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Chapter 28

Investigation

"Well, if that's everything, I shall leave you two be."

"Alright. Bye Terrador!" Steppe waved at the Earth Guardian as he calmly walked by them. Crombe on the other hand was lost in thought. This wasn't right. It felt off. If anything, it was too coincidental to not be true. But he needed to make sure. It wasn't right to jump to conclusions.

"Crombe?" Steppe asked, following after the earth dragon. "Where are you going?"

"I need to get to the bottom of this. It doesn't feel right."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. My gut feeling is telling me this."

"My gut's telling me that I'm hungry."

Crombe stopped and looked at the earth dragon. "If you're hungry, why don't you go grab something to eat?"

Steppe waved a paw at him. "Eh, that can wait. I want to hang out with you."

"Okay then. But don't blame me if you get a stomach ache or something."

The earth dragon chuckled. "I'll try not to."

The two earth dragons walked at a brisk pace, Steppe trying his best to keep up at how fast Crombe was moving.

"So, what do you have in mind, Mr. Detective?"

Crombe let the comment slide. "I need to talk to that ice dragoness from earlier. I hope she's still in the Temple."

"Okay then!"

The two dragons walked down the halls and spotted Flare, the Fire Guardian, walking out of room, followed by Volteer.

"That was…that was…"

"It was," Flare said to the Electric Guardian who seemed to be out of breath.

"Flare?" Crombe called out.

Volteer snapped to attention. "We weren't doing anything wrong!"

The Fire Guardian just shook her head. "Oh, Volteer. He's calling me; calm down."

Volteer just laughed nervously, blushing furiously. "I…I knew that…"

"Hey Volteer! Hey Flare!" Steppe called out innocently. "What were you two doing?"

"We were just having a pleasant chat with one another," Flare replied nonchalantly.

"Y-yes, we were," Volteer added, sounding like he was bluffing. "Anyways, what is it you two?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"I was wondering if you guys have met the ice dragoness from earlier. Have you?" Crombe asked, getting straight to the point.

"We have, actually," Flare answered. "She told us of a dragon that is very despicable. We have informed the moles to apprehend him if seen to prevent any further wrong doing. Why do you ask?"

"I need to talk to her. Did you know where she went?"

"I am not sure, Crombe. You can try asking the moles. They may have seen her."

"Alright, let's go Steppe."

"Bye!" Steppe replied, following after the earth dragon.

As soon as the two were out of earshot, Volteer let out a sigh of relief. "That was close."

"What are you so worried about?"

"I…I don't know," he replied, laughing at his own predicament.

"You're acting like a young dragon with his first love."

Volteer blushed at the compliment, remaining silent.

"And I find it very endearing," Flare replied, giving the Electric Guardian a tender lick on the cheek.

Crombe walked down the halls of the Temple, looking for any of the moles that usually could be found in the area. Sadly, he could fine none. Steppe followed after him, trying to help in whatever way he can. Thankfully, they happened to find a mole that they were so desperately looking for.

"Hey," Crombe called out.

"Yes?" the mole replied.

"By any chance, did you see an adult ice dragoness from earlier?"

"The one who came to talk to the Guardians about that venomous dragon?"

Crombe nodded. "That's the one. Have you seen her?"

"I have. She just headed out, said she was walking to Warfang Park."

The earth dragon smiled. At least now he had a heading. "Alright! Thanks a lot."

"No problem."

And the two dragons were off. Crombe made a beeline straight to the front doors of the temple, and took off to the skies, Steppe following straight after him. The earth dragon happened to look down and saw Terrador walking at the streets of the city, seemingly heading out. Crombe took note of this before veering off to the side, heading straight for the park. He landed a few minutes later, Steppe right beside him.

"An ice dragoness, right?"

"Yeah," Crombe answered. "We need to talk to her."

Steppe looked around before pointing discreetly to a dragoness who was resting under a tree. "Is that her?"

Crombe turned his head and examined her features. "Yeah, I think that's her."

The earth dragon walked over and smiled. The dragoness looked up and smiled back at him. "Oh, you're that earth dragon earlier. Hello, fancy meeting you here."

"The name's Crombe. You are?"

"Hale." She turned to look at the dragon standing next to him.

"I'm Steppe! Nice to meet you Hale."

"Nice to meet you too; to what do I owe the pleasure of having the company of you two?"

"We need to ask a few questions."

The ice dragoness raised her brow. "Oh? Uh, sure I guess. What is it about?"

"It's about the dragon you were talking about with the Guardians."

Her expression immediately darkened. "Oh, that. What about it?"

"I wanted to know if you could tell me more about it."

She looked skeptical. "I'm not sure I should. You're too young to be involving yourself in matters like that, Crombe."

"Please, do not worry about my age. I can handle myself," he replied confidently. "I have dealt with worse matters."

She grinned. "You definitely sound like it." She sighed. "Well then, alright. What do you want to know about him?"

"Can you give me a description of this dragon?" he asked. He might as well know what the bad dragon looked like. He had a feeling it would help later on.

"He's an adult fire dragon. He's larger than you, and doesn't look like the talking type. He knows what he wants and he will do whatever is necessary to get what he wants."

"And what he wants is?"

"Females," she replied.

"Females?" Stepped replied. "What does he want with females?"

"He wants to mate with them," Crombe replied frankly.

"But then—"

"Against their will."

Stepped blinked. His expression then twisted to that of anger and disgust. "That's horrible."

"Yes. He is horrible; which is why he must be apprehended immediately. We cannot let him roam around freely anymore," Hale said with a look of determination on her face.

"Agreed." Crombe felt nothing but disgust for the dragon. If anything, he was almost on par with Malefor. Almost.

"Does he have a name?"

Hale nodded.

0

Zaze walked down the halls of the temple, feeling utterly bored. He was looking around for anyone he could talk to. It seemed everyone was busy doing something and he was left out. He couldn't find Flame, Ember and even Sparx. Everyone seemed to have disappeared without taking him with them. However, as if on cue, two dragons came into view.

"Oh, it's you."

It was none other than Aurora and Shaylus.

"It's me," Zaze replied, smiling at the two of them.

"Hey Zaze! What's up?" Shaylus replied happily. Aurora on the other hand looked a bit withdrawn.

"Not much. I was just looking around. What were you two doing?" Zaze asked, looking at Aurora specifically.

"We were just talking to each other." Her expression turned solemn. "We're still worried about Trax."

"We all are," Zaze replied seriously. "Don't worry; the Guardians are doing their best in looking for him. Even Spyro and Cynder."

"This isn't like Trax at all. I hope he comes back. We miss him," Aurora replied.

"You and me both," Zaze replied.

"Agreed," Aurora added.

Shaylus blinked, and then smiled.

"Wow. I like this," she said.

The purple dragon looked confused. "Like what?"

"You two are not fighting anymore! Yay!"

Aurora was flustered. She avoided Zaze's gaze. "Yeah…we're not fighting anymore. I'm past that now."

Shaylus then pulled her in and reached over to pull Zaze into a group hug. The dragon was a bit surprised but welcomed the gesture.

"W-what are you doing?" Aurora said.

"I'm just so happy to see my two good friends no longer fighting! I prefer it this way."

Zaze just chuckled, and smiled at the dragoness. Aurora rolled her eyes, but eventually smiled back.

"And there are no hard feelings on my end," Zaze added as Shaylus eventually let go.

"I am glad," the ice dragoness replied. She then smiled. "The next thing I know, you two are going to be the best of buds!"

Aurora looked at Zaze, then back to Shaylus. "Maybe that's too fast."

The dragoness shrugged. "I can dream."

Conveniently enough, Spyro and Cynder appeared out of the corner, still looking distressed. "Oh, hey guys," Spyro said, spotting the trio.

"Hello Spyro. How's the search coming along?" Zaze asked.

The dragon shook his head. "Nothing so far; I'm not giving up though."

"Just believe in us guys. We'll find him," Cynder said, looking at the two dragons that had crestfallen expressions on their faces.

"You're talking to the legendary purple dragon. I think you can believe his word," Zaze added.

"And that vouch is coming from another, equally, legendary purple dragon," Spyro smiled.

"How about you, Cynder? What's your title again?" Shaylus asked.

Cynder's face darkened. "I'm the Terror of the Skies; fear me!"

"Ah!" Aurora jokingly screamed.

"That's always how the response was before. Now, dragons just smile at me and some even talk to me. Back then, they treated me like I was invisible."

"I know how that feels," Zaze added, empathizing with the black dragoness.

"Well, we're just going to take a rest for now," Spyro said, smiling at the three of them.

"Take it easy you guys. The last thing we want is you two being out of commission when we need you the most," Zaze said.

Cynder chuckled. "I think you alone Zaze can handle any situation."

Zaze smiled. "I try my best."

"We'll be going now," Spyro said.


Author's Notes:

Sorry for being late on the posting of this. Our Internet was on the fritz last night.


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