Well another short chapter, but again, I like this one. Maybe it's just me...and I enjoy giving only samples of the Dark Master's evil, so you don't think I'm a jerk, but I do like writing his hate-filled dialogue.

Wow, a 12 step meeting on fanfiction...anyway hope you enjoy this relatively dark chapter.


Chapter 29: The Battle Within

Walking through a vast desert, a small two-toned brown and black dragon wanders aimlessly for any thing that will show him the way home. For what seems likes days he has been on an endless journey, and has seen only desolation. Tear would pour from his eyes, if he wasn't so dehydrated, seeing nothing but flat land in every direction, and having no clue of his location. The small whelpling looks to the sky for answers.

"DAD!" The young dragon barks at Titan's constellation, staring at the group of stars that were named in his father's honor. "I messed up big, and I really need your help!"

A young Tycor can see a slight twinkle coming from the brightest star, but it is nothing more than a flicker of light. For over an hour he stares at the one star, designated as his father's heart, and waits for anything, but only silence fills his ears. Tycor lowers to his stomach, giving up, and hoping the end comes fast and without too much pain.

"I know Dad...I deserve to die alone for what I've done!"

"NO, My Son... you do not!" A voice rings in his head, and the young whelpling turns his head up to see a blinding silhouette of light standing above him.

"DAD!" He cries, suddenly seeing his father emerge before him. "How is this possible..I watched you die!"

"Yes, my son...I am dead!" His voice returns, and with it, a spiritual touch from his father's paw. "And you will be sure to follow, if you don't fight his hold upon your soul!"

"But how do I fight something I cannot understand!" The small dragon replies, shaking uncontrollably with fear, and hoping for any answer from his father.

"There is ONE that can help you, and you must find that dragon!" Titan remarks to his son, holding his head up and showing him the smile he has missed for so many years

"Who?" The young dragon replies, but Titan slowly fades from his view. Tycor, once more, is left alone with a feeling of his loss, and unanswered questions.

"Who can help me fight this?"

Suddenly the small dragon begins to choke with an invisible grip around his throat, that tightens every second. He tries to move his paws up to his neck, but they are frozen in place, held by some unseen force. The small brown whelpling begins panicking, and desperately tries to call for his father, but the tightening grip around his throat, hold his vocal cords steady. His blood-shot eyes, drip their last remaining bit of moisture, as they are slowly forced closed.

"There is NO way to fight it!" The Dark Master's voice echoes loudly in his ears.

A full-grown Tycor opens his eyes, and he is terrified the moment he gets a vision of his surroundings. Bound tightly to a large tree in a web of pulsing vines, Tycor is covered from his tail to his head. A thick cable-like vine, wraps around his face, securing the earth dragon's muzzle shut, and allowing him only to breathe. Tycor has just the use of his eyes, ears, and nose, and what they sense is puzzling to say the least.

A thick grove of trees is what he sees, with constant flashes of lightning every second, however there is no sound, and no smell.

"Where am I?" He asks himself, trying to look around, but unable to budge his head an inch.

"What...you don't recognize yourself!" The voice chimes in again, and Tycor is racked with fear. "You are inside yourself, my new puppet! A dense forest of your own hatred, that was easy for me to hide your soul!"

Suddenly, Tycor gets a look at his new master, forming before the exposed eyes of the bound earth dragon, and smiling in his face.

"Don't worry, my friend, I will only be using you until my strength returns..." The swirling creature of pure dark energy remarks, then returns his snake-like eyes to Tycor's tear-filled ones. "...then I think I will reward your gracious service, by laying you to rest beside your father!"

The Earth dragon suddenly tries to break free of his shackles, and kill this monster before him, but more vines string down from the tree he is bound to, covering him twice over. His entire body is completely cocooned, covering his eyes, and leaving him in the dark. Only two small holes near his nostrils, allow air in for him to breath.

"You are pathetic, and your father will most likely be ashamed to lie beside you!"

Sounds of pain and tears come from the two air holes, and the Dark Master smiles feeling more control of the Earth dragon's power.

Inside his soul, Tycor, now humbled to perform for the Dark Master like the evil Cynder, is overwhelmed with regret.

"Please forgive me dad! I don't know how I let this happen!" He says, and more sounds of his sorrow fill this dense forest of his hatred.

"I do!" Remarks the Dark Master in his ears, and Tycor shivers from his cold words. "It is because you are weak, and easy to manipulate..."

"...but I will need help now, because of your weakness..." The Dark Master's voice continues to echo in Tycor's ears. "...and this time, I will make sure they leave your home world in ruins!"

"What do you mean, help!" Tycor replies anxiously.

"You will see..." The Dark Master squawks, then pauses and begins to laugh, remembering he blinded his captured soul. "...or maybe you won't!"

Total controlling the emotions of the dragon he's inside of, the Dark Master moves through the underbelly of the old city, and towards the Well of Souls. The snake-like colored dragon, weaves his way to a dark hole in the center of the Catacombs. In mere minutes, a secret tunnel leaves the Dark Master in a place that reminds him of home.

"Ahh...The Well of Souls." His voice remarks with pure joy, and quickly he flies over to the crumbled volcano of pulsing evil.

The Dark Master, hovers his new body over the broken mountain, sensing all the power he needs to fill his rage-filled soul under the rubble of the crushed volcano. He looks straight down the center of this mountain of rock and smiles.

With the element of Earth running through this stolen body, and the skill of using this element before through Malefor, The Dark Master makes a new caldera. Unleashing thousands of small pebbles from his mouth, these solid projectiles cut a path through the dense rock like a drill. The brown dragon lowers down into the hole, continuing to sand blast his way to the blocked magma-chamber of dark energy.

Suddenly, he breaks through the capped geyser of evil, and the Dark Master becomes consumed. He holds his position, absorbing the dark matter as it passes, filling him with the hateful energy he lost during his fight with his brother.

"Ahh...finally...I can be myself again!" The evil dragon remarks, looking down at his paws with disgust.

"I have had my fill of power, and I believe this worthless body is no longer needed!" The Dark Master's voice pains Tycor's mind with the last words he will hear, and the Earth dragon begins to suffocate. More vines constrict tighter around his soul, covering the air holes he's breathing through. Tycor struggles to draw breath, the pain becoming excruciating, and soon he can feel his life slipping away.

Suddenly, the Dark Master looks towards the west, and New Warfang. It is miles away, but he can still sense a huge release of power.

"Hummmm! They are in the city now..." The Dark Master remarks to himself. "I may need to keep him a while longer!"

Tycor is shocked, as the vines around his face and neck recoil, and his eyes are exposed to the forest once more. However, The Dark Master is standing before him again, with an arrogant smile.

"I think there is another task that would be perfect for this dragon's body." He says, and Tycor focuses his eyes at the evil creature of swirling energy with anger, playing with his life, like it's a game.

"I mean, why should I waste MY strength with a full-out assault of the city." The Dark Master remarks, staring into Tycor's face, and his body changes to look exactly like the earth dragon.

"It will be easier to destroy the city from within...and since it is my home, I'm sure they will just let me in!" The Dark Master continues with Tycor's voice, and the bound dragon closes his eyes seeing himself as a weapon of death. His own laughter, echoing in his ears, is making him feel worse than if he had just died.

"But the real reason I am sparing you for now, is I want you to understand how your hatred was ill placed from the start..." The Dark Master remarks looking back at Tycor with a smile. "...and because of your hatred...YOU will now be the fall of the Dragon Race!"

Suddenly the Dark Master disappears from his vision, and a tiny portal opens before Tycor's eyes. A complete vision, of what his body is doing, is shown to the bound soul of a helpless dragon.

"You will watch as I force you to destroyed your home, just like Cynder had to, when I ordered her to kill your father!"

Tycor lowers his head to look away, and the portal of energy follows his line of sight. He closes his eyes, but can still see everything. The Earth dragon becomes nauseous, knowing there is now way to avoid seeing his uncontrollable actions, and watches as his body continues the journey into the volcano.

"First, my stone friend...you will witness MY power!"

Standing in the very spot where Spyro accidentally released Malefor from the realm of Convexity, years ago, The Dark Master looks around in the debris of a collapsed room.

"Where are you, my loyal servant!" He barks out loud, and a glowing red orb catches his eyes. The two-toned brown and black dragon walks over to the crimson hue of light, and removes a large boulder from atop a stone corpse.

"They you are..." The Dark Master remarks with a smile, and places his paw down upon the broken chest of his great Ape General. "...Wake up, Gaul...It's time to go to work again!"

Suddenly the beacon of evil energy, spiraling up from the well itself, envelops the Dark Master, and his energy fills the room with a glow of dark magic.

Deep in his soul, Tycor watches with amazement as hundreds of small rocks begin to glow, then swirl around the room with the abundant amount of evil magic. He can feel more of his energy leaving his body, and a tighter grip on his soul. The Earth dragon cannot stop the power from going through his body, and watches helplessly as it recreates a powerful enemy from the past. The stones, controlled by the Dark Master's evil, begin to collect together around the broken body of the large ape warrior, filling in the gaps of his body, destroyed long ago by Spyro's uncontrolled fury.

"Come my powerful warrior!" The Dark Master says, reaching down with his right front paw, and puling the completely reconstructed Gaul to his feet. "Stand up and take your place by my side!"

"Master?" The large ape warrior remarks with some disbelief, seeing a brown dragon before him and not Malefor. However, with a quick flash of his eyes, and a pulse of his power through the paw he is still holding him with, Gaul is reminded painfully, not to question his master. He lowers down to his knees with respect by fear.

"Good, I glad you remember your master..." The Dark Master replies with arrogance, seeing his subject's loyalty. "...now do as I say!"

"What is your bidding, great one?" Gaul remarks raising his eyes up to his new keeper.

"I want you to be ready for War, my old friend!" The Dark Master remarks with a smile, staring at the red crystal eye of the large gorilla.

"But my army was defeated, my master..." Gaul remarks, and The Dark Master, raises his paw again.

Gaul flinches with fear once more, but his time he is not struck, instead the large ape watches with awe, as the Dark Master opens the wings of his symbiont body. Gaul suddenly smiles himself, seeing the large dragon controlling the energy spewing from the Well of Souls with great ease.

"We have all the power we need to replenish your army, stronger than ever..." The darkened dragon says with pure pride in his ability to control this energy, and again looks towards the city with a smile on his muzzle.

"...and this time they will find it very easy to get into New Warfang...Tycor promises you that!"

Once more, and image of the Dark Master appears before the bound spirit of a broken dragon.

"Isn't that right my friend!"

Tycor, closes his eyes, but can still see the Dark Master.

"And nothing you do will stop me!"

The Dark Master smiles, and disappears from sight without another word. The vines come to life again, constricting tightly around Tycor's chest, but leaving his eyes uncovered to see the Dark Master's work.

A massive amount of Dark Energy again passes through the Earth Dragon's bound soul, filling Tycor with an energy he remembers from his past. It is the same power that killed his family, and left him wounded from a fierce attack by Cynder. This energy now fills the room with countless soul, as Tycor watches an army of the dead rise with this evil power.

After a nearly an hour, the flow of power finally ceases, and Tycor is left physically and mentally exhausted. The Dark Master reappears before him, and just smiles as the Earth dragon slowly fades into unconsciousness.

Waking up back in the desert, The younger version of Tycor can still feel the binding vines holding his soul in the forest, and can no longer look up at the stars.

"I'm sorry Dad..." He remarks with depression. "...I can't stop him...I'm just not strong enough!"

Tycor tries to look back up to the stars, but can only see the twinkle of a portion of his father's constellation, and his heart aches with a fearful thought.

"I can only imagine how ashamed you must be!"

"Don't ever say that!" Titan's voice barks, and suddenly Tycor can feel something else binding his soul, the grip of his father's embrace from behind.

"I have always been proud of you, even at your worst moments!" The large dragon whispers in his ear, standing tall above his boy. Titan lowers his massive frame, pushing his rigid son's body down to the ground, lying atop of him to keep him warm in the cool desert night.

"Everything my boy has done, has only made me proud...until now!" He remarks, and Tycor begins to cry. "You have given up, and that is not what I taught my son!"

"But I can't do anything, Dad!" The young dragon replies sadly, and his father's grip becomes tighter then the hold the Dark Master has on his soul.

"YOU ARE TYCOR, SON OF TITAN!" He yells in his son's ear, and Tycor's body jostles under his father. The young dragon becomes fearful at his dad's sudden anger, but then realizes he was able to move his body.

Titan smirks for a moment, then rises to his feet. He position himself in front of his young son, and shows him his angry face once more.

"NOW...GET ON YOU FEET DRAGON!" Titan barks like a drill sergeant, and Tycor's eyes lock on his father with fear. "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT...I SAID STAND UP!"

The young whelpling dragon, tries to move his paws, but can feel the shuttering pain of his shackled spirit. He quickly stops moving, holding his position, not wanting to hurt himself further.

"I can't..." He starts to cry, and Titan smacks his son with a powerful paw. Tycor can feel the sting through out his entire face, and his eyes open with shock.

"You can't..." His father remarks bitterly, then turns around to walk away. Titan looks over his shoulder at his defeated son, and takes a deep breath filled with depression.

"...now...I am ashamed of you!"

Tycor watches his father slowly fade from view, and the agony in his heart consumes him more than the stinging pain his dad just left him with.

The Earth dragon quickly sees flashes of his father in his memories. His mind showing him the stubborn dragon that never showed fear in battle, even if he was terrified. A single message repeats in Tycor's mind, one that a very proud father, drilled into his son's head, over and over.

"No matter what happens in life...Never Give Up!"

The young dragon snaps out of his trance, and begins to move his paws. With great effort and pain, Tycor gets his legs under his body, and starts to stand up on his own.

"I'M NOT GIVING UP, DAD!" He yells with the overwhelming pain in his body, closing his eyes and hoisting himself up further.

"I SWEAR THIS TO YOU NOW... "He yells standing upright and raising his head to the sky.

"...I WILL MAKE YOU PROUD OF ME AGAIN!"

Suddenly Tycor can feel his father's wing drape over his back, and around his side.

"That is the dragon I raised..." Titan remarks, standing by his son's side. "...now show that Dark Master, an Earth Dragon is no one to control!"

Back in his tangled spiritual forest, Tycor's eyes open wide with life, and a very wry smirk crosses his bound muzzle.

"Yes Dad!" His muffled voice whispers through the vines holding his mouth shut tightly.

"I promise...I will!"


Well now, bet you didn't expect that! Gaul and his ape army have been resurrected, and what kind of damage will they do?

Tycor is not going to give up easily, but what can he do, that Malefor couldn't, to break free? And who is the ONE that his father said can help him?

I think Spyro and his family will have a very interesting day at Dragonfly Park, don't you?

So please stay tuned for the next chapter, and as always I would love to hear your feedback.