CHAPTER FORTY-NINE: Race to Midnight Mountain
The Sorceress paced uneasily, her heavy footsteps shaking the central arena where she gathered her personal army. Dragon eggs were vanishing from Midnight Mountain left and right, her tomes were missing, thieves were running rampant, she couldn't find Bianca, and to make all matters worse, someone was trying to penetrate the magical lock she put on the castle entrance.
"Where did it all go wrong?! I don't understand!" she fumed, flailing her staff and sending most of her staff cowering at the sight of it. (Nobody was willing to step up and be her NEXT gemcrafting pet.) "I planned everything so carefully! How hard could it be to kidnap dragon eggs?! The bloody things don't even MOVE, and all of my finest rhynocs can't keep ONE of them in the Forgotten Worlds?!"
She reached into her cloak, pulling out her prize; one of the last dragon eggs that hadn't been reclaimed by that vile dragon and his annoying friends. She gave it a gentle pet, admiring her royal reflection in the glimmering sheen of its glossy shell. It pulsed with magical energies, even more than the rest of the eggs, which is why she pulled it from the bunch before the Midnight Mountain eggs were scattered. If she could just deal with the dragon, this egg would make a lovely new scepter.
"At least I still have you, my precious," she purred.
"Actually, I'm not so sure about that one."
The Sorceress screeched at the sound of that horrendous voice, stowing her egg and waving her staff. "WHO LET THOSE BRATS IN?! WHO BROKE DOWN THE GATE?! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU IDIOTS WAITING FOR?! KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM!"
"Everyone split up!" Spyro called out to his group. Following orders, the team dispersed into the oncoming waves of rhynocs that rushed out, decked out in hefty Midnight armor and ready to defend their queen (and not suffer the consequences otherwise).
Hunter and Agent 9 took to the skies in a "borrowed" space-saucer, followed closely by Sergeant Byrd, circling the arena from above and spreading fire on the Sorceress' troops below. Byrd stuck to cluster-bombing the entrances while Hunter took a more refined approach, arrow-sniping any rhynoc who slipped by the ground defense and got too close to Spyro. (Or Bianca, but he was trying to look out for Spyro, really. Unless there was a really good chance for a dramatic shot that'd make him look good, he didn't pass up any of those.)
Agent 9, of course, ballistically fired at most anything that moved, but at least 99% of his targets were rhynocs.
Bentley and Sheila teamed up on the ground. Like many of the other arenas they fought in during their time in the Forgotten Worlds, this one was also encased in a lake of toxic ooze. (Apparantly, the Sorceress had a thing for brightly-colored acids.) Bentley played bodyguard to an extent, fighting off the oncoming hordes of rhynocs as they poured out from all of the entryways. With mighty swings of his club, the yeti bashed rhynocs left and right, sending most of them toppling to a toxic oozy death. Those that didn't quite reach the edges of the arena via Bentley found themselves foot-to-face with Sheila, who circled the arena with bounding fury, punting off any of the stragglers that still tried to cling to the edges and return to the battle.
Spyro, always ready to find use for his smaller size, stayed low, effortlessly ducking around and under the rhynoc stampedes. He wasn't about to waste time on the footsoldiers: he was after the Sorceress herself. But big, loud, and scaly as she was, she seemed to disappear in the crowds. "I don't get it, where is she?"
"RIGHT HERE, DRAGON!" Wham! Spyro let out an anguished yell as the Sorceress planted her staff directly into one of his wings, cracking the delicate bone and muscle as she ground it into the floor. He scrambled to get back to his feet, anything to put distance between them so he could regain the upper hand, but it was no use: he was pinned.
"You've done enough damage for one lifetime, dragon!" she growled, exchanging her staff for her foot so she could wield the weapon properly once more. "I should've finished you off myself the first time. Now's the time I make up for my mistake!"
She held the glowing staff up high, coloring the battlefield with its dark, pulsing magic. "Don't worry, I'll be taking GOOD care of the dragon eggs for you!" she sneered. "Fyiearan fhretah gral-"
"Hey!" BAM! The Sorceress stumbled as she was hit with a shimmering ball of light; not a powerful-enough attack to do any damage besides a minor headache, but still just enough of a distraction to let the dragon slip out from under her grasp. "Why don't you try playing fair for once, you old hag?!" Bianca snapped, charging more magic in her hands with a few elaborate gestures.
"Bianca!" The Sorceress snarled, tightening her grip on her staff. "Stupid girl, I should've guessed! All of my years teaching you how to USE those flashy tricks you worthless islanders call magic, and THIS is how you thank me?!"
"No, you're right: thanks for LYING to me and USING me all these years!" Bianca snapped back, firing a few more shots.
The Sorceress held her staff high, deflecting Bianca's magic with an odd kind of force field. "If that's how you're going to be, then fine! Time I reminded you who's the REAL sorceress on this mountain!"
With a mighty push, the Sorceress' force field went flying, knocking over a row of rhynocs before blowing Bianca back alongside them, sending all involved parties tumbling right to the edge of the arena. Before anyone could react and help her, the Sorceress struck again, twirling her staff in a large circle overhead, summoning an electrified storm cloud of sorts that sent huge balls of sparking energy flying out over the battlefield. Spyro and Sheila managed to duck out of the way, but Bentley was too large and her rhynocs were too stupid, so they suffered the casualties.
"Hey, crazy witch, what are you doing?!" Spyro shouted over the noise of the attacks. "You're aiming at me, not your own rhynocs!"
"I'll aim at whoever I want, dragon!" the Sorceress laughed, spinning her staff yet again. "If I can't even trust my own apprentice, then I may as well down the entire castle!"
Thick streams of magical fuchsia energy shot through the air, making a series of cracks in the grounds of the arena and bouncing violently off of every wall it could find. The arena crumbled and rumbled as the cracks took hold, shattering every which way until the pieces began to sink or split into the toxic sea.
Spyro saw what was happening and whistled sharply to their sky team. "Change of plans, guys! Get everyone out of here!"
"What about you?" Hunter asked as the saucer swooped by, Agent 9 blasting down a tower of rhynocs all clinging for dear life to a single sinking platform.
"Get everyone else first! I gotta finish this!" That was how Spyro worked; other peoples' safety was always the priority, but his own never seemed to matter. Understanding, Hunter gave a nod and took the controls from Agent 9 to go pick up Bianca, Sheila, and Bentley before the rest of the arena gave out.
Hopping from piece to piece, Spyro tried to make his way back towards the Sorceress, who was using her staff to rock the toxic waters below them, swallowing up platforms that were too small to fight the waves and toppling the ones that were. "I hope you can swim, dragon!" the Sorceress taunted. "It'll be more fun to watch the life being pulled out of you if you don't sink straight to the bottom! And it'll make it easier for my guards to pull out your body so I can grind up those delectable wings of yours!"
"I'll donate one if it'll make that face of yours less ugly!" Spyro teased. It wasn't a completely-false offer; his crushed wing couldn't do much beside lay limply at his side, but it still soaked up all of the splashes of toxic ooze, causing the broken muscles to twitch as the flesh burned up under its corrosive touch.
Finally, Spyro closed in on his target. The Sorceress kept a large piece of the arena to herself, giving her enough room to move comfortably and enough stability to not sink into the toxic lake. The Artisan called his jump and moved to join her, but was quickly attacked by a sparking fireball that forced him to roll out of the way and put more pressure on his battered wing.
"You really are as pesky as they say, aren't you, dragon?" the Sorceress hissed, swinging her staff and firing a barrage of magical attacks every moment Spyro dared to hold still. "That'll make ending your life all the sweeter!"
A sharp shot to the flimsy wing sent Spyro tumbling, and the Sorceress stormed over to him, her clunky strides causing their remaining chunk of platform to rock uncomfortably in the turbulent acid-waters. "What's that silly saying you dragons have?" the Sorceress asked with a sneer, once again smashing Spyro's wing under her foot. "Phactis dragonis or some nonsense? I don't remember. You'll have to ask your ancestors for me," she chuckled darkly, lifting her surging scepter for one final blow.
Spyro reared back and unleashed a wild breath of flame, sending the Sorceress stumbling as she fought to protect her face from the attack. With his wing free from her dead weight, he scrambled to his feet and tore the staff from her hand, tossing it to another of the nearby platforms - close enough to keep an eye on, but too far for the Sorceress to ever reach.
Stripped of her go-to weapon, the Sorceress' demeanor changed immediately. She put up her grubby hands in surrender, stepping back slowly as Spyro got back to his feet and started to approach. "N-Now, now, this is no time to be rash. L-Last I checked, dragons didn't fight unfair, right? Maybe we can talk this out? Strike a deal? I-I don't HAVE to kill the dragon eggs! Really! You're one of the level-headed dragons, ri-"
She gave an uncomfortable squeal when the acid began to lick at her ankles. The platform was sinking under her weight, meaning Spyro had her cornered at the edge.
"So that phrase you were looking for?" Spyro smirked, staring down his newest nemesis. "I think you were looking for porro ago draconis." He sharpened his claws on the platform, fire in his eyes and on his breath as he closed the gap between them.
"Long live the dragons."
BAM! With his horns bared, Spyro rammed forward, knocking her into her own vicious pool of ooze. The Sorceress shrieked in agony as the acid tore at her scales, causing her muscles to spasm and flail, irritating all of the wounds even worse. Spyro tried to look away, not wanting to watch her slow and painful demise, but had to turn around when she cried out, "Fine! But you're only leaving with 149 of them!"
The final dragon egg was sitting in her grubby claws. With her last breath, she threw it across the oozy arena, just before her arm was swallowed up by the noxious acid, leaving nothing but a trail of bubbles to show she was even there at all.
Spyro watched in horror as the dragon egg sailed into the sky. By this point, the arena was all but demolished, leaving no guarantee the egg would land anywhere safely. And he wasn't about to go through everything he had gone through to return to the Dragon Realms and have to explain to Nestor and Delbin that he was missing one.
Being careful to watch his step while keeping his eyes on the egg, the purple dragon rushed after it. With his wing still crippled from the Sorceress, he had to rely solely on his legs to jump from rock to rock, desperate to avoid the toxic goo but even more desperate to keep even with the rapidly-falling egg.
Finally, it sat low enough in the sky that Spyro could foresee its landing space: just shy of the entrance, straight into an empty field of ooze. So came the moment of truth, and Spyro had less than a moment to make his choice: did he skid to a halt and watch the egg be swallowed by the acid pool? Or did he jump after it and take the chance, risking his own hide in the process?
He didn't even have to think.
He jumped after it.
Bracing for impact, he reached out his paws and held tight onto the dragon egg, pounding his single wing to get as much distance as it would spare him. With his eyes shut tight, all he could do was wait to feel the acid under his feet, get as close as he could get and throw the dragon egg in a last-ditch effort to get it to safety.
But instead of the burning, agonizing acid, Spyro crash-landed on a platform of cooling marble, with the heat of the toxic ooze behind him. Despite it being way too far for him to jump, he had somehow safely made it to the entryway they first came in through, the one leading back to the newly-freed Midnight Mountain.
And when he looked down at the egg between his paws, he didn't find it. He found a similar shade of glittery white, but nowhere near as glossy. It was more scaly, really. Or rather, they. Four big, brown eyes that almost reflected the Magic Crafters lands they were so obviously from. Two pairs of shimmering wings with matching gold frills.
The firstborn of the new age of dragons. And they were twins.
Yeah, how's that for a Sorceress fight? Well, we finally made it, guys - it's finale time next week on Legacy! Tune in next time to see the heartwarming conclusion of Spyro's biggest adventure ever! Hope you guys enjoyed; thanks for reading!
