Nestor watched Spyro sleeping on his lap and his mind wandered. It was long since the youngling rested like that. The child either did the same, or rested on his chest. Last time was when the purple dragon was around six years old.
After this, Spyro declared he was a grown up and didn't try to rest with his dads.
The carpenter didn't know why he was the favorite of the youngling back then. He only had one guess, but it was almost impossible to be true.
"This place looks a little like the Beast Keeper realm, right?" Astor asked as he sat on the ground.
"Hum… I have to agree. It looks swampy," Nestor grumbled when he was wacked on the head. He glared at the old dragon.
"I remember. This is where the Beast Keeper lived long ago. This was their home. That beast," he pointed at the one they destroyed, "Iiiiiii I think it was one of their strongest one they made."
"I hope it was the strongest," he replied.
Sparx asked about why he knew about that.
"Because I lived on this realm… long ago," Astor replied melancholically.
"And now you lived in Dragon Realm," Zoe thought back. "Why didn't you say it sooner?"
"It came back now… And it's been so long," the mauve dragon answered before letting out a soft sigh.
The dragonfly asked about his best friend punishment. He hoped it wasn't too bad.
"Nothing big. Don't worry about it. It won't be like last time… I know he wants to do good," Nestor said with a bit of defeatism in his voice. He knew he had no chance to convince Spyro to not go on adventures. He had to keep an eye on him and the others too. He hoped that his big brother responsibility would keep him under control for a while. He then noticed the strange thing on his ear. The same thing the human used.
Chapter 40: Sergeant Byrd
Meanwhile, the group of dragons and the two humans continued their search for the dragon eggs.
They landed on the ground as they returned to Midway Garden. They ignored the place as they went to save Spyro. They dropped the two humans.
Agent Zero took out a small object and offered to Titan, "Here's another of our communication tools. You can keep in contact with us and Spyro."
"What do you mean?" Trondo asked.
"We will split up. We still have to find Greta. We cannot let her be in danger. She is one of us. A secret agent," the man added.
"Sis might be in trouble," Handel replied.
"You can focus on your mission to save your children," Agent Zero concluded. He hit his chest, "If we find more eggs, you will be first to know. We will find Emily and go on."
"Thank you," the leader of the Peace Keepers replied. He gazed at the device. He knew it would have been a huge advantage in any fight to be able to tell the others what he was doing or what they were doing in a battle. He was impressed such a little thing could change everything in a battlefield.
The dragons searched for dragon eggs and found two. Zantor used his magic to send them back to the other side of the world, back to their rightful home.
Flame was the one who noticed something standing up and pointed at it, "There's something over there," he pointed his claws at the location.
The other dragons looked at it and approached it. They saw a humanoid bear with a big bag filled with gems. He stood near a cage with a creature in it.
"Well well. What do we have here?" Moneybag asked. He looked at them, "More dragons. Where is Spyro?"
The dragons saw inside the cage was a small blue penguin, pale blue feather on his underbelly and green eyes. He wore a dark green belt, a helmet of the same color with a spade card and a pair of rocket launchers on his back.
"He's not here," Flame replied as he took a few steps forward. He quietly growled. Sheila told him that this bear put her in a cage, waiting for her execution.
"That's good news," Moneybag commented as he adjusted his suit.
The nine dragons didn't like that one.
"I'll tell you again big guy! You better release me right now! Because you are going to regret it!" the penguin declared.
"I cannot let you out. The Sorceress ordered me to let you in there until your execution tomorrow," he replied.
The young red dragon grunted, "Release him right now you big jerk! You cannot just let him in cage when he did the right thing!" He scratched the ground with his claws. He frowned and lowered his head.
"Calm down little one," Gunnar said as he approached him, "There might be a way to let him out."
"Of course. I can… accidentally let him out in exchange for some gems. After all, those magic cages have a few… flaws," Moneybag shook his bag.
The dragons looked at each other. Zantor sighed, "We don't have enough gems."
"This is too bad. There is no accident if there aren't enough gems to happen," Moneybag raised his shoulders.
"Oh. You are so going to regret this you stupid bear!" the penguin furiously grunted.
Halvor chuckled as he tapped his hammer with his hand, "I know what you mean. Accidents happen so often. I mean, I often drop my hammer at the wrong place. Maybe I might drop it on you."
The jailer nervously chuckled as he took a few steps back and pulled his collar, "But dragons aren't clumsy and-" he yelped as he jumped back when the hammer almost got him.
Trondo played with his knives, "You were saying?" he began to throw the knife in the air. It landed on his finger and threw it in the air again, "You know. You should free this brave one. Because there might be an accident. I could 'accidentally' drop my knife or he might drop his hammer again. You might get hurt," he threw his knife higher in the air.
"Or my axe. We Peace Keepers are prone to… 'accidents'," Titan warned him as he almost dropped his weapon.
The other dragons looked at each other's. Bruno grumbled that this was barbaric and Zantor had to agree. Bubba chuckled as he crossed his arms as he liked the style.
The other Peace Keepers who didn't wore weapons chuckled as they saw that the intimidation tactic was working perfectly well.
Moneybag began to nervously sweat. He pulled his collar even more. He tapped his leg with his bag a few times, "W-well… Fine."
He made the cage disappeared and the penguin was freed.
"There you go. It wasn't that hard to do the right thing," Magnus said as he slapped the back of the bear.
It was a hard slap as the big guy almost felt on the ground. He regained his balance and gained composure, "You had extremely convincing arguments," he gazed at the penguin, "I hope you don't hold a grudge against me. I only did what I was paid for."
The dragons wanted to give a piece of their mind.
"I don't have a grudge against you," the penguin turned towards the dragons, "And thank you all for getting me out of this damn cage. I am Sergeant Byrd," he nodded at them.
"Hi there," Flame waved at him.
"You are alright Flame. I was wondering if you were in trouble or not," he let out a small smile.
Moneybag slowly started to back away.
"And what are those things on your back?" Bruno curiously asked.
"Those are my rockets. They are weapons I use to fight the enemies," Sgt Byrd replied.
"Why didn't you use it to escape?" Titan asked.
"I was saving them for a special occasion," he pointed them at the bear and fired.
Moneybag flew far away before an explosion followed. They saw the greedy one falling down in the distance.
"That is a great occasion," Trondo concluded with a smirk.
Zantor asked, "And you must be one of the habitants who tried to save our children. Am I right?"
"Yes. The battle didn't end as well as we hoped for. We managed to avoid The Sorceress to claim the eggs for whatever purpose," the penguin replied. He crossed his arms and was pensive.
Magnus asked, "And do you happen to know if they are any eggs around here? We are still searching for them."
"I was in the cage for a while, but I saw a few Rhynocs quickly going to a portal over there," he pointed at a portal in the distance, "It wasn't too long ago. They surely didn't go far away in that realm. I think they are searching for some dragon eggs. They might guess that a few eggs are there."
The dragons knew that they had a race against time now.
"What do we do now?" Flame asked as he knew they were more eggs here.
Titan took his role as the leader of the group. He gave one gaze at Bruno to imply who was in charge and looked at them, "We should focus on the Rhynocs. They went to a portal to actively search for our children. We cannot let them get any of the eggs. After this, we can come back here and search some more. The humans might still be around and search for the eggs."
"Let me search for the eggs here. I am here to save your family. This is my mission and I have no intention to fail," Sgt Byrd declared as he put his wing on his chest.
The dragons nodded. Magnus chuckled, "Thank you mister Byrd."
"Sgt Byrd," he warned them with a serious tone.
"Sgt Byrd. Sorry. We will move one with peace in our mind," the brown Peace Keeper declared.
The dragons opened their wings and flew towards the portal. Bubba held Flame against his chest as they went towards the portal. The flight was calm.
"I wish I can fly soon. It's awesome!" Flame commented. He sighed and whined, "And I don't know how to glide."
"We will teach you when we are home kiddo. We owed you a lot of love. You, Sheila and everyone who protected you while we couldn't," Bubba replied. Even if the youngling wasn't his blood child, he was still his child. He hugged the youngling.
They were near the portal and the Peace Keepers suddenly stopped.
"W-what is it?" the young red dragon asked.
"Ambush!" Titan yelled as he blocked a Rhynoc coming at him with a spear.
Bubba let the young on the ground and grabbed the spear of another one. He waved his finger, "Nice try," with one punch, the enemy was sent in the sky in a flash of light.
The group charged at the troop coming at them. Flame was on the side and watched his dads fighting and they were fierce. He just found Zantor being the strangest one with his cards.
The thin dragon blocked swords with his cards. The cards spun and created a shield and for the next attack, before blasting the bad guy away.
Flame charged at one who aimed at Magnus from behind. He tackled the Rhynoc away and torched him with his flame. It wasn't long before they were taken care off.
"Nice one kiddo!" Magnus said before pushing a bad guy away with his gut.
The youngling helped the best he could to cover the dragons as many were attacking them.
Rhynocs were flying everywhere with each dragon punching or throwing them away. None of them used their weapons to hurt the Rhynocs. They just used it to defend themselves.
Once it was over, the dragons panted.
Bruno cleaned his forehead, "Damn. I didn't see that ambush."
"That's what we are here for. We can see an ambush mile away! Pop taught us that," Gunnar replied.
"I saw a bit of their horn," Titan replied as he put his axe on the side.
Flame listened to them and eventually asked, "Why didn't you use your weapons against them?"
The Peace Keepers gazed at the youngling. Trondo chuckled and pat his head, "Simply because we are Peace Keepers. We aren't soldiers. We are not here to kill."
"My father would hunt me down from beyond the grave if I kill an enemy when I can just knock them out," Titan added as he cleaned his beard.
"Cool. But can we torch them?" the youngling asked.
The dragons laughed loudly. Halvor answered, "Of course you can. Just don't torch them too much. When they are down, you leave them alone."
"I have so much to learn from you," Flame commented.
"You are an Artisan Dragon. You have much more to learn from them," Bruno explained to him.
"S-sure. I want to see my blood dad in person," the young dragon declared.
"And you will," Zantor replied.
"Dragons. Let's move on. We have many kiddos to save. We will save all of them!" Titan let out his declaration and raised his axe.
The others replied loudly. The spirit of the dragons reached its peak. Hope in their heart, shining like the sun, they went into the portal.
Magnus was the last one who went in, "And it's all thanks to Spyro."
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: Country Speedway Great Battle.
Flame and the dragons went to save the eggs in the Country Speedway. It went bigger as a large fight began.
Followed by: A Hint Of Romance.
Hunter joined Spyro and the other two dragons and went on their way. They crossed path with Bianca who was preparing a nasty surprise for them, but it didn't go her way.
