PT1: Hey guys! Me again! Sorry for not having this chapter up sooner. Consider this a late Christmas gift. As always, read and review. Don't be scared to. I don't bite.
In a fortress on a snowy mountaintop, four prisoners were going through their daily torture routine.
"You're getting stronger," Armageddon said. He was pleased with Malefor's performance. His powers were returning much faster than expected.
The purple dragon flashed a malicious grin.
"That purple welp will not stand a chance!" he roared.
While the two were reveling at their own power, one of the prisoners was thinking.
I've got to get them out of here, Sigma thought. We have to get to Warfang. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
He and Lambda had been imprisoned here for ten years. During those ten years, however, their bodies had changed. A power flowed through them that was not like anything they had seen before, a primal energy that seemed like a gift.
And they finally had enough power saved up for one last ditch attempt at escape.
"We'll be back, you four," Armageddon said. "Don't go anywhere."
With that, he and Malefor exited the dungeon, slamming the massive iron door behind them.
Iron, thought Sigma. A grin split his face. These chains are made of iron!
He turned to Lambda. "Now's our chance," he said. "Make sure you get Iota and Theta."
"Sure thing," she replied. "Let's get out of here." Sigma closed his eyes and felt the warmth spread through his body. His breathing slowed and he pulsed.
Bolts of yellow-orange energy crackled over the chains. He shouted and gave one final push.
In a brilliant shower of sparks, the cuffs around his wrists and ankles shattered. He dropped to the floor and saw Lambda already removing the restraints on their Draconic prison mates.
"I'll get Omicron," Sigma said. He channeled a small bit of energy into his palm to light up Omicron's restraints and gasped.
"Guys," he stammered. "O-Omicron is…"
Shackled in the chains was an ape, or rather what remained of one. Its face had been split clean open leaking brains and blood onto the floor beneath him. It had been cut in half crosswise, its intestines swinging back and forth like Macabre windchimes. Its arms were only attached by little strands of tissue.
"I'm gonna be sick," Lambda gagged out.
Theta let out a low growl.
"I'll kill those two bastards myself for what they did to him!" Sigma held up a black gloved hand.
"That's not Omicron," he said.
"What do you mean that's not Omicron?" Theta asked. "There's no one else in here."
"Look." Sigma pointed to the ape's pile of organs. Sitting in it was a belt with a sheathed sword.
Iota gasped "It's one of the guards."
Sigma nodded. "He escaped a while ago, the blood's already dried."
"Who said anything about escaping?" The four other escapees whirled around to find a dark cloaked figure leaning against the grated window.
"Omicron?" Lambda asked.
The figure nodded. Its hood was up, but it seemed like a curtain of shadow was pulled over its face. The same effect that Lambda and Sigma's hoods had. A basic concealment spell.
"Do you all want my help leaving or not?" it asked in a deep voice. It seemed like more than one voice was speaking at the same time.
Sigma shrugged. "I guess so."
Omicron chuckled and strode over to them, his black cape billowing out behind him. He clasped Sigma and Lambda's shoulders.
Sigma place a hand on Theta's shoulder and Lambda on Iota's.
"I hope you all aren't scared of the dark," Omicron said.
Before anyone could respond, a burst of black enveloped them, and all noises and sights faded away.
XXXXX
"You'll have to do better than that, Spyro!" PT shouted as he rolled to the side, another blast of fire striking where he had been only moments prior.
The purple dragon stuck to the air, not wanting to get close to the human.
"You sure you want that PT?"
The human made the "come here" gesture. Spyro spun and dove straight at him.
SPYRO! HE'S COMING! Spyro's head was split by a searing bolt of agony.
"Gah!" The purple savior dropped to the stone floor of the training ring.
"SPYRO!" PT dashed over to the prone dragon. He knelt down over Spyro and felt his neck. His pulse was faint, but there.
The hell happened? he thought.
"The hell happened?" He whirled around and saw Caminus running over to him.
"I don't know," PT answered. "We were just sparring and he passed out."
Caminus knelt down next to PT. "I'm no medic," he admitted. "I've notified the Guardians. They should be here soon."
Surely enough, the doors banged open and the three massive dragons rushed into the room.
"What happened?" Volteer asked.
"He just fainted," Caminus replied. PT knelt and felt Spyro's pulse again.
"I've got it!" he exclaimed. He whirled around. "Get him some green crystals!"
The Guardians gave him a quizzical look, but Terrador went to go find some.
"SPYRO!" PT was almost flattened as Cynder rushed to her mate's side. She looked up at PT. "What happened?"
PT saw that everyone was looking at him expectantly. He sighed.
"You know how when you're in a life or death situation and you get that spiky feeling in your stomach?"
The others nodded.
"That's a hormone called adrenaline. When in a tense situation, the brain activates your fight or flight response. Your heart beats faster to pump more blood to your muscles to allow for increased speed and strength. It has a gland called the adrenal gland secrete adrenaline and allows you to get out of or fight through said situation."
"But does it make you pass out like Spyro?" Volteer asked. PT shook his head.
"Sometimes, certain people can be exposed to conditions that make their brain think they're in danger but doesn't secrete adrenaline. That's called a panic attack. Spyro's having a panic attack."
"What do we do?" Cyril asked. PT felt his pulse again. It had quickened.
"His heartbeat's erratic. Get him some green crystals and get his heart rate back down." He rubbed the chin of his helmet. "Only thing is, he seemed fine. There didn't appear to be any reason for him to have an attack like that."
"I have the crystals!" Terrador entered the room with a team of moles.
"Good," PT said. He stood and pointed at the medical team. "We need to get Spyro to his room. He's unconscious but should still be able to absorb the crystals." The moles nodded and with the Guardians' help, hauled the incapacitated dragon off.
XXXXX
Axius made his way down the halls of the Temple, no destination in mind.
"Axius!" The Scimitar looked over his shoulder and saw a Wind dragon running towards him.
"Tempest," Axius said, nodding curtly to the combat teacher. "Can I help you?"
"I… I wanted to talk."
"About what?"
Tempest looked at the floor. "I want to apologize. The way I treated you wasn't very fair. I won't try and excuse myself because there was no excuse. I hope we can put all this behind us."
Axius smiled at the dragon. "Don't worry about it. Honestly speaking, you were the most passive about it. Others, not so much."
Tempest let out a sigh of relief. "Are you going to see Spyro?"
Axius cocked his head to the side. "I wasn't planning on it. Are you?"
Tempest nodded. "He apparently passed out when he was sparring with one of the humans. I'm just going to see if they need my help with anything."
Axius gave him a wide-eyed look. "Well, I guess I am."
XXXXX.
"Cynder!"
The black dragoness turned to see Tempest and Axius making their way down the hall towards her.
"Axius, Master Tempest."
Axius noticed how tired she looked. "Are you okay?"
Cynder nodded. "I'm fine, Axius."
"I highly doubt that," Tempest said. Axius nodded.
"Agreed, the bags under your eyes are big enough to carry groceries." Cynder chuckled. Axius gave her a sympathetic look and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We heard about Spyro. Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine. PT and Aquaila are in there right now."
"May we go in?" Tempest asked. Cynder nodded and slowly eased the door open.
Spyro and Cynder's room was slightly smaller than the one Axius and Polaris shared, but that was most likely because she was on the Council. PT and Aquaila were standing on opposite sides of a circular bed. On that bed was Spyro.
"How's he doing PT?" Axius asked. The human turned at his name, his helmet not betraying any emotion. Still looked badass though.
"His heart rate's levelled out and his breathing's returned to normal. We just have to let him rest now."
"Why did this happen?"
PT shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. We were just sparring and he fainted."
Axius rubbed his chin. "You have no idea?" PT shook his head.
"That's good to hear," Tempest said. PT looked over Axius's shoulder.
"Hello Tempest," he said, his voice dripping with malice.
"I came to talk to you, PT," the Wind dragon said. PT crossed his arms over his armored chest.
"Talk to me about what?"
"I was not that kind to you when you first got here. I treated you harshly when I treat my students, who are your age, with more respect. There's no excuse for what I've done and I hope you can forgive me."
"Don't worry about it, man," the human said. "Things like that I've learned to let slide. What matters is that you called yourself on it and you decided to be the bigger person."
Tempest nodded and cast a worried look over his shoulder. "How is Cynder taking all this?"
"She's worried, as anyone would be, but Spyro will be fine. Just a little bedrest and he's good as new." Tempest nodded and turned to leave.
"I'll let her know." PT and Axius waved goodbye and turned back to each other.
"What's up with this?" Axius asked.
"What's up with what?"
"This whole thing, you seem puzzled by it."
PT nodded and began pacing back and forth. "I wasn't going that hard on him and I know he can handle himself, so why?"
Axius shrugged. "I don't know." PT still looked tense. "Something's still bothering you, isn't it?"
The human nodded. "I've seen enough movies and read enough books to know that something like this usually means one thing."
"What?"
"The protagonist will always have something like this happen right before the story really kicks off, and I just have this gut feeling that whatever caused it is going to be more important than we think."
XXXXX
Dynamo, Diablo, and Samara strolled down the street. The cold season was in full swing and the snowfall made sure to let Warfang know that.
"Dynamo, I still can't get over last night," Diablo said. "That was awesome!"
Dynamo chuckled and drew his newly purchased crimson scarf over his muzzle. "Anyone would've done the same."
"Who was that dragoness anyway?" Samara asked.
Dynamo shrugged. "Hell if I know. She just needed help. I just hope I'm not her hero now or anything."
"My hero!"
A pink blur slammed full tilt into the bipedal dragon. The pink dragoness from that night wrapped her forelegs around Dynamo, locking him in an awkward hug.
"Hi there," Dynamo gasped. "C-Could you let go?" The dragoness released him and his hands fell to his knees as he caught his breath.
"How are you, sweetie?" The dragoness said, latching onto Dynamo's arm. His left arm. Her eyes widened when she felt it. "Your muscles are like iron!"
Diablo and Samara stifled a laugh and Dynamo glared at them.
"I appreciate the affection, ma'am, but I have other things to attend to."
The dragoness looked up at him with big, blue eyes.
"Like what?"
Dynamo racked his brain for an excuse. He looked around frantically for inspiration and froze. Standing across the street was a black cloaked figure, its arms crossed over its chest. Dynamo felt a fear like no other he had felt before seize him. The figure lifted one arm and waved at him. A wagon passed in front of where the figure stood and when it moved again, the figure was gone.
"What's wrong, snookums?" the dragoness asked.
Dynamo shook his head. "Nothing." He shook his arm free and continued down the street with Samara and Diablo. "I'll see you around." When they made it far enough away, Diablo and Samara burst into raucous laughter. Diablo had a hard time speaking in between his cackling.
"I… have… never… seen… something like that!" He stopped when he realized Dynamo looked a little queasy, Samara's laughter dying down as well.
"You okay Dynamo?" she asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Dynamo looked at them with a trace of shock on his face. "I think I may just have."