I guess the last chapter was good, OK...I can stop doubting myself.
Chapter 36 The Big Bang
Nearly a mile from the city's south gate, in the center of the Forbidden Forest, the group from the valley is forced to hold up short of New Warfang. One dragon is suddenly having second thoughts about facing his past.
Malefor, seeing the massive palace rising up over the horizon, lowers from the sky towards a fresh clearing of woods.
"What are you doing?" The cheetah hermit remarks, still riding on the large purple dragon's back.
"I can't do this!" He says with anguish in his voice, and continues down to the ground. Malefor grasps the old cheetah from his back, places his feet on the ground, and looks up at the circling Monsoon and Excelcius.
"Go with them if you wish, old hermit..." Malefor remarks, turning to walk away, reeling with pain in his heart. "...I am not going to the city...not yet!"
"What's going on here?" Excelcius remarks, while landing beside the large purple dragon. "Are you alright, Malefor?"
With just a look from his new friend's eyes, The powerful red dragon knows his answer.
"I was thinking that I better stay here, Excelcius...we've not seen another one of those beasts, since we left the valley...and I'm pretty sure Spyro would not want me to just show up in the middle of his brother's dedication."
The purple dragon's voice is filled with pure anxiety, and both Excelcius and Monsoon show they completely understand.
"Yes...I can see your point, Malefor!" The future guardian replies, watching the massive blue dragon nod in acknowledgment as well.
"Well I don't see it that way...you coward!" The old hermit barks, staring at Malefor with anger.
"I guess you two should continue to the city, and warn who you must..." The fierce cheetah says, stepping closer to the purple dragon, showing the seriousness in his eyes. "...but trust me...we will be right behind you in a moment!"
"NO...I am staying here!" Malefor remarks with anger, staring down the brown and gray-haired cheetah.
"NO...you will not remain here, yellow belly..." The crazy minded hermit replies, placing his right paw on the pommel of his sword "...if you don't get moving, I will just kill you, and drag you there myself"
"And how do you plan on doing that, you crazy old hermit!" Malefor barks, standing up into in a defensive posture.
Suddenly, and without seeing his movements, the purple dragon stops feeling the old cheetah's sword against his throat.
Monsoon and Excelcius jump at the old hermit's sudden aggression, but stop as Malefor holds his paw up.
"Wait..." He says with a sudden return of confidence in his voice. "...I will handle this!"
Malefor turns his head against the blade, slicing a small cut into his neck.
"Just do as the OLD hermit asked and go. I will be fine!" He continues, returning his eye forward towards the angry cheetah warrior. "I would like to talk to him alone for a minute, and find out how he plans to kill an immortal dragon!"
Monsoon just shrugs his shoulders, and opens his wings to fly. The blue dragon could really care less what Malefor does, and decided it's actually smarter for him to stay behind. The powerful water master is back up in the air with one thrust of his wings, and continues on his original path towards the city.
However, Excelcius remains for a word.
"I will come back for you, after I speak with Spyro and the Guardians..." The fire dragon remarks, looking deep into Malefor's eyes. "...and I want you to know, you should not fear returning...because I have seen the real Malefor, and he is much like my old mentor...Spyro."
Excelcius flaps his wings down, lifting off the ground, but still staring at his friend and new mentor.
"The dragon race can only suffer...if you decide to keep yourself hidden!" He quickly takes off after Monsoon, and his voice echos back to the dragon he hopes will follow.
"And the longer you take, my friend...the longer we have to wait for your knowledge!"
The large purple dragon smiles, but only for a moment.
He has Spyro to defend him in the public eye, and now all four Guardians' support, however it is still not comforting him.
They were presented one at a time, and easily convinced by the purple dragon to his true nature. But this would be confronting everyone at once, and even Spyro knew that would be a huge mistake, ordering the purple dragon to remain hidden. He knows his presence will not be well received by the entire population as a whole.
Malefor goes through the many memories from ten years ago, and the vicious assault he made upon leaving the Realm of Convexity. This generation that he returned to, and declare war upon, had suffered the most during his time as Dark Master. Loses to the dragon population were staggering, and several other species, completely wiped from Avalar's history.
"What am I doing here..." He remarks, looking over the blade against his throat, and into the eyes of the cheetah warrior. "...I almost wish you could kill me, Old Hermit!"
"I have a name!" The cheetah remarks somberly, looking into Malefor's eyes. "And if I was that same cheetah, I would grant your wish."
The purple dragon lowers his brow, with a puzzled look, as the warrior cheetah removes the blade from his throat.
"You believe you are the only one with an issue of returning to his home..." He continues, showing the purple dragon the same eyes of regret. "...My friends wanted me to come back, but I wouldn't return..."
The old hermit drops his sword, and lowers to his knees crying.
"...I just couldn't face the ones I let down."
Malefor, surprised at the flip in his new friend's emotions, places a paw upon his back, but the old hermit flicks his arm up, knocking it off.
"Don't touch me...DRAGON!" The Old Hermit barks with rage, grasping his sword again. He stands back on his feet, showing Malefor an intense pair of eyes. "It is an insult to my whole way of life that I am even standing before you!"
Malefor becomes more puzzled, sitting back on his haunches, and watching the crazy old cheetah with a bit of concern. Not for his life...he's immortal...but he can see the same look of complete despair in the old warrior's eyes.
"For years, I was trained for a single purpose...to kill one dragon!" The cheetah warrior says with anger in his words, staring at the tip of his sword. "But when I had my chance to do my duty...I hesitated, and Cynder did not!"
"What!" Malefor barks, then stares at the cheetah warrior again, with a deep look of surprise. "Wait a minute...I know who you are!"
Malefor gets to his feet, and his concern is now a little for his life.
"You're Tristan...the Dragonslayer!"
The cheetah's eyes open wide, hearing the name he spoke, and seeing the fear within his purple eyes.
"I have not been called that in some time..." Tristan replies, staring at Malefor with a contented smile. "...I miss that cheetah, and I wish he was here."
Tristan sheaths his magical sword, and walks over to the purple dragon.
Malefor, knowing full well of this warrior's skill from hunting Cynder, sits uneasy as Tristan places his paw upon his neck.
"Don't fear me Malefor...Please!" His voice solid and confident for once. "I'm no dragon slayer. I couldn't kill Cynder then, and I'm not going to kill you now, because I see the same thing I saw in her."
Tristan, places his left foot on Malefor's right forearm, and kicks himself up onto the purple dragon's neck. Malefor swallows his saliva, frozen in fear with full knowledge of the cheetah on his back.
"She was the key to the war, and I could have stopped her before it even started..." He whispers in the purple dragon's ear. "...but I saw something bright inside of that dark dragon, and it spoke to me!"
Tristan stares up at the new city, and with memories of a deadly war, the old cheetah hermit can see a different future for the dragon race.
"In hind sight, I don't think Avalar would be enjoying this peace if I had killed her." He continues, taking a deep cleansing breath. "Spyro would have never discovered his destiny, and you would still be influencing the dragons from the Realm of Convexity."
Malefor turns his head towards Tristan, showing him a puzzled expression.
"Why didn't you kill her, Tristan?" He asks with confusion, actually recalling the moment between he and his puppet. "What did you see, that you see in me!"
"Spirit!"
Tristan smiles, and kicks his hind paw into Malefor's ribs.
"Now come on you yellow-bellied coward...I promise I will stop any dragon that tries to kill you!"
Malefor turns his eyes to the city himself, and lowers his head with a deep sigh.
"What about the Cheetahs and the Manweresmalls...I don't suppose you can help me with them?"
"NO..." He replies with a smile, and continues with a great deal of sarcasm in his voice. "...I'm pretty sure they will kill you...but I swear a dragon will never lay a talon on you!"
Malefor turns his head, looking at the old cheetah, and rolls his eyes. However, giving a gentle pat to his neck, and showing a confident smile on his face, Tristan tells the purple dragon he will have a physical guard to watch his back.
"You do know this is going to be a non-stop fight?" Malefor remarks, lifting off the ground and flying toward the city once more, his head still turned to look his passenger in the eye, and see his response to this comment.
However, Tristan takes a firm grip on one of Malefor's dorsal fins, and raises up on his feet.
"I don't think so!" The old hermit replies with a shocked look in his eyes, grasping tightly to the purple dragon's back.
"I think we have a bigger problem!"
Malefor shows a puzzled expression, until a deafening boom comes from behind, hitting him with a powerful shock wave only a second later. The purple and gold dragon spins around to see a large mushroom cloud rising off to the right side of the city.
"By the Ancestor's...What was that!"
Laying under a large canopy of brush, Nick is holding his left side with a shaky paw, feeling his life fading away. He looks around, from under the the umbrella of branches, camouflaging his green color from preying eyes, and sees nothing.
"Blanca hurry!" The green dragon remarks, knowing he has little time remaining.
The Shadow Master left his injured friend behind, to find the only thing that could save him...ancestral power. However, he has been gone for ten minutes, and seeing the amount of apes that have gone by, Nick starts to realize his hopeless situation.
"They killed him!" He says to himself, allowing his emotions to wreak havoc on an already weakened heart. Nick lowers his head, sobbing from the loss of another life, for his children.
"I killed him!"
The water dragon suddenly winces from a sharp pain, and his mind is filled with images, seeing his life play out in seconds.
However, one moment holds Nick's heart, and it replays in his head like a bad video.
"Daddy I'm sorry!" Catarina's voice echoes in his head, seeing the uncontrollable tears pouring from his daughter's eyes, when he and his wife returned home.
They hurried back after the news of a powerful storm, and an accident that involved Spyro's brother, and all three of their children.
"It was my fault...he died because of me!"
The greenish-blue dragon can feel his heart beating with pain, as the vision of his oldest daughter, pleading for forgiveness, repeats in his mind.
"NO Catarina...it was my fault!" Nick keeps saying, wishing that he actually said that, to comfort his daughter the day after Sparx' death. However, he couldn't say a word, feeling his own guilt for leaving them alone in the city. "I never should have left my babies behind!"
"I swear if the ancestors let me..." Nick removes his paw from his left side, revealing the blood still pulsing from his wound. "...I will make sure you understand that!"
The green and blue dragon jerks with pain, replacing his paw against his side, trying to hold pressure on a vicious wound. Nick, snapped back to reality, can feel his time is almost up, knowing how bad he is hallucinating, and how weak he has become in only a few minutes. The father of three begins to weep, sensing the inevitable end.
Suddenly a noise startles him, and he quickly quiets himself, recognizing the inaudible sounds of the ape language. Just grunts and growls to a dragon, but Nick can hear it is a lot of different voices. He tries desperately to remain still, as a massive group approaches the bush Blanca laid him under.
"Please...No!" The Ice dragon remarks to himself, seeing his entire family before his eyes, but mostly his guilt-filled daughter.
"I can't leave them yet...I have to tell her!"
Noticing the apes look in his direction, the green dragon holds a deep breath, and tries remaining perfectly still. However, taking a deep breath was a mistake, and he knows it, when the wince of pain he makes, perks the ears of the approaching mob.
With a point of the leader's long arm, and an alerting grunt from his voice, Nick knows he's been spotted. The large green and blue dragon rises from the brush, and turns to run as fast as he can, knowing he is at a severe disadvantage. His left wing, unable to move, being affected by the blade that was driven into his side, Nick is forced to remain grounded.
The Water dragon takes only a step before stumbling back to the ground, dizzy from standing up. The loss of blood to his body is more than he can handle, and Nick knows now...it is over.
"IT WAS MY FAULT!" He yells with his last breath, hoping his daughter will hear, where ever she is.
Suddenly he feels an incredible stinging sensation across his entire body, however, the green dragon is startled with what he was not expecting. He can feel the healing power of the hundreds of red and green crystal particles he can see, now covering his body.
Nick breathes a sigh of relief feeling the pain, coming from his wound subside, and the soothing regeneration of ancestral power.
"I KNOW IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Blanca yells from above, dropping another red crystal by Nick's side. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE, STUPID!"
The black dragon shoots down from the sky, and strafes the small group attacking his new friend. A stream of black fire engulfs the gorilla army, sending them directly to the shadow realm. A place devoid of air and space, and a painful death for any creature not able to control the element of darkness.
The black and gray dragon lands in the center of this strange inferno, wipes the remnants of shadow magic from his muzzle, and looks back at his friend with a smile.
"I mean come on...I just found these crystals. I would like to save a few for later, not use them getting into more fights!"
Nick watches the power of the red crystals regenerate his wound, leaving a nasty scar. And though it is not life-threatening any longer, it is still not fully healed. He stands up with a wince of pain, and smiles back to the one that saved his life.
"Sorry...I decide to breathe, Blanca..." Nick replies with further sarcasm, limping over to the black dragon. "...next time, don't go around the world for a few crystals!"
Blanca shows a bit of shock from Nick's reply, and then a fast smile. He quickly trots over to his new friend, rearing back a paw and slamming a green crystal to the ground between them.
"I found these a while ago..." The shadow dragon remarks, winking his eye at the green dragon, as they both fill with magic power.
"...I've been waiting in that tree up there!" Blanca remarks, pointing a talon up towards a massive redwood. "I just thought helpless bait was better to lure them in!"
Nick looks at his friend with anger, then takes a swat at him with his right paw. However, Blanca disappears, and the green-colored dragon falls to ground, holding his sore ribs with pain.
The Shadow dragon begins laughing, as he reappears behind him.
"I'm kidding, Nick..." Blanca continues with a snickering tone. "...I had to go miles for these things!"
"That was not funny, Assho..."
Suddenly another red crystal shatters at the blue-scaled belly of the water dragon, healing him further, and allowing the black dragon to help his friend to retake his feet easily.
"I know it's not funny..." Blanca remarks with a sudden seriousness. "...it appears the army is destroying any crystals they find, and not allowing them to regrow."
Nick gives the dark dragon showing a deep look of thought.
"They don't want us to regain our power, Blanca..." The greenish-blue dragon, remarks with seriousness. "...they are planning something big!"
The Shadow dragon nods his head.
"We must warn Spyro...NOW!"
Nick suddenly winces in pain, then lowers his head with anger and depression, feeling no control in the muscles leading to his left wing.
"You need to go without me, Blanca...I still can't fly!" He remarks, showing the Shadow dragon his pain, as he tries several times to flap his dark-blue wings.
"I will have to stand my ground here!" He says with confidence, feeling a complete return of magic, and strength.
The Shadow dragon rolls his eyes, and slaps Nick across the muzzle.
"No...You will get your ass to the city!" Blanca replies, and grasps the frozen left wing of his friend. With a good amount of force, and a great deal of pain, the black dragon bends the stiff blue wing under Nick's body.
"HEY!" Nick barks with the sudden pain, and Blanca places his paw over his mouth.
"Shut up!" He says softly in the water dragon's ear. "Or you will force us to make our last stand now!"
Nick takes a deep breath through his nostrils, showing the anguish of his wing being bent.
"You need to take the pain, you little whelpling..." The Shadow dragon remarks with sarcasm, looking into his eyes. "...and give me your other wing!"
The green dragon balks with a look of 'go f**k yourself' on his face, writhing from his left wings abuse, however seeing the genuine stare from a dragon he has found great respect for, Nick does as he's told.
He lowers his right wing under his belly to the left side.
"Now try to keep quiet..." Blanca says, removing his paw from Nick's muzzle, and grasping his other wing gently. "...I know this hurts, but you'll thank me later!"
The Shadow dragon hovers over Nick's back, pulling both wings up from the opposite side, cradling the injured one against his stomach.
The green dragon struggles in agony, but doesn't make a peep. He concentrates on his children, and what he will do if he ever sees them again. Feeling the inspiration of his daughter's smiles, and the pure joy of holding his son, Nick holds still as Blanca ties off his wings with a strong vine.
The Shadow Clan leader, slides the remaining crystals into the makeshift pouch, between Nick's stomach, and his lame wing.
"You will need these more than I, and they will help to heal that wing, so take them!"
Nick nods his head knowing he has miles to get to the city, and running will take time and energy. Plus the thousands of apes that are trying to kill him, definitely a hindrance to dragon's power.
"I wish there was a river I could use..." The Water dragon remarks, knowing how easy that could make the trip, and Blanca slaps himself on the forehead.
"There is one!" He remarks with sudden realization, of Nick's element, and a little known pipe-line that empties from the city's water treatment plant, to the ocean miles away
"That new sewer pipe they just put is not far from here!"
The green dragon pauses for a long dramatic second, staring at Blanca with the same face he showed before. He helped construct the city's sewers system, and knows exactly what flows through there.
"I'm not swimming up that pipe...you're nuts!" He remarks with a dead sternness, but the slightly larger dragon grasps Nick in his arms, and heads toward the pipe-line anyway.
"HEY..."
Blanca's paw is quickly across Nick's muzzle again, keeping him quiet.
"It's the fastest way to the city for a water dragon..." Blanca remarks, his voice now raised an octave. "...if you have any other way in mind...I'm all ears!"
Nick, thinks of anything else, but this idea, and comes up with nothing. And It didn't matter if he did, since Blanca kept his paw tightly around his muzzle.
"I thought so!"
Nick lowers his head, with depression, realizing this is actually the only way he can make it back in his condition.
The F word is muffled from the green dragon's mouth, and Blanca releases his grip on Nick's muzzle.
"I knew you'd see it my way!"
Nick turns his head and looks the black dragon in the eyes.
"I gonna get you back for this, Blanca..." He remarks, seeing the pipe-line on the horizon, and getting more and more nauseous from what his going to do. "...I will make you understand how nasty this is going to be for me...I swear!"
The Shadow dragon lands beside the pipe, placing Nick down on his feet, and turning away quickly. He cannot contain his smile seeing the reaction, on the green dragon's face, to a very bad smell.
"By the ancestors...we're still like two miles from the city...I'm gonna have to take a few breaths of this shit!" Nick remarks with anger, and Blanca finally loses control, laughing as hard as he can.
"I'll get you back for this!" the green dragon remarks lowering his head with depression.
Blanca straightens up for a moment, looking at a dragon that is quite annoyed with his element at the moment.
"Come on...it's ninety-eight percent water."
Nick pops his head up to stare Blanca down, and shows even more anger in his eyes for reminding him.
"I KNOW THAT...it's the other two percent that I want no part of." Nick replies in such a sarcastic way that Blanca starts laughing again.
"I'm so glad you find this funny, Blanca!" The green dragon remarks, placing a paw upon a small panel of the pipe, and looking back at the black dragon laughing harder. A smile fills Nick's face, as he pulls the panel open.
"Cause it looks like you're gonna get a taste of it first!"
"What?"
With his mouth wide open, Blanca is soaked in a powerful stream of ninety-eight percent water from the opened hatch, and Nick begins laughing.
"OK!" He says with a genuine smile, seeing Blanca choke out everything he swallowed. "We're even!"
Before the black dragon can get to his feet, and beat his ass for that nasty wake up call, Nick crawls into the pipe. Using his water power to force the current back, the green dragon pulls the hatch closed, and heads for the city.
Choking out a taste he cannot believe Nick left him with, Blanca stares at the pipe with anger. He opens his wings, shaking off the remnants of his disgusting shower, and continues to spit out what ever went down his throat.
"That was not funny!" The black dragon remarks, lifting off the ground and hovering up the pipeline a few hundred feet. "Let's see how you like this!"
Blanca smacks his tail against the iron pipe, sending out a powerful gong in all directions, then smiles hearing a return gong from the angry dragon directly below his feet.
"HA HA HA!" He laughs hearing Nick's inaudible voice of anger return from the pipe.
"Good luck my friend, and don't breath to much of that!" Blanca smiles, and lifts up further into the air. "You still have to kiss you wife and children with that mouth!"
Suddenly a large explosion rocks the park, and Blanca is thrown against the pipe-line from the powerful shock-wave. A large gong rings out again, and Nick becomes so enraged, he opens the next panel in the pipe.
"HEY!" He yells sticking is head out of the panel, looking around for the dragon that is messing with his head. However, seeing Blanca yards away, and down on the ground unconscious, Nick pulls himself from the pipe, and runs to his hurt friend.
"Blanca!" He yelps, and the black dragon stirs from his voice, slowly rising to his feet. "Are you OK?"
The Shadow Clan Leader shakes his head, and turns to the light he saw fill the sky.
"By the ancestors..." He remarks, turning to the green and blue dragon approaching his side. "...that explosion came from Spyro's home."
Blanca suddenly takes a whiff, and holds his nose.
"WOW! That is some powerful stench you have clinging to you already..." The black dragon remarks, stepping away from Nick. "...I was gonna to say, forget going to the city, and I'd carry you with me for help, but...WOW!"
The water dragon gives Blanca a very angered stare, and turns back to the spot he left the pipe.
"That's not me that smells like that Blanca..." Nick remarks, showing his completely dry scales. "I'm waterproof...you're not, so I would take a shower as soon as you can, or the apes will smell you from miles away!"
Blanca lifts his forearm to his nostrils, and can tell that Nick is right, the scent is coming from him.
"How the hell do I get this smell off..." He begins saying, but then is drowned in a wave of pure water. Nick focuses a torrent of his cleansing element, soaking the black dragon from head to tail.
"Well...I didn't want you to spit on me either!"
Blanca and Nick laugh for a moment, then both get very serious.
"I'll get back to city, Blanca...you go help Spyro if you can!"
Nick is fast to the pipe this time, and quickly holds nothing back, swimming against the current of this powerful flow.
However, before Blanca can even move from the ground, a dragon passes over, heading towards the city. His eyes light up seeing the purple and gold scales of the airborne dragon, and his voice rings out from the ground.
"SPYRO!"
With his name called from below, the Hero of Avalar stops, and looks down. He recognizes a dragon that he doesn't get along with very well, since the Shadow Clan has been known to break a law or two.
"Blanca?" The purple dragon remarks with curiosity, lowering to the ground and suddenly holding his nose. "What are you doing, swimming around in the city's sh..."
Standing in the center of New Warfang's Main Square, a set of narrow yellow eyes, focus upon the Palace Guards surrounding him.
Dark Tycor cannot help but laugh at the small amount of resistance he is receiving, knowing everyone is in the park with Spyro.
"You few are nothing against me...and if I actually wanted you to live, I would offer you the choice of surrender..." The snake-patterned brown and black dragon remarks with smugness, and his body changes shape. With a loud crackle, Tycor turns to a pure storm of plasma electricity.
"...However...I don't want your surrender..."
At the speed of light, The Dark Master strikes all eight dragons with an overwhelming surge of electricity, killing them in an instant. The power he uses is so strong, it even takes down a yellow and black dragon possessing that element.
"...I want you all dead!"
He looks over his carnage, and watches with pride, seeing the few Cheetahs and Manweresmalls, left in the city, run away with great fear.
Suddenly the sky lights up again, and the ground shakes uncontrollably beneath his feet. Tycor turns to see a great explosion come from Spyro's home, and his eyes fill with anger.
"DAMN SKYLANDERS!" He remarks, knowing full well what that explosion means, and that a few thousand of Gaul's gorilla army have just been wiped out.
Tycor, looks up towards the high tower of the palace, and suddenly smiles.
"OK, Spyro...you know I'm here!" He barks with anger, beginning his ascent to the highest point in the city.
"But I wanted this fight between you, and I, and this planet ONLY!" The evil dragon remarks to himself. "Now I will have to show you and Gaven what a real Portal Master can do!"
Everyone is now on the same time-line, and the battle will kick into another gear next chapter, so stay tuned