storing. The large ball of ice that was once Eclypse was launched at the huge wall of fire.
Switches to Eclypse
"HOLY SHIT." That was all I could think as I flew through the air. The ball I was frozen in oddly didn't feel cold to me, not that it had before, I just expected me being incased in a solid ball of ice to feel at least a little chilly. Maybe it's because it's not natural ice or something like that? I don't know. Either way I'm about to fly into a gigantic ball of fire. So that's neat.
I passed through the inferno, the ball of ice surrounding me protecting me from the heat. Suddenly, I felt something make contact with the ball. The fire surrounding us dissipated and I heard cheering. As the ball melted, I looked around and saw that Ether was laying on his back and the spectating Dragons were cheering for Cynder and I.
We had won.
"Congratulations, Eclypse and Cynder!" Terrador yelled happily. "You two are the winners of the first round!"
I let out a happy sigh and slowly made my way over to Ether and held out my hand to help him up.
"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting something like that." Ether laughed.
"Well, it was Cynder's idea, not mine." I laughed back as I pulled him up, "I was just the Clueless Cannonball."
"Well, either way, you both were a fantastic challenge." Ether complimented, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." I smiled.
Cynder, Manakete, Ether, and I all walked out of the arena to be greeted by the rest of the class, cheering for all of us."
"Well, that was a fantastic way to start off today's rounds!" Terrador complimented, "Eclypse, Cynder, you did phenomenally, especially you Cynder. That quick thinking of yours is what won you two the match. Please focus on more of that in the future."
"Thank you Terrador, I'll try." Cynder said gratefully.
"Now, with that out of the way, I believe it's time to move on to our next round." Terrador told us, "Would the next two teams please enter the arena?"
Switches to Equinox
We had one more match before it was our turn to fight, as we were in the last match of out half of the bracket. It was hard not to get excited, with the crowd cheering around us. Was this what sports fans felt while watching their favorite team? I wouldn't really know. Eclypse and I never watched sports back on Earth. But before we knew it, the other two rounds finished and it was our turn up. We were facing a Poison and an Electricity dragon pair, each named Corr and Cyz respectively. They were notorious in our class for constantly slacking off, never really caring about what was happening unless it directly involved them. I was honestly surprised to find out they were on a team together.
Then, almost as he could read my mind, Terrador spoke to me.
"Do not underestimate these two." Terrador advised, "You of all people should know not to judge a book by its cover."
"I mean… I guess, but this is a little different." I retorted, "They actually are lazy."
Terrador sighed, "You still have a lot to learn I suppose." And walked away.
"Alright, so what's the plan here?" I asked.
"You take care of Cyz and I'll take care of Corr. Once one of us finishes, we help the other one." Spyro explained.
"Got it." I confirmed.
"Are both teams ready?" Terrador asked
"Yeah, were ready!" I yelled. Cyz nodded his head in agreement. The barrier went up around the arena.
"Begin!" Terrador yelled.
Almost immediately after he said that a jolt of electricity surged through my body, completely immobilizing me.
"Equinox!" Spyro yelled in surprise. He was suddenly hit by a ball of poison and knocked on his back.
"Shit… So this is what Terrador meant…" I thought, "I need to get out of this. FAST." Just because I couldn't move didn't mean I couldn't use my element. I remembered a move that Spyro seemed to be very fond of and began to direct my element into an aura around me, causing me to launch at my target in a gigantic fireball. When it made contact with Cyz, it launched him back and, more importantly, made him stop firing electricity at me. A quick succession of attacks as my follow-up cause Cyz to fall over on his back, giving me some time to help Spyro.
Switches to Spyro
"Dear ANCESTORS this hurts…" I though spitefully. I had been attacked by this element before, but the pain never gets any better. The aspect of the poison element that makes it unique is that it never really causes any physical damage to the target. Just a lot of pain. I can get rid of it with a healing gem, but
"So, this is 'The Great Purple Dragon of Legend'?" Cor asked sarcastically while slowly walking over to me, "Maybe I should have taken on Malefor myself!" He shot another ball of poison into my system, doubling the pain I was already feeling.
"Come on…. Just a little closer…." I thought in anticipation.
"Alright, I think I'm done here." Cor said as he stood over me, charging a final ball of poison in his mouth.
"Yeah, but I'm not." I smiled as I discharged all of the electrical energy I had been storing. This created a large ball of electricity around me, creating a blast of electricity and shocking anyone unfortunate enough to be standing by, I.E Cor.
"Equinox! Over here, now!" I yelled.
"Great timing!" She yelled back as she flew over, "You alright?" She asked as she landed.
"Yeah, but not for long." I replied, "Got hit a couple times with poison. We can't give either of these two an opening."
"Alright. Lets take out Cor out now and then focus on Cyz." She told me, "Besides, I've been wanting to try out Light Resonance ever since we came up with it." She smashed her fist into her open palm; embers flying out from her hand.
"Let's go." I replied. We both ran at Cor, who was just getting up from the electric blast and went all out. We both unleashed a combination of physical and elemental attacks. When we finished, Cor looked awful and fell back onto the ground. He was out for the match.
"Shit…" I heard Cyz say under his breath.
Pain was corrsing through my body. Not only did White Resonance almost drain me of all energy, but the poison was getting worse.
"Hey, Equinox." I said quietly, "I'm not gonna be able to fight for much longer. Can you finish this?"
Switches to Equinox
"Heh, you know it." I smiled, heat overflowing from my palms. Cyz was standing in a defensive postion with a look on his face that told me he was fearful of what was to come. To be honest, I was as well. I was tired and didn't know if I could do this. I just needed to keep smiling.
The heat grew and grew until flames covered my arm. We may not be able to use weapons, but claws were fair game. I ran straight towards Cyz and braced myself. Cyz began to fire bolts of electricity seemingly in random directions, in hopes of hitting me. While he did a few times, I continued running and began my attack, clawing at him in hopes of ending this. He was taking a lot of abuse despite how tired he looked. There was only one way to end this. I redirected the elemental energy into my palm, creating an explosion that launched him into the air.
I quickly flew above him and directed every last bit of energy I had into my palm. My arm shook from exhaustion and power so much that I had to hold onto it to make sure my attack hit my target.
"BURN!" I yelled as the energy discharged. A pillar of fire erupted from my hand, swallowing both Cyz and I in the flames. The flames didn't affect me all that much, but they were definetly had an effect on Cyz. He looked as if he was on the verge of fainting from the heat. To be honest, I was going to faint as well with all the energy I was using. I quickly cut off the flow of elemental energy from my palm and the pillar dissipated. We both fell to the ground and the impact just added to the pain I had already been feeling. Slowly, I got back up and saw the crowd outside the barrier cheering.
"The winners of this round are Spyro and Equinox!" Terrador yelled, "Congratulations to both teams! You all preformed spectacularly."
I limped out of the arena and took four pairs of mana and healing crystals from the rack. I then broke one pair and my stamina returned to me. After that, I walked over to Spyro, Cyz, and Cor to give them their crystals.
"Thanks…" Spyro said in pain as he broke the crystal. In seconds he was getting back up, as well as our opponents and we all walked out of the arena.
"Another fantastic match! Great job, all of you!" Terrador complimented.
"Thank you sir." I responded. Suddenly, Terrador grabbed my shoulder and whispered into my ear.
"Volteer and Cyril want to talk to the four of you." He told me, "Get them and head to the Pool of Visions, they'll be waiting there."
I nodded and Terrador went walked over to Eclypse and Equinox. They were talking to Ember and Vi'locke, who were preparing for their match.
"Good luck out there guys!" I heard Eclypse say.
"Don't need it." Vi'locke smiled.
"Go get 'em!" I encouraged.
Ember jumped in surprise by my sudden appearance but Vi'locke only continued smiling and gave a quick nod.
"Hey you two! Great job out there!" Cynder complimented.
"Thanks, but we can talk later." Spyro told her, "The Guardians want to talk to us at the Pool of Visions."
"Why?" Cynder asked.
"I don't know, Terrador only just told us to go." Spyro responded.
"Well, best not keep them waiting." Eclypse said, "C'mon, lets go."
5 Minutes Later
Switches to Spyro
We all entered the large, circular room and found the two guardians waiting for us.
"Ah, hello everyone." Cyril smiled, "Thank you all for coming."
"No problem. What's going on?" Equinox asked.
"Well, we did send out the scouting party as you all requested." Volteer explained nerviously…"
"And…?" Eclypse asked.
"Half of them have come back heavily injured." Cyril interrupted.
"WHAT!" Cynder exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, it is true." Volteer confirmed, "They came back battered, bruised, and beaten and had to be carried by their comrades."
"They all told us that they were attacked by some shadowy figure in the forests of Avalar." Volteer told us.
"Then that's where he is." I said, "We'll head out as soon as possible."
"Wait Spyro." Cyril cautioned, "You can't just go in and throw caution to the wind. He will be expecting you."
"But we will have to attack soon, as the cheetah will likely move if we do not." Volteer argued
"So be stealthy." Eclypse summarized.
"Basically." Cyril confirmed, "We can excuse you from the rest of your classes today if you need to."
I noticed Eclypse was already thinking about what to do.
"Since we need to be stealthy, we can't have a huge party going in…" Eclypse thought out loud, "Cynder, can you bring more than one Dragon with you when you use your shadow element?"
"Well, yes. But it takes more of my mana if I do." Cynder explained.
"Alright then, I think I know what to do." Eclypse smiled.
If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider Rating and Reviewing. Any Criticism is welcome as I want to improve ^-^. As summer is finnaly here I will have more time to write, so more chapters should be coming out soon. Until next chapter!
-Eclypse
