(Fused Loop 1.1 continued) (Feat: TokoWH, AbZ, Ukelele) (Beta-Read by Riverstyxx)
"What?" Classic asked, looking back towards the red dragon in confusion.
"You heard me," Flame said, a stoic expression on his face as strode forward past the group of loopers. "There's still one dragon who hasn't taken your test."
Classic held a confused expression as he looked towards the group, each of them looking back at him blankly. Ember looked nervous, glancing between Classic and Flame. Her gaze finally came to firmly rest on Classic, who gave a nod and quickly followed behind Flame.
"Flame?"
The red dragon aimed a backward glance, seeing Classic crook his claw at him.
"C'mere. We need to talk." Classic beckoned from the dojo's door.
After the loopers' perplexed stares registered, Flame reluctantly followed Classic out into the hall. Almost as soon as they had stepped out, a different door opened near where the guardians were standing.
A dragon with a very long mustache crept in, leaning heavily on a hefty walking stick. Legend recalled seeing other elders doing something similar in this loop, but this one seemed to move much more...'purposefully' was the first word that came to mind. Glancing over to Cynder, he noted the slight narrowing of her eyes. She had noticed it as well.
"Ragnar," Thomas addressed the newcomer stiffly. "You are late. By more than thirty minutes, in fact."
"Apologies, Thomas, I'm afraid these old bones aren't quite what they used to be," the other dragon replied, a slight sharp glint in his eyes. "It seems my body just didn't feel up to trying to keep up with the whippersnappers today. How did that go, by the way? I can see three of them here, so it doesn't look like you harmed them too terribly."
"How unfortunate, then," Cyril retorted, scowling, "that it looks like none of us are in any condition to give the last one his chance to go with the other four."
"I'm sorry, Cyril, it seems my ears have taken leave again. I thought you said 'go with' the other four. Surely you meant 'stay back with'?"
"You heard correctly," Terrador cut in, sharply. "Ignitus's grandchild met me in combat and proved himself. His twin did the same for Red. The dark-scaled one did so with Volteer, and the pink one with Cyril."
"What did they do to earn that?" Ragnar asked with genuine curiosity.
"They fulfilled the criteria of the match to the letter and spirit," Thomas replied. "Beyond that is something that you would know had you come at the appropriate time, as is asked of any guardian."
There was a sudden huff that echoed out all the way into the hall where Flame and Classic were. Classic glanced back with a raised eye-ridge, the biting annoyance that came with it sounding all too familiar and sending a chill down his spine. Looking back, Flame lowered his brows in frustration. The door slid shut behind him and Flame turned to see Classic pinching the bridge of his snout.
"You know why I called you out here, right?"
The stoic manner never left Flame as he argued his case. "I know what happened earlier, and—"
"You're a good tour guide, Flame, but Ihy probably found out where Mal's hiding by now."
"But I can fight, and I'll show you if you let me."
A sceptical frown creased Classic's maw. "Is that so? Then, of course, I should ignore the fact that you were hiding in a closet during the invasion."
"That doesn't—"
"I should also forget about us having to chase you through the middle of a collapsing subway." Classic's brow lifted. "Yeah, that sounds reasonable."
Flame let his head hang as he tried to respond to the evidence presented against him. Classic waited expectantly for a response, until he finally found his words. "Did I tell you I've met Malefor before?"
"Yeah, at the library," said Classic as his frown diminished.
"...When I walked into that office, I could tell he'd seen a lot. More than anyone should have to see."
Letting Flame continue, Classic's expression shifted from doubt to concern.
"Then, when I offered him reading lessons, he felt like he'd made his first friend in centuries," Flame recounted, checking Classic's expression with a stolen glance. "But when I told him about the Great Sea Dragon and the relationship us hy—dragons have with water, everything just fell apart."
From there, Flame's voice began to rise. "You get it, right? It's my fault that Malefor's out there killing with his machines! I made him feel like a failure and now he's trying to eliminate anything that threatens him! And you know what he's afraid of?"
Classic picked up the exchange from there. "You told him we're related to Waterians and that set him off."
Nodding, Flame ended his testimony. "Now you see why I have to do this."
The purple dragon mulled over Flame's story, feeling uneasy about its truthfulness, but unable to detect anything other than the occasional stumbling over words. "...You sure you want to do this?"
Flame's determined stare told Classic all he needed to know.
A defeated sigh left his maw. "Well, I'm letting Ember come with us and I would've never done that before this loop. Maybe you'll surprise me, too."
With that, Flame pushed the dojo's door open, hurrying back toward the arena, while Classic followed to sit at the sidelines. As he made his way back to the group, he couldn't help but think, 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Flame couldn't be lying, could he?'
It was then that Classic paused. 'Wait… This loop?'
Classic watched as Flame stood across from Ragnar, a determined expression on his face. He couldn't have been…?
"Unbelievable," Ragnar said, glancing back at his fellow guardians with a frown on his face. "To think... The lot of you, bested by children."
"These are no normal children, Ragnar," Terrador shot back, giving him a stern look. "With how much you pride yourself on your chi abilities, I would think you'd at least know how to sense the energy within them."
"Are you mocking my abilities?" Ragnar asked, shooting Terrador a cold raised brow as he held his staff firmly in hand. "I could sense them just fine, but that still does not change the fact that all four of you were bested by younglings."
"Appearances can be deceiving, Ragnar," Cyril said, a flat expression on his face that quickly turned into a smirk. "For example, how one can appear old and wise, but really he's just a conceited old fart down under all that."
"I sure hope you're not implying what I think you're implying," Ragnar said, giving Cyril a stern glance. "Because I know a certain dragon who tries to keep a regal air about himself, but deep down he's nothing but a raging egotistical maniac controlled by his desperate need to make himself important."
On the other side of the arena, the group watched on blankly. Legend Sparx grinned, doing his best to suppress a chuckle.
"Ooh, shots fired," he muttered, glancing over to Legend with a smirk.
Legend merely shook his head in response before glancing back at the two dragons, who were giving each other the evil eye.
"Well, at least I have something to be proud about," Cyril said, glancing at Ragnar with a look of indifference on his face. "Ice is one of the oldest and most highly regarded elements out there, thought to have come into existence alongside fire itself." Cyril raised a paw to his chest, closing his eyes. "It is elegant, graceful and deadly, unlike that hack-job of unrefined energy you call an 'element.' "
Cyril barely opened his eyes, looking at Ragnar with an indifferent shrug. "Any ruffian with half a brain can throw pure energy onto his claws and call it an element. It takes a true and disciplined dragon to master the majesty that is ice."
"It wasn't thought to have come into existence alongside fire. It was thought to have come after fire," Ragnar said, narrowing his eyes. "As in, second best. And just because it's a species' exclusive element does not make it any different from an element anyone can learn. If anything, ice is far below chi. Anyone may be able to use chi, but few can master it, and it is far more efficient and deadly than your element, which can be beaten with a hotplate. Any ice dragon can throw around ice chunks, but very few elite dragons can create chi blasts without even moving."
"Check it out, it's Ragnar verses Ragnar," Classic muttered, looking on as he gave Legend a slight nudge.
"Or Cyril verses Cyril," Cynder added, watching with a raised eye-ridge.
Legend huffed, watching the unfolding events, the guardians slowly becoming more and more passive-aggressive as their not-so-unapparent argument continued. He could hardly believe it. Never once had he thought he'd ever meet another dragon quite like Cyril, to put it frankly. While Ragnar seemed to be trying to give off an air of wisdom rather than regality, it was clear that he took great pride in this 'chi' Legend had heard so much about.
"Well then, at least I have a natural element! The only reason you got into Dragon Kata was because you had no other choice!"
"I'd rather have no element and be a master in Dragon Kata than be locked into a hack of an element that makes me act like I have an icicle up my—"
"Enough!" Terrador said, his rumbling voice finally breaking the argument as he stepped forward and gave them both a stern glare. "You two are guardians, for ancestors' sake! Act like it!"
Legend's expression went flat. The key word in his thought process was 'try.'
Volteer did his best to suppress a chuckle and even Red held an amused smirk on his face. Cyril and Ragnar glared contemptuously at each other, but Ragnar was the first to break it by quickly turning away with a scowl.
"Bah!" he spat, walking away. "Fine then. I guess I'll just have to prove it by doing something even your oh-so-precious ice element failed to accomplish."
Expression unwavering, Malefor looked through Flame's eyes with a smirk. To think, the guardians were acting like younglings. If that was what he was up against, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but that didn't mean he shouldn't keep his wits about him.
His little messing with Classic's head should be enough to keep them from butting in. Granted, he had no idea if Flame really was a looper like the others, but that was irrelevant. That line would be enough for him to take some liberties with the whelp's powers. Granted, it was best not to go too insane, either, lest he rouse suspicion.
From what he knew about Flame—most obviously—he was a fire dragon. It wouldn't be too unbelievable if he took Flame's abilities with it to their limits, or at least close to it. Other than that, though, he was unsure what Flame was capable of. Magic was something that most dragons seemed to be capable of using, regardless of what elemental alignment they fell into. Chi appeared to be another one, but that was an 'element' discovered during his time in imprisonment, and thus one he was unfamiliar with—a fact that he knew he'd have to keep in mind when fighting a dragon who specialized in it.
Multiple elements didn't seem to be uncommon in dragons this day and age, as Cynder had shown, but he'd likely have to make it an element that would be believable for the whelp to have learned through some means, and shadow might raise a few brows…
Malefor huffed. He'd cross that bridge when he got to it. For now, he needed to gauge what his opponent was capable of, and the exact extent of what this 'chi' entailed.
Ragnar looked down at Flame with a stoic expression on his face, staff at his side. Immediately, he closed his eyes, channeling his chi, which flowed out around him. Though it was likely unneeded, if what the other guardians had said was true, then it was best to get an idea of what this whelp's powers were. Using chi to tap into and sense the elements and the opponent's level of chi was the basis of Dragon Kata, and while it was possible to disguise certain abilities, he doubted Flame had mastered that art yet, even if he was a so-called 'looper.'
Ragnar took a deep breath. Sure enough, right off the bat, he could feel the fury of flames inside him and not much else, just like he had predicted. Ragnar huffed. Just like he…
He paused, raising an eye-ridge. He could feel Flame's presence, but…there was something else there. He wasn't sure who or what it was, but it wasn't natural. Of that, he was certain. Ragnar ran his claws through his long mustache, keeping a firm eye on Flame.
"What's the matter?" Flame said, giving a confident smirk. "You seemed so sure of yourself when you were berating the guardians for losing to children earlier. You losing your nerve because you don't want to be shown up by a whelp?"
Ragnar scowled, sensing an air of enjoyment from the presence inside Flame at that remark. He held his staff in front of him, returning to his stoic expression. Letting the spirit get under his scales was probably exactly what it wanted. Ragnar had no idea why it had taken residence in the whelp, or why it was insistent on staying with the group, but Ragnar could feel in his gut that something was not right there. An ordinary sparring match, this likely was not…
"To give you a fighting chance," Ragnar said, closing his eyes. "I will let you strike first."
"What?" Ember muttered from the sidelines, raising an eye-ridge. "He's not even going to pay attention?"
Ragnar smirked, hearing the comment despite it barely rising above a whisper. He let his chi flow out towards Ember, able to sense a low amount of chi within her. He was unsure how she had learned about chi, but, from that comment alone, it was clear she only knew how to channel it into her claws at most. An amateur mistake. Whoever taught it to her clearly didn't have a good grasp on it themselves. Ragnar made a mental note to discuss this with her once all was said and done. He didn't like just anyone learning Dragon Kata, especially his special blend of it, but it was an insult to the style to have some random nincompoop out there teaching others improper Dragon Kata.
Malefor narrowed his eyes, keeping a stoic expression on Flame as he observed his opponent. There was no way Ragnar would leave himself open like that, unless he was confident he could block any attack. Indeed, Malefor needed to expect, no, he knew Ragnar would block his opening blow. He didn't know much about chi, but he needed to be cautious—and probably not attempt to get too crazy right off the bat, either. Ragnar was testing what Malefor's minion was capable of and, in turn, he needed to take this opportunity to test that himself.
Immediately, Ragnar sensed flames welling up inside Flame, curling into a ball. A basic fireball? Maybe the whelp wasn't as intimidating as he'd thought.
A chill went down his spin. Once again, he could sense the presence of something other than Flame, a sudden surge of power shooting through the whelp. Ragnar quickly retracted his earlier thoughts. The fireball was a distraction, a common veteran fire-dragon tactic. He could easily block the fireball, but it was what Flame—no, the presence fueling Flame—would do next that had him worried.
The fireball spat out of Flame's mouth and, not a second later, the whelp was off, darting to the side at the same speeds Cynder had displayed in her battle, circling around towards Ragnar's backside. Ragnar was quick to swat away the attack and spin around, raising his staff as Flame jumped towards him. Quickly opening his wings, Flame took to the air and somersaulted over Ragnar, letting down a rain of fire. Following the beat, Ragnar raised his hand, a luminescent blue barrier of chi forming over him and blocking the attack.
As Flame dropped to the ground, he charged again. Ragnar swung his staff, only for Flame to jump and land atop it. He opened his maw, an orange glow radiating from within his throat. Quickly, Ragnar pulled his staff away, only for Flame jump back and let loose a storm of small fireballs. Ragnar acted fast, putting his staff in front of him and twirling it, letting his chi flow through it until it glowed pale blue, punting the mini-fireballs away, where they soon fizzled out in the open air.
As Classic watched the battle, his jaw dropped and his eyes wide, he found himself at a loss for words. Finally, one thought came to mind.
"Holy crap," he muttered, fighting the urge to blink in case he missed some more craziness from Flame.
"Is that really my brother out there?" Ember blurted out, mirroring Classic's expression as she glanced over towards the group.
On the other side of the arena, Terrador merely glanced at the match between Flame and Ragnar. In all honesty, it didn't hold his attention. From what he'd understood, Flame wasn't actually a 'looper,' but someone who had been in the right—or wrong—place at the right time to get dragged along. He might have had a trick or two, but it shouldn't have been anything that Ragnar couldn't handle. And if Ragnar couldn't... Well, he needed someone to knock him off his self-appointed pedestal now and then.
Instead, Terrador focused on the dragon that he had fought earlier, keeping only enough focus on the fight before him to count the number of stances and maneuvers that Ragnar used. Ignitus's grandson followed the fight, a frown stretched over his face. It didn't seem that he had encountered the upper levels of Dragon Kata yet. It would be interesting. At the fourth count, Legend's eyes briefly flashed before clouding over as his eye-ridges furrowed.
It was the sixth move that saw his eyes shine. Terrador had to smile. If 'Ro' ever had the need to face Ragnar, he would not doubt the outcome. Though, he did wonder, would the purple youngling have been able to dissect Ragnar's moves so quickly in a fight? From what he had seen, he would give him two more moves in a fight proper.
Terrador turned his attention back to the fight to see Flame reaching out, trying to score a blow on Ragnar's side. Internally, Terrador sighed. The young dragon had overextended. Ragnar would slam him into the dirt before the blow connected. Sure enough, Terrador saw Ragnar's reply coming in swiftly.
'Abort the attack,' Terrador silently counseled.
A wave of surprise ripped through the observers as, impossibly, Flame's strike hit and Ragnar's missed. Some of the others cheered, but the dragons shared a look that asked "Did that just happen?" and "Was that you?" all at once.
Ragnar recoiled with a grunt, grasping the area where he'd been struck with a scowl on his face. Flame hit the ground on all fours with a smirk on his face, fire dancing around his claws as he waited for Ragnar's next move. The group could only look on in shock as Flame danced in place, mocking Ragnar while he let out a chuckle. Classic Sparx glanced over to Classic Spyro, scratching his head with a confused look on his face.
"I know Flame kind of looks like ya, but since when did he become your long lost twin?" he asked, looking back at the battle with eyes wide.
Classic blinked before glancing over to Ember with a stern expression. "Embs."
Ember half-glanced over, finding it hard to take her eyes off the battlefield as Flame darted around, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. "Yeah?"
"Has Flame ever let on that he might be looping? Or at least shown signs that he might?" Classic asked, glancing back towards the sparring match as Flame jumped atop Ragnar's staff, giving the guardian a slap on the snout and jumping back before Ragnar could grab him.
"I…I don't think so," Ember said, glancing over with a frown. "Outside of variants, Flame never really changed his routine each loop, unless someone interfered with it somehow."
"Maybe he's a stealth looper?" Classic Sparx asked, raising a brow. "You know, like those Star…walker…something-or-other loopers."
"Maybe, but I don't see why he'd hide it," Ember said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Especially from his own sister. I would have thought that, at least, he'd have asked me about it in one of the many loops he might have been through."
Classic huffed, keeping a close eye on Flame. Something was up, looper or not.
Ragnar lashed out with his staff again and watched as, once more, he just couldn't reach the thing overshadowing the whelp he was facing. Narrowing his eyes in frustration, the elder dragon tried to back-step out of the range of Flame's next strike. Again, he watched the impossible as Flame's claws seemed to reach through distance and land. So it wasn't just that this power was able to affect the world around the user; the user could also be altered. Interesting. There weren't many powers quite like that. Still, he had to find a way to stop this farce.
As he twisted his staff around again, the weapon took on a blue sheen. When he swung it forth, it seemed to shorten to the point where it would just miss for a third time. Suddenly, chi burst from Ragnar's staff, hitting Flame square in the chest and causing the smaller dragon to gasp in pain and shock. Immediately, the warping effect stopped and the butt of Ragnar's staff met Flame's already bruised ribcage, throwing the fire dragon back.
Ragnar watched the whelp struggle to his feet, unsure if striking now would have been to fall for a trap or even be seen as fair play by the other guardians. He felt a bead of sweat run down his face. That was strange. Even with the surprises that the thing overshadowing the whelp had shown, the mental and physical effort still shouldn't have been enough for him to start sweating. Not unless...
Opening his senses further, Ragnar felt an attack coming from his back left. Whipping his staff around, he barely managed to smash away another fireball that seemed to have come from nowhere. Ragnar frowned, staring at what seemed to be empty air, before closing his eyes—preparing himself for the next attack.
The others in the room had begun to notice the unnatural heat. Then Classic noticed that Flame was suddenly not lying on the ground anymore. "What the heck?"
"He's not..." Legend muttered.
"He is," Cynder replied.
"Mind explaining for everyone else?" Classic asked, annoyed.
"Flame is using heat manipulation," Legend began, sighing and closing his eyes. "It's high-level fire manipulation that I've only seen Ignitus use a few times before this. By using the heat to alter how light passes through the air, one can render themselves invisible or even cause phantasmal adversaries to appear."
"So then Flame is winning?" Ember asked hopefully.
"No," Cynder replied, frowning as she watched Ragnar slowly turn around the room. "Flame lost the moment he used that technique."
"How's that work?" Classic Sparx snarked.
"The reason Ignitus and most every fire dragon doesn't use it in every battle is because of the energy needed to maintain the minimum temperature for it to be viable. Using their fury, a fire dragon could bring the nearby battlefield up to the correct temperature, but, if it's a wide open plain or open sky, it will dissipate within two seconds. Maintaining the temperature would knock them out, if they were lucky. So the only areas where you could teach or learn about it would have the rough equivalent temperature as just above the caldera of an active volcano."
"But we're enclosed here, so it should be fine, right?" Ember wondered, looking around at the earth walls.
Cynder shook her head. "No, this building is like the ones from our loop. We don't have things like 'central air conditioning,' so our structures are built so that heat in one area of the building causes airflow both around the building and the outside, keeping the temperature relatively stable."
"In English, please?"
"Flame has to heat and maintain a much larger area than it first appears," Legend explained, shooting the dragonfly a dirty look. "And the longer that he tries to keep the heat up, the more energy he loses. The heat is sapping Ragnar's energy too, but Flame is losing his faster. All Ragnar has to do is not give Flame an opening and he wins. And Ragnar seems to know where the attacks are coming from, even if he doesn't know where Flame is specifically."
Ragnar took a deep breath, doing his best to not let the intense heat of Flame's attack distract him. Keeping his eyes closed, he stood his ground with his hind paws tense against the arena floor. Letting his chi flow around him, he could sense the traces of Flame darting between the fires he had kicked up. How the whelp could pull off such an advanced technique, Ragnar didn't know, but nor did he particularly care. Even if he was a master at it, Flame had just spelled his doom. Sooner or later, he'd run out of steam, allowing Ragnar to end this.
Spinning around, Ragnar kicked up a chi barrier to block a sudden burst of flames coming at him, then quickly spun his staff at the other side to block another. Flame's essence darted all around him, looking for an opening as he kept tossing flames at him. If nothing else, he was quick, but that would not help him.
Ragnar grunted, his mouth hanging slightly agape as he felt a sudden surge in Flame's energy not long after it had begun to lessen. How was that even possible? Flame should have been feeling the effects of his technique by now, not getting stronger from it! What was this whelp? These loopers may have been deceptively strong, from what the others had said, but even they couldn't break the laws of causality!
Malefor, from behind the curtain of Flame, narrowed his eyes, letting some of his energy flow into Flame to kept the attack alive. A slight hint of Flame's essence rang out, an air of enjoyment coming from the whelp as he darted between the fires he had created. Malefor smirked. Flame was enjoying the fact that he was getting to fight at a guardian level, even if he wasn't aware someone else was pulling the strings.
Still, though, he could see the slight scowl on Flame's face and hear his panting as his scales began to burn. Even with a fire dragon's ability to control fire and body-temperature, Flame was starting to overheat from the strain. Malefor frowned, a slight look of sympathy on his face. Reaching up a paw, Malefor let his ice element ring out, cooling his vessel's scales and letting him keep up the assault.
While this would allow Flame to keep going for longer, Ragnar was still proving to be a problem. His own unfamiliarity with chi was causing this match to go on far longer than needed, and, if he let it go on any longer, then there was a higher chance Ragnar would pull something out that he would have no idea how to counter. He couldn't allow that to happen. If fire alone wasn't going to get him anywhere, then maybe another element would. Which element he could give Flame that wouldn't rouse suspicions, however, was the real question…
Flame charged forward, watching as Ragnar spun around and raised the barrier once again. Flame smirked, charging to the left with Ragnar quickly following in tow. If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't sure how much more his proxy could handle, Malefor could have easily won this battle of attrition. However, a new change of pace was needed if he wanted to win.
Spinning around Ragnar, Flame began to move quicker and quicker in a circle as he let the fire slowly die down, only leaving enough to conceal himself from Ragnar's eye.
Ragnar huffed, a smirk on his face. It looked like his panic was for nothing. Maybe what he'd felt had been a random fluctuation in power, but nonetheless, it appeared that Flame's attack was beginning to take its tole. It was only a matter of time now.
Ragnar's jaw almost dropped as a sudden chill flowed through the air. Against his better judgement, he reopened his eyes, still seeing the fires around him. In the moment of confusion, Ragnar felt a blast of bitter cold strike him in the back. As he stumbled forward, a storm of ice shards began firing at him from all directions, scraping against his scales and leaving cuts along his sides. Thinking quickly, Ragnar fell to the ground, casting a compact shield around him.
Ember watched with her mouth open before glancing over to Classic, her jaw moving soundlessly as she struggled to find her voice.
"Flame knows how to use ice!?" she exclaimed, finally managing to ask the obvious question.
"Hey, don't look at me," Classic said, looking over with a flat glance. "You're his sister. I would have thought you'd be explaining to me right now how that happened."
"Yeah, but…!" Ember let out a groan, placing a paw on her head as she closed her eyes. "I'm so confused right now…"
"Tell me about it," Classic said, glancing back towards the battle. "What I want to know is how he convinced the fairies to give him a second element. They normally don't unless it's a special case, like trying to stop some egomaniac from taking over the realms."
Classic smirked, glancing over to Ember. "On the plus side, as much of a mind-breaker Flame is being right now, it shows that the fairies can be convinced to give dragons other elements, which means you can probably gain them too if you want." He glanced over to Legend and Cynder, who were sitting at his other side. "Cyn probably can too; that is, if she doesn't mind taking away Ro's 'special unique dragon scale-colour' trait."
Getting nothing but silence in return, Classic blinked, tilting his head as he saw the two staring intently at the battle going on. "Uh…guys?"
Legend couldn't take his eyes off the battlefield, watching as the shards continued to pelt Ragnar's shield. Before long, Flame stopped, his paws delicately touching the ground before he pulled a back-flip, kicking up a stream of ice towards Ragnar. Landing on the ground again, Flame struck hard with his front paws, shattering the stream right down the middle as he charged, collecting the ice shards behind him and reforming them into four floating swords of ice, their edges growing shaper with each shard collected. The wave hit the barrier and caused Ragnar to stagger, his chi barrier fluctuating, and Flame smirked.
With a flick of the wing, one of the ice swords shot forward, piercing the barrier and nearly impaling Ragnar's shoulder. It stopped just short and Ragnar quickly spun around, grabbing the ice sword in his paw.
"NO!"
Both Legend and Cyril's voices rang out as Ragnar crushed the ice without a second thought…only to be met with a grinning Flame. Before Ragnar could process his odd, sudden burst of confidence, the shards Ragnar had broken apart froze in mid air before shooting right back into his paw, piercing his scales without mercy. Ragnar roared in pain, stumbling on his back paws and dropping his staff, firing a blast of chi with his free paw. Flame quickly jumped back as the blast kicked up a mound of dust throughout the arena, forcing the onlookers to cover their eyes and mouths.
As the dust began to clear, Ragnar panted, grasping his now-bleeding paw as he eyed the smug-looking Flame with a scowl.
"Hey, now, don't you get uppity with me," Flame said, a smirk on his face. "If the other guardians were willing to use their furies and trap Ember in an ice bubble, then a little technique like this should be fair play."
Legend narrowed his eyes. That tore it. He knew something was up. The stances, the sudden use of ice, and that technique he had just used… That was an advanced ice-dragon technique, even for his own baseline. Not even he had figured out how to properly master it yet. Even if Flame was a looper, there was no way he could have known how to perform that!
"That's not Flame."
All the loopers turned their heads, looking over to Ember, who had a stern look on her face. Stepping forward, she scowled.
"That is not my brother out there!" she said, digging her claws into the ground.
Flame paused, glancing over with a blank look on his face. From behind his puppet's curtain, Malefor blinked, watching as Ember slowly took steps forward with the intent to pounce. It didn't take much to realize who she was referring to. Malefor scowled. These two were siblings? Why didn't anyone say anything earlier? Was he simply not paying close enough attention? Malefor shook his head. He needed to think fast.
"What? What do you mean, Ember?" Flame asked, reeling back as he raised a paw to his chest, eyes wide. "How can you even say that!? Of course it's me!"
"No, you're not!" Ember said, giving a growl. "The Flame I know would never seriously hurt someone like that! Especially in what's supposed to be a sparring match!"
"Ember, didn't you chop off Cyril's claw in the last match? And didn't he, you know, trap you in an ice bubble?" Flame said, narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah, but that was an accident! I didn't use my barrier spells after that!" Ember said, taking another step forward. "And what Cyril did doesn't matter! I know my Flame! He would never resort to that, even if it was allowed!"
"I just want to make sure I'm there to protect you, is all!" Flame said, an annoyed look on his face. "Can't a big brother look out for his sister?"
Ember smirked, standing up straight as she kept her eyes on Flame. "Oh, so you're my big brother now?"
"Yeah! And just because you started looping earlier doesn't change that!" Flame said, huffing as he dug his claws into the ground.
"Really? Then tell me, Flame," Ember said, narrowing her eyes, "how does that work when I'm a year older than you are in baseline?"
Flame recoiled, scowling as he grasped one of his forelegs. Quickly shaking it off, he gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head, a nervous grin on his face. "Yeah, well, I was just…just checking to make sure you were who you say you are, too, big sis!"
"Really?" Ember said, a smirk on her face. "Then why did you cave the second I fed you a complete and total lie?"
Flame flinched, a scowl on his face for a fraction of a second before he quickly put on an awkward smile. "Yeah, w-well... I'm just messing with your head, l-little sis! That's what big brothers are for!"
"Really, little bro?" Ember said, an apathetic look on her face. "I would think, if you were messing with my head, then you'd be more confident about it. Of course, you'd know if you're my big brother or little brother if you truly are a looping Flame, right?"
"Wait…" Classic said, scratching his head as he glanced over to Legend Sparx. "I'm confused. Is she his big or little sister?"
"Beats the heck out of me," Legend Sparx muttered, crossing his arms as he glanced towards the field. "This is like that one loop Ro and I were in, where that kid pulled that 'hot or cold coffee' gambit on that blond-haired girl…"
Ember took a step forward, slamming her paw on the ground as she scowled. "So which is it!? Am I your big or little sister!?"
Flame stuttered, his mouth open but words refusing to come out. Scales beginning to itch from the stress, Flame scowled and grabbed his foreleg as his scales started to become redder than usual.
"I'm… I'm…" he muttered, taking a deep breath between pauses.
"For that matter," Legend spoke up, walking forward and standing next to Ember, "how did you learn to use ice? Let alone pull off the more advanced techniques of it, considering they're from my baseline and you're from Spy's."
"I, uh…" Flame paused, giving a shrug with an awkward grin on his face. "Don't know?" He shook his head, looking at Legend with an awkward glance. "I don't know how I did it, I just knew I could."
"If it were for any other element, I might have considered your excuse," Legend said, giving Flame a stern look. "Ice is an element that draws its power from logic and thinking things through. This means that an ice dragon knows exactly what they can do to their opponents and exactly how easy it would be." He took a step forward. "If you really 'didn't know,' then there's no way you could have used ice in the first place, let alone the advanced techniques you just displayed."
Flame flinched, freezing in place before he finally took a deep breath and lowered his head down.
"Well, I didn't want to say anything, but… I did loop into your world before," Flame said, looking up with a frown. "I looped in as an ice dragon, and ended up retaining the ability to use it. The reason I didn't say anything was because I thought it was just a variant of my baseline, and you didn't seem to be awake, so..."
"Impossible!" Legend spat, narrowing his eyes. "Even if you looped in as an ice dragon and managed to retain that in the loops, I have a way to prove if you did or didn't, even if I wasn't in that loop at the time."
"What? How!?" Flame said, his scales beginning to become irritated from the stress.
"The Chronicler's books."
"The what?" Flame asked, rearing back slightly as he looked on with a blank expression.
"Each dragon in my baseline has a special book created when they are born that chronicles their lives," Legend said, stepping forward as he kept a stern eye on Flame. "They are soul-bound to each dragon, which means, when one starts looping, it starts looping with them. Naturally, after a while, it becomes hard not to notice them when they start taking up whole shelves on their own. And even if you didn't loop back in, it should still be chronicling your exploits in the loops, regardless."
"That is, of course," Legend said, stopping just short of Flame with a stern look on his face, "unless you took the book with you in your subspace. If that's the case, then just pull the book out right now and we'll drop this argument."
Flame let out a small, choking sound, beginning to scratch away at one of his forelegs as he glanced between the stern expressions of both Legend and Ember. Malefor snarled, baring his fangs behind the curtain. How could these whelps have stymied him so easily? He watched as Flame gave a nervous chuckle, slowly beginning to back away.
"Do we even need him to do that at this point?" Classic called from the sidelines, looking on with a raised eye-ridge. "I think it's obvious from the way he was acting that something is up."
Malefor growled. What he could he do? He could try creating a fake book for Flame, but he knew absolutely nothing about this whelp's life beyond this 'loop,' as they would put it. If they even so much as took a glance at it, there was a high chance they'd be able to tell it was fake. Giving a few seconds' pause, his growls being the only thing to pierce the silence, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, an action that Flame quickly mirrored.
"...Fine."
Both Legend and Ember blinked, watching as Flame reopened his eyes with an emotionless expression on his face.
"I suppose there's no point in me keeping up this charade any longer now," Flame said, looking on with a scowl. "Is there?"
Legend quickly got into defensive stance and, while she jolted at the sudden shift in personality, Ember was quick to join him. Flame looked on with an indifferent expression, embers beginning to dance around his scales.
"I was hoping to avoid putting this whelp in harm's way, considering how he helped me adjust early on, but things don't always go according to plan," Flame said, his voice taking a sudden, gravelly tone.
"Let me guess," Legend said, digging his claws into the ground. "Malefor, right?"
"Very perceptive," Flame said, giving a huff. "You loopers are quick-witted."
"Or we can put two and two together," Classic said, quickly running up next to Legend and Ember with a smirk. "I mean, super-powered genocidal big bad attacking the realms, Flame being possessed and given superpowers…" He smirked, lowering to the ground. "Not particularly hard to connect the dots, to be honest."
"Perhaps," Flame said, giving the slightest of smirks. "Regardless, it's no matter. I was expecting to finish you off in person, but having a bargaining chip in the battle should make up for the lower power this whelp can withhold."
Malefor gave a demented grin from behind Flame's veil. "From what I understand, this whelp is important to a few of you outside of this current 'loop,' correct?"
Flame glanced over to Ember, a sadistic grin on his face. "I know the whelp over there just made a big deal over the fact that he's normally her brother. I wonder if you'd be willing to kill him with your own claws."
Ember gasped, her eyes going wide as she reeled back. Classic looked over to her with his mouth slightly agape before looking back at Flame with a smirk.
"Nice try, idiot, but need I remind you that we're stuck in a time-warp?" Classic asked, giving a cocky grin. "Even if Flame gets seriously injured, when the loop resets, he'll be just fine the next loop, absolutely no worse for wear."
"True," Flame said, looking over to Classic with the sadistic grin still on his face. "But do you really want that on your conscience? Murdering one of your friends just for the sake of making one loop peaceful, when all this will eventually amount to nothing?"
"Doesn't matter to me."
All the loopers present, sans Cynder, jolted as Legend took a few steps forward with a stern expression on his face. While this was going on, Ragnar lowered his remaining good paw to the ground, a light blue aura starting to grow around it.
"While the others may have some connection to Flame, I do not," Legend said, narrowing his eyes. "For all I care, he's just another enemy standing in our way, and one more body won't even make a noticeable difference to the blood on my talons."
Classic's jaw dropped as Ember stared on with an absolutely horrified expression. Her eyes darted from Legend to Cynder, who looked back with a stoic expression, managing to give the faintest of nods. Ember glanced back at Classic, who had hunkered down, just about to jump between the two. Just before he could, though, there was a rush of wind through the hall.
Flame barely had time to glance to his side and duck under a blast of chi. Before he could move, his paws were encased in earth as the ground suddenly raised up, Legend holding a steady stance. Thinking fast, Malefor encased Flame's body in shadows, melting into the ground and beginning to flow away.
Cynder scowled, immediately getting to her paws. She was about ready to jump into the ground after him, but was stopped when a blinding flash of light filled the building.
Flame stumbled out of his shadowy form, attempting to regain his footing, stumbling as dots of light obscured his vision. He barely had enough coordination to dodge out of the way of a bolt of lightning, courtesy of Volteer. As he got to his paws once again, he opened his mouth, a purple light beginning to grow in his throat. A light that dissipated when something hard smacked him in the back of the head. Flame's expression went blank, his vision blurred and, with a groan, he hit the ground with a thud.
Malefor's jaw hung agape as he felt his control over Flame weaken. The whelp had been knocked out cold. With a scowl, Malefor let out a low growl and reeled his head back with a mighty roar.
Back at the dojo, Terrador stood over Flame's unconscious body with a frown on his face, his tail encased in stone. Ember and Classic quickly rushed over to his side, looking down at the body with looks of horror on their faces.
"He'll be fine," Terrador said, glancing downward. "I only hit him hard enough that he'll be out for a while." Glancing over towards his fellow guardians, Terrador gave a stern look. "In the meantime, we need to make sure he's restrained in case this Malefor still has control over him. We shouldn't waste a moment."
With agreeing nods, his fellow guardians approached. Terrador lent down, gently grabbing Flame's tail in his maw and lifting his limp body, heading away with his fellow guardians close by in case Flame woke up. Legend held a stern expression, beginning to follow.
Behind the escort, Classic held a scowl. Without wasting a second, he darted after Legend. Ember glanced towards Cynder, who held a frown. With a shared nod, the two dragonesses followed Classic.
Malefor felt a vein beginning to protrude from his temple. How easily they had dealt with his proxy was one thing, but that purple whelp… The waterian blood and genes still held firm. To so coldly declare he had no problems killing one of his own kind… It was despicable. Malefor was the only true dragon left in these realms and there was absolutely no denying it now.
He sighed, closing his eyes as a twinge of regret washed over him. He wished he hadn't gotten Flame involved in this. From what he had seen in the time the whelp had helped him adjust to this world, he was the only one who he could consider a true casualty. The waterian genes hadn't taken him, like they had taken the others of this ancestors-forsaken world.
Malefor felt fatigue set in as his head began to hang low. He didn't want to rest. Ancestors knew the last thing he wanted was to be lost in his own mind, but he couldn't fight it any longer, not after everything that had just happened. If he wanted any hope of beating these loopers, then he would need to be as well-rested as his own warped psyche would allow. With a sigh, he turned around as the stiff, doll-like body of Ripto entered the room. Malefor glanced over with a stoic expression before he headed out of the room.
"What the hell was that about, Legend?" Classic snapped, catching up to the other purple dragon.
"There are two things you need to realize about what happened back there, Spy," Legend replied calmly. "First, for most of my 'adventures,' " he began with a snort at the last word, "I don't fight golems or creatures made with magic. I fight apes. They're alive, they're real, and their putrid guts stink when I splay them out on the ground. And in Dante's Freezer, they actually steam in the bitter wind and snow."
Legend paused to allow Classic to get that lovely image locked into his brain.
Continuing, Legend said, "Next, you have to realize that Malefor was playing you back there. Maybe this isn't the same Malefor that I fight every single loop, but that game is exactly to his style. Once he revealed his control over Flame, he had how many opponents to face down? Ten? He wanted you to hesitate, and the longer you stalled, the better his position. And did you notice what happened when I called him out? He tried to get Flame out of there. He tried to run. For whatever reason, Malefor didn't...doesn't want Flame to die."
"But why did you have to say that?"
"I said it because I needed to. I said it because it was true. And I could say it because I'm no hero, Spy."
With that, Legend continued down the hall, a stoic expression on his face. Classic blinked before an annoyed scowl appeared on his face. Cynder shortly passed by him, Ember following in tow. The latter stopped shortly in front of Classic, glancing back with a concerned expression.
"Spyro?" she asked, raising an eye-ridge.
"Oh, nothing…" Classic said, giving a sigh as he lowered his head. "Was just talking to Legend about what he said earlier." He raised his head back up, glancing at Ember with a frown. "I swear, it's one step forward with him, then two steps back."
"Why? He wasn't going to really consider…" Ember paused, giving a gulp as her complexion slowly lost some color.
Classic huffed, shaking his head. "I don't know. I'd like to say I doubt it, but…"
He let out an annoyed sigh, glancing up as he began to continue down the hall. Ember gave a concerned frown, slowly beginning to follow along.
The two eventually came to the infirmary, rounding the doorway and coming to a stop just short of entering. Inside, an unconscious dragon lay on the bed, his soft breaths being the only thing that signaled he was still alive. By his side, Terrador and Red stood, glancing down as Red gave an annoyed grunt, placing a claw to his chin.
"I just don't know, Terrador…" Red muttered, narrowing his eyes. "I just can't sense any link that would allow one to control this dragon. Either this 'Malefor' is an exceptionally experienced magic-user to mask his signs like that, or he's using something entirely different to control this whelp."
Terrador huffed, glancing down at Flame and the mechanical-looking collar around his neck. Small crystals jutted out the front of the collar, magic sparking between them.
"In any case, we need to be careful around him for the time being," Terrador said, shaking his head. "I hate using these collars, but such a thing is required from time to time."
"Bah. If a dragon is that dangerous, they deserve to have their elements suppressed," Red said, a stern expression on his face that slowly began to soften as he glanced down at Flame. "...Though, admittedly, I do feel bad for this whelp getting caught in the crossfire."
Classic frowned, slowly making his way into the room. Ember was far quicker about it, darting to Flame's bedside. A worried frown on her face, she glanced up at the two guardians.
"Is Flame going to be alright?" she asked, quickly glancing back towards him.
"Rest assured," Terrador said, looking down with a reassuring smile. "He'll make a full recovery."
"There's still the matter of Malefor, though," Red said, scratching his chin. "We have no idea whether or not he'll still be in control once he wakes up. I can't sense any links that would give him control, but, somehow, that only worries me more than it should reassure…"
Terrador shot Red a stern glance at how his words had only caused Ember's worried eyes to widen, which Red was all too willing to return in accord. He huffed, crossing his forelegs.
"Bah," Red spat, glancing away. "Candy-coating the truth isn't going to help anyone, Terrador." He glanced down at the two younglings before looking back at Terrador. "Besides, from what I understand, these 'whelps' are older than we are."
Terrador held his stoic expression, glancing down at Ember and Classic before looking back up at Red. "Be that as it may, we can't say anything for sure yet. It's best not to cause anymore unneeded stress, especially in these times."
Red scowled, glancing away with his arms crossed. Terrador sighed, placing a paw over his eyes.
'Ignitus… Why did you have to leave me with such stubborn guardians?' he thought, shaking his head.
Classic looked between the two with amusement. If nothing else, Red was going to make having to spend some time with the elders in this loop more bearable. Glancing over to the bed, he watched as Ember kept her eyes firmly on Flame, the sight causing the amused expression on Classic's face to fade. With a concerned frown, he walked over to the opposite side of the bed, watching as Flame's body rose and fell with soft breaths.
Red watched the scene with a stoic expression on his face. Turning to Terrador, he gave a breathless sigh.
"Terrador," Red said, glancing towards the door. "Maybe we should check the parameter in case Malefor is attempting a sneak attack?"
"That shouldn't be necessary," Terrador said, shaking his head. "Cyril and Volteer are keeping watch."
"Both of them?" Red asked, an amused expression on his face. "Together?"
Terrador blinked, looking at Red with a confused expression. Before long though, Terrador's eyes went wide, a horrified look on his face.
"...Good point," he said, giving a sigh as he lowered his head. Taking a deep breath, he began to head towards the door, muttering something about how they'd give out guardian positions to anyone these days.
Red held an amused smirk on his face before glancing down at the young dragons and giving a nod. With that, he headed out of the room. Classic looked after him, grinning slightly, before glancing back towards Flame with a concerned expression. Ember let out a low moan, closing her eyes.
"How did things get to this point…?" she muttered, shaking her head. "It seems like only yesterday we were just walking around the city and helping the others relax…"
Classic glanced at Ember with a concerned glint in his eyes. Raising a paw, he tilted his head.
"You know, Ember, if this is too much, you don't have to come with us tomorrow…" he said, glancing over to Flame as he placed his paws back on the bed. "I know this is all insane, even by my standards, too…"
"No! I want to help!" Ember said, a determined expression on her face. "It's just…"
She sighed, lowering her head and closing her eyes. Shaking her head, she looked back over to Flame, her eyelids barely able to open at the sight of him.
"To think… That could have been any of us," Ember said, a frown on her face. "I can't imagine what it must be like to not have control of your body, someone else pulling the strings. I know Cynder had to go through that, but…to see it happen to my brother first-paw…" She paused, staring intently at Flame, still as a statue. Then, with a huff, she looked over to Classic with a determined expression. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
Classic looked at Flame, placing a claw to his chin as he raised an eye-ridge. "Hmmm…"
He tapped the base of his chin, glancing over to Ember not long after with a smirk. "I think I have an idea."
"What's that?" Ember asked, quickly tensing up and ready to jump at the chance to help.
"Well, it's a long shot, but…" Classic stood up with confidence, placing a paw on Flame's head. "Maybe there's something in Flame's dreams that might help. They say it's the gateway to one's inner soul or…something crazy like that."
"Do you really think so?" Ember asked, raising an eye-ridge. "I mean, I don't really see…"
"Hey, it's worth a shot," Classic said, giving a prideful grin. "I managed to help Ro deal with his super-powered evil side like this. Might be able to get Flame to subconsciously break his connection with Mally this way."
Ember looked on with an apprehensive expression, unsure if she found Classic's plan more or less ridiculous than his current nickname for Malefor. A moan knocked her out of her train of thought, as Flame shuffled slightly in his sleep. Ember's expression softened at the sight, before she gave Classic a nod.
"Alright," she said, quickly getting up with a determined expression. "I'm coming too!"
"I'm not sure if I can do that, though," Classic said, tilting his head. "Not unless you know how to dream-walk, too. Otherwise, I don't think I can take anyone with me."
Ember bit her lower lip. "Isn't there anything I can do, though?"
"If you want, you can act as lookout to make sure Ro doesn't walk in," Classic said, looking over to the doorway. "He shouldn't be too opposed to the idea, what with how I helped him out this way before, but with how he's been acting lately…"
Ember gave a nod, quickly moving towards the doorway. Stopping halfway there, she glanced back with a blank expression. "And the guardians?"
"Probably best they don't know either," Classic said, an annoyed expression on his face. "Even if we proved ourselves, you know how elders can be…"
Once again, Ember gave a nod. As she stepped out, Classic took a deep breath, closed his eyes and lay down next to the bed, resting his head as he let his magical energy surround him. With a soft sigh, he let the soft blanket of sleep engulf him, as ethereal purple magic slipped out of his body and was absorbed into Flame's forehead…
(A/N: Not much to say about this chapter, really. At the very least, the sparring is over, so there should be no more delays to the main plot. Looks like Classic is in for another dream-traveling expedition. Hopefully, it won't end with him being trapped in a rock egg again. I'm sure Flame's psyche is far more stable than Legend's, though. After all, it's not like you can actually dream-hop through another's dream…right?
Remember to leave a review because it really helps us out, and if you're interested in submitting your own snip to the compilation, check out the FF.N Forum. I would also say check out the Spacebattle thread, but FF.N had the brilliant idea to disable outside links.
Have a nice day!)