Against All Odds
The tunnels, Day 5...
"Alright, are you all prepared? We are likely to face opposition as soon as we enter the fortress," Sol stated in a warning tone to the group of dragons before him.
"Are you kidding? I was born ready, " Spyro replied matter-of-factly. His shoulders tensed up and his tail twitched in anticipation of the upcoming battle.
"Yeah, what he said," Cinder chimed in. He was equally as excited.
The others just nodded their heads.
"Well, if you're all sure then..." Sol trailed off while he glanced over them all. Then he motioned with his good wing for them to gather around him against the cavern wall.
Fitting five teenage dragons and a large bird onto the space was a bit of a squeeze but they succeeded with only a few stepped upon tails and bumped wings. Then Sol took a deep breath and stepped down on a stone plate underneath him. A moment later, grinding stone alerted them all to something happening. When Spyro looked down, he saw that they were actually standing on some sort of rotating half-circular platform that had been disguised to look like the cavern floor. Soon, a dim flickering orange light, different from the steady glow of the Fire Moss, came into view through a dark gap in the wall. The gap grew wider as their platform made its way around and eventually, they found themselves in an unnatural hallway paved with small blue and teal tiles. The tunnel cavern was gone. However, the wall they had huddled against still appeared to be of natural grey stone and stuck out harshly against the smooth whiteish of the rest of the hallway surrounding it.
"Which way to Ripto?" Spyro asked with determination.
Follow me," Sol replied. Before he took another step, he seemed to think better of it and turned back to face the purple dragon. "On second thought, perhaps you should lead since you are better equipped to meet with aggressors in such close proximity. I will proceed behind you and direct you as needed."
Spyro nodded in agreement, then took off down the hall in the direction Sol had been about to go. The harpix hobbled quickly after him, his gait at that pace becoming almost more of a bounce. Then behind him came the rest of the dragons.
Sol was true to his word, shouting which way Spyro should go whenever they came to a fork in the hallway. Spyro was very grateful to have him along because the fortress was quite expansive and he was sure it would have taken them forever to explore it on their own if they didn't just get lost.
When they rounded a particular corner, they came face to face with a small troupe of four large rhynoc guards. They were caught by surprise at the sight of the heroes. Before giving them a chance to react, Spyro lowered his head and charged at the leader, knocking him back into the others where they toppled like dominoes. Sol ducked and covered his head with his un-injured wing and Shade jumped past him with a bolt of lightning springing from his mouth. The lightning struck the downed leader, causing him to spasm and convulse. When the energy stopped surrounding him, he had turned into an armor-clad blackened husk with eyes, in which he then disappeared in a poof.
Next, Spyro breathed flame over the second guard while the third and fourth scrambled backward and got to their feet. Spyro's target vanished as well and he looked toward the other rhynocs just in time to see them fleeing down the hall.
"Oh no! Spyro, they might call for help!" Fuchsia shouted from behind him.
"On it!" Cinder's voice responded.
Then two sequential balls of fire whizzed by between his and Shade's heads, lighting along until the first smacked into the backside of one of the enemies and caused him to disappear. The final rhynoc darted around a corner before the other fireball could hit it and sure enough, he began shouting an alarm.
"Dang!" Cinder cursed.
Everyone went silent and froze for a moment, listening to the echoes of the rhynoc's yells and armored footsteps getting further away. Then other faint shouts could be heard from both ahead and behind them.
"So much for the element of surprise," Shade muttered.
"Come on, everyone. Let's get this show started," said Spyro confidently and took off running down the hall.
His friends only hesitated a second before hurrying after him. From then on, the castle became quite lively. Sol continued to direct the group toward the throne room but they ran into gradually increasing waves of guards, made up of both rhynocs and gnorcs.
On one occasion, the group was surrounded by six gnorcs and three more rhynocs. One of the gnorcs brandished a shocking stick and tried to jab Spyro with it. However, Shade jumped in the way and took the jolt without being affected, then snapped his jaws down on the stick and yanked it. The gnorc was jerked along with it and only let go when Shade tossed him and the stick through the air. Spyro then charged and flamed a rhynoc that had been rushing up from behind the gnorc while Shade electrified two more gnorcs at the same time.
On the other side of a cowering Sol, Cinder blasted a rhynoc in the face with a fireball. The creature yowled in pain and stumbled back, giving him the opportunity to charge it out of existence with his horns.
Dawn used her wind breath to blow back two gnorcs which tumbled into the remaining rhynoc. He was able to hold his ground by bracing himself against the gust. While he was distracted though, Cinder spun and knocked him down with a flip of his powerful tail. That gave Fuchsia the chance to flame him with her pink fire, which she did, as well as torch the two fallen gnorcs. They all vanished, leaving one sole gnorc that Dawn then charged at to eliminate. With that confrontation out of the way, the group hurried forward once again.
Meanwhile...
Gnasty and Stella made their way through the castle passageways unhindered. After a while though, they started hearing shouts of alarm and had a group of guards come rushing toward them. Stella huddled near her new ally's leg and her face took on an expression of worry. Had they been found out? Were they coming to recapture her?
Stella squinted her eyes shut and wrapped her tail around her, bracing for the inevitable. Then amazingly, the group just rushed past them and continued on down the hall in the direction she and Gnasty had come from. When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that Gnasty seemed a bit relieved as well before he started walking again. When another group of guards ran past them, Stella listened closely to what they were shouting. Something about, intruders? At that, Stella halted and Gnasty barely had time to stop himself before he walked too far and snapped the thread that held the collar together.
"What's wrong?" he asked her.
"He's here!" Stella said with hope in her tone.
"Who?"
"Spyro. He's come for me. I hope the others are with him too."
Gnasty's slightly concerned expression changed to an annoyed frown. A little spark of anger also flickered in his eyes. Stella ignored it and gasped.
"They still think I'm above the volcano! They're going to go there and fall right into Ripto's trap! Gnasty, can you take me to the throne room instead?"
"You'll get caught. We need to get you out," the gnorc replied stubbornly.
Stella could tell he was grinding his teeth, probably thinking of Spyro.
"I-I'm sorry for what Spyro did to you. He was just trying to save the dragons. I'm sure he'll forgive you though when he finds out you're helping me."
Gnasty frowned deeper and didn't seem to want to budge.
"Please, Gnasty? I have to warn him; all of them," she begged.
The gnorc looked into her pleading eyes a moment and then turned his head away with a disgusted sneer. Then he rolled his gaze toward the ceiling and groaned as if agreeing to do something nice for his enemy pained him.
"Uhhgg, fine. You won't have another chance to escape, though."
"That's ok. Now that he's here, I know he'll just defeat Ripto and the Sorceress," Stella stated with confidence.
Gnasty wrinkled his nose, rolled his eyes, and shook his head.
"He'll especially be able to do it because he'll have us and the others to help him," Stella continued, smiling at him with appreciation.
Gnasty snorted, then turned and lead her in a different direction then he had been before.
Back with the purple hero and friends...
Spyro and the others finally came to a large hall that, according to Sol, led directly to the throne room. A few of them had taken some hits but they made it mostly intact. When they got halfway down the hall, Sol stopped suddenly. The dragons all skidded to a stop as well, turning to him in concern.
"I'm afraid I must now part ways with you all in order to free my brethren," Sol stated with mild regret.
"Why don't you just bring them and fight with us?" Cinder asked.
The harpix hesitated, looking at his feet in thought. Then he returned his gaze to them sadly. "I do not know what state most of them are in. They may not be fit for battle. Plus, there is the persistent phobia my kind retains against magic... I am deeply sorry, friends. I wish you the best of luck."
Spyro nodded his understanding.
"Go to them. We'll take care of Ripto and the others."
"You have my thanks."
"Will you be alright on your own?" Fuchsia asked.
"You needn't be concerned for me. I'll be fine," Sol replied. Then he gave them all a grateful smile, bowed and hobbled quickly down another passage.
Focusing his attention on the archway ahead of them, Spyro led his friends through and into the throne room beyond. There waiting for them were the figures of Ripto, The Sorceress, and a small army of armored rhynocs and gnorcs.
"So. You thought you could sneak in and surprise us, did you?" Ripto asked rhetorically. "Seems you underestimated me, dragon. And I would have never guessed you were the type to go back on a deal. Perhaps you should be punished for it," he taunted.
He gestured with his free hand toward the balcony where Spyro could clearly see a mute, terrified Stella suspended in her magic cage. Even from his distance, Spyro could feel the heat from the boiling lava below her. Without thinking, Spyro popped his wings open and readied himself to take off toward her. The Sorceress's voice halted him.
"Not so fast, Spyro. Did you forget who has control of your little friend's fate?"
To reinforce her words, Ripto let Stella's cage drop.
"No!" Spyro cried out.
Fuchsia screamed and the others gasped. Ripto stopped the cage after it had dropped almost out of sight behind the balcony railing, chuckling maliciously. Stella inside it looked as if she'd been screaming silently.
"You're fortunate that I'm in a generous mood, dragon. I'll give you one last chance to honor our deal."
Spyro ground his jaw and glared daggers at the riptoc for several minutes.
"Well, what will it be then? You're trying our patience," The Sorceress snapped.
"Fine," Spyro agreed. Never in his life had one word been so difficult to say.
"Excellent. Place the collars then," Ripto said, gesturing to several of the rhynoc guards that held them.
The minions obeyed and approached the five dragons with purpose. One stepped up to Spyro first, cautiously leaning toward his neck. Ripto watched in gleeful anticipation and Spyro continued to glare at him. Just before the rhynoc clasped the thing closed, two figures appearing in an archway on the opposite side of the room caught the purple hero's attention. It was Gnasty Gnosrc and … Stella?
Spyro's eyes widened with brief shock and confusion before he made the connection that the caged version of his girlfriend was a fake. The real one was this one being led on a chain like a dog. Utter rage quickly boiled up inside him.
"YOU!" he snarled and charged toward the gnorc with surprising speed.
Fuchsia and the others immediately started fighting off the rhynocs and gnorcs around them. With the facade blown, Ripto ended the spells on the fake green dragon and let the now retransformed gnorc fall into the mouth of the volcano. The gnorc's death didn't even faze him and he focused a blast of magic at the first target he spotted; Shade.
The Sorceress also joined the fray, blasting a shot first at Fuchsia, then another at Cinder. Spyro lowered his horns as he got closer to Gnasty and was ready to skewer him right in the gut when Stella suddenly called out and stepped in his path.
"Stop, Spyro! Gnasty is helping me!"
Instantly the whole room went quiet and everyone turned to stare at Stella and Gnasty in surprise, with Spyro having to plant his feet firmly and skid to a halt to avoid crashing into her. Several awkward heartbeats passed before Fuchsia finally broke the silence.
"I knew it!" she exclaimed.
Everyone then turned toward the Artisan with their confused expressions.
"See, most gnorcs are actually good creatures, so I've always wondered if Gnasty was just misunderstood or something," she explained. Then she lost control and turned to the gnorc with a tangent of questions, taking several steps toward him as she did so.
"Is that truly the case, Gnasty? Why did you attack the dragons in the first place? Have you always hated us? How old are you? Do you know anything about the original gnorc home world; the Machinists World, and two missing breeds of dragons?"
While Gnasty stared at her with his mount agape, too stunned to reply, no one seemed to notice the shock evaporating from Ripto into a near hysterical anger.
"HOW DARE YOU BETRAY US!" he screamed. "You'll PAY for that, gnorc!"
Ripto's next move was to point his scepter at Gnasty and shoot a powerful burst of magic at him, hitting him square in the face. Despite his large size, Gnasty was thrown back forcefully, snapping the thread on Stella's collar and taking it with him, chain and all. Having screamed with fright herself, Stella rushed over to the gnorc as he slid to a stop, unconscious.
Not completely sure why, Spyro whirled around to charge at Ripto next. Fuchsia did the same and Dawn took to the air in a hover.
"So, you want to know about the lost dragons, do you? Let me show you then!" Ripto shouted, waving his scepter to cast another spell, even more powerful than the last.
Red magic energy began crackling in the air around the riptoc, causing Spyro and Fuchsia to cautiously pause a few feet from him. Then an incorporeal magic orb appeared and grew rapidly to engulf Ripto, Spyro, and Fuchsia before shrinking again. Just before it got too small, Dawn dove for the orb and was swallowed up too. Then the orb and the four of them were gone.