Hello, my little dragonlets! :) Who's ready for a new chapter? 'Cause I sure am! :D Then let's get on with the show!

You found a disclaimer!
Spyro the Dragon, both the game and all related characters (c) Insomniac. They own the Spyro that's in this story, so nyeh.

CHAPTER 8: A Hero's Welcome

"Alright, cameras rolling! Mind if we continue with the interview?"

"Absolutely! Eh, sorry it took so long, guys. I...kinda forgot about you."

"So what happened to Guh-nasty Guh-norc?"

"You mean Gnasty Gnorc? He's TOAST!"

"So, has order been restored to the Dragon Realms?"

"Kinda...we're still missing a lot of the dragon treasure, so I'll probably help clean that up, too."

"Alright, last question: What are you going to do next?"

"Come on! The sky's the limit!"

oo00oo00oo

"Magnus, where are we going?"

"Patience, Spyro, we're almost there."

Spyro gave an annoyed sigh, trying to use his other senses to suss out their location. Magnus had blindfolded the dragon shortly after his interview with DNN, saying that the dragons had prepared a 'surprise' for him. So far, he didn't have the slightest idea where they were going. The air was warm and smoggy, but there was dewy grass under his paws. There was also a powerful breeze circling through.

Finally, Magnus pulled off the dragonlet's blindfold. "Alright, we're here."

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Spyro looked around. It was a towering oasis of grassy plains and half-built factories. A huge pool of oil and lava bubbled below them, their smoggy heat blown around the enclosed area by the whipping winds. Spyro's eye was also caught by the piles upon piles of fuschia and yellow gems scattered everywhere.

"Where IS this place?"

"This is Gnasty's private stash. He's been using the lower-currency gems for his soldiers, but keeping the real riches in here for himself. We...found some thieves running around that have been blocking off all of the entrances, and you've already proven to be the best thief-hunter in the Dragon Realms, so..."

Spyro laughed. A hero's work is never done. "Alright, consider it done!"

The young Artisan went to rush into the chase, but stopped before leaving the first platform. The entrance was at the BOTTOM of Gnasty's metal oasis. "Uh...one problem. How do I get around?"

Magnus smirked. "The Magic Crafters came in here and whipped up a spell for you. Their way of saying thanks for all of your help."

"What kind of spell?"

"You've always wanted to fly, haven't you, Spyro?"

Spyro's eyes went wide. "You're kidding!"

"It's the same enchantment that we use on the speedways," Magnus continued. "Just the perfect burst of wind to help a dragonlet get airborne." The Peacekeeper gave Spyro a nod. "It's all yours. Go get 'em, soldier."

Spyro didn't need told twice. The second Magnus gave him the nod, the Artisan charged off the platform, pumping his wings as hard as he could once his paws left land. The enchanted wind responded immediately, rushing under Spyro and pressing against his wings, lifting him straight up into the air.

...Where he could see plenty of thieves wreaking havoc amongst the gem stores. But this time, he was ready for them.

oo00oo00oo

After hours of thief-chasing, gem-hunting, and plain ol' dragonlet goofing off, Spyro and Sparx finally climbed their way to the final room of Gnasty's lair. It was lit up with shimmering purple lights, likely to mimic the twenty-five-piece gems that Gnasty seemed to adore so much. On the back wall was a portrait of the Gnorc leader, standing tall with his crafter staff, a great tribute to a not-so-great leader.

The metal room was also filled with fireworks. Spyro approached the first box and found a tag on its side. 'Thought you'd want to end your adventure with a BANG!' It was probably the Magic Crafters or the Dream Weavers who set this up, but based on the pun, Spyro was leaning Dream Weavers.

"Aw, man, how awesome is this?!" Sparx buzzed with an excited backflip. "We toasted Gnasty, got back all the dragon treasure, saved the Dragon Realms, and now we get to blow it all up! Isn't this going to be so...?"

The dragonfly froze when he saw Spyro carefully drag the boxes outside, letting them detonate one by one in a safer location. "Spyro, what are you doing?"

"Trying not to blow this place to smithereens, what's it look like?"

"Oh, come on, Spyro! They set this up for us! You're ruining the fireworks show!"

"They're shooting off fireworks tonight in the Artisans."

"Still! After all Gnasty did, you don't want to torch the place?"

"Nope." Once the fireworks were all taken care of, Spyro sighed, approaching the portrait in the back. "Think of it, Sparx. Where would we be if Gnasty didn't stir up trouble? We'd still be chasing sheep and hopping on river rocks in the Artisans. We've been talking about this grand adventure since we were hatchlings, and look! We finally got it! We got our dream, we're heroes of the Dragon Realms! And it's all thanks to Gnasty. We kind of owe it all to him, don't you think?"

Sparx gave a buzz, taking a seat on Spyro's horns. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right. Now come on, let's go. There's a REAL fireworks show in the Artisans that's waiting for us!"

oo00oo00oo

"Spyro! You've defeated Guh-nasty Guh-norc, found the missing dragon eggs, saved all of the dragons, and recovered every missing piece of treasure in the Dragon Realms! How do you feel?"

"I'm fired up, Bob! And really happy for the dragon worlds, of course. I certainly wouldn't want to spend the rest of MY days butting heads with Gnasty Gnorc and his weird minions."

"What's a minion?"

"Eh...never mind."

"So you're glad that the realm-saving days are over?"

"A little. I'll miss the adventure, but it's good to know everyone's safe."

"Will dragon training not match up now that you've locked horns with Gnasty?"

"Definitely not. You know what they say: for every great battle, you need a good adversary. I think that Gnasty, in spite of his misguided nature, was quite the worthy opponent."

"Your words are wise beyond your years, Spyro. Thanks again for all you've done to save the Dragon Realms!"

oo00oo00oo

Once the DNN team were gone, Delbin approached his pup. "You carried yourself very maturely up there, Spyro. I'm impressed."

Spyro, now able to think clearly without Gnasty on his mind, was not so eager to greet his guardian. "Uh, thanks," he accepted shyly, trying to duck out of the way and into the crowds of celebrating Artisans.

"Spyro!" Of course, that plan didn't work, so a force of habit dragged Spyro onto his haunches when Delbin called after.

The red full-grown began to shepard his pup towards Waterfall Pond, away from all of the party and back to where their adventure began. "Something's on your mind, Spyro. What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Spyro..."

"What?"

"I've been raising you since you were hatched, that's what. I can tell when something's bothering you. Besides, I seem to recall a certain purple dragon wanting to speak with me after we met in the Dragon Junk Yards..."

With a huff, Spyro discarded his sunglasses. (The interview was over, so he could afford to turn down his swag slightly.) "You've been keeping secrets from me, THAT'S what's bothering me. Every time I turned around, one of the older dragons was 'Delbin should've said this' and 'you should ask Delbin that'. And I couldn't, because as soon as the Toasty thing was over, you'd been kidnapped! So I just had to wait and wait and keep getting madder and madder and-"

"Spyro, your temper's flaring," Delbin warned. Spyro sat at the edge of Waterfall Pond, trying to keep his back to the full-grown, who sat down with a sigh.

"Spyro, you have to understand that the world is a complex place. Sometimes, it's better for you not to know things. I'm your guardian, which means it's my job to protect you the best I can. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to keep so many things from you. I should have more trust in you. You're clearly much more capable than I expected from a dragonlet your age. That was my mistake, and I apologize."

The purple hero was still quiet, so Delbin continued. "You have my full attention, Spyro. I won't keep anything else from you. Ask away."

The silence was only broken by Spyro pawing at the water, trying to phrase his question appropriately. "...Alvar said something about me knowing what it's like to be carted off by an egg thief," he explained. "What did he mean by that?"

"First off, it means I need to have a word with my brother," Delbin tried to joke. Spyro didn't laugh, so he put his serious face back on and continued. "I was hoping to keep this secret away from you, Spyro. All of the elders were. We wanted you to have as close to a normal dragon life as you could.

"Have you ever wondered why you're the only dragonlet your age? How all of the others are a few years your minor? Well, as you know, dragons are traditionally hatched once every twelve years. It's the concentration of fairy and dragon magic at the Year of the Dragon ceremony that allows eggs to hatch. You, however, are a few years off.

"Thirteen years ago, there was a thief break-in at the fairy caves. The cloaked thieves you've been tracking down are notorious robbers that will do anything to make gems on the black market. Their biggest money-maker are dragon eggs, which they can sell off to dark sorcerers for huge riches. After the break-in, the dragons managed to apprehend all of the thieves but one, which made it all the way to the Artisans before he was captured.

"We caught the thief hiding in the valleys of Stone Hill; we heard him screaming, and caught him as he ran past, crying of burn-marks on his hands and his cloak catching fire. A few feet away, we found a purple dragon egg, which had attracted the attention of a lost, just-born dragonfly. This mystery egg was pulsing heat - a feat none of us had ever seen before - and as we went to pick it up, it cracked open, and hatched into a little purple dragon."

Spyro put a shaky paw to his head, trying to put the pieces together in his head. "Me? I was stolen out of the caves?"

"Nestor and Astor decided to watch you until the Year of the Dragon ceremony three years later," Delbin continued. "We assumed that at the end of the festivities, a mother would step forward, and we could re-unite her with her child." The red full-grown shook his head. "But all of the eggs hatched, and no one came forward. To this day, we're still not sure who your parents are or where they're from."

"...So all of this time, and you're not even my real dad. There's a chance I might not even be an Artisan."

"Indeed. You have the colors of a Dream Weaver, the horns of a Beast Maker, and the hard head of a Peacekeeper, but the Magic Crafters swear you have magical potential. But the elders all met and decided that it would be best to raise you here. Your rambunctiousness was showing even when you were three, so it was decided that I would be the best guardian for you."

Spyro fell back on his haunches. It's not every day you find out that you've been an orphan your whole life. "Wow...So Magnus taking me in when I snuck away to the Peacekeepers? And all of those dragons telling me about my 'great destiny' and all that?"

"You know the Peacekeepers, Spyro," Delbin tsked. "If they can claim a strong soldier, they will in a heartbeat. Even I have to agree with them: if I had to take my guess, I'd pin you as a Peacekeeper."

The purple hero cracked a smile. "Well, now it doesn't sound so mean when I tell Astor that I'm a Peacekeeper and don't have to listen to him."

"Well, we still don't know that for SURE, Spyro. Regardless, you should still hold your tongue before the elders. Besides, you've been an Artisan your whole life - the full-growns here don't know you as anything else. Including me."

Spyro stopped to look at his reflection in the water. Now that he had explored all of the Dragon Realms, his features became much more noteworthy. While he hadn't seen purple scales ANYWHERE in the Realms, the coloration did fit most amongst the Dream Weavers. But his big, navy eyes looked more Magic Crafter - wide and wistful, always dreaming the day away. His rugged horns and powerful paws looked more Beast Maker, but his tendency to plow them into everything until it broke was his defining Peacekeeper trait.

And on top of it all, he was born and raised in the grassy glades of Stone Hill. An Artisan, through and through.

Suddenly, his reflection was pushed aside as another memory came to Spyro's mind. "Hey, wait a second!"

"Yes, Spyro?"

"Lucas told me there's a speedway hiding here in Waterfall Pond! How come you never showed it to me? You KNOW how much I love to run around and race!"

Delbin laughed. "Spyro, how am I supposed to take you through Sunny Flight if you can't even open the door yet?"

"Huh?"

"Why else have I been so insistent on teaching you how to jump these stones?"

Spyro took a step back, staring down his old adversaries again. It was just like the day of Gnasty's attack all over again, perched at the edge of the pond under Delbin's watchful eye, tasked with the most terrifying task of his young dragon life - jumping across five stones without crashing into the water below.

But Spyro had grown a lot over the course of this adventure.

He had stared down murky swamps and waterfalls on the edge of cloud cities.

He had hopped across mountaintops and escaped evil wizards.

He had conquered tunnels of lava in Gnasty's lair.

He was the hero of the Dragon Realms.

And the purple hero gave a smile as he landed on the fifth and final stone. Jumping on a few rocks after all of that? Easy.

The pond shook once Spyro made the final jump, the five pedestals blinking in a golden glow. The wall behind the waterfall slowly collapsed, revealing a portal Spyro had never seen before: Sunny Flight.

"The speedways are rigged with the same enchantment that you found in Gnasty's treasure cove," Delbin explained. "It may take you some getting used to, since you're not the strongest flyer, and you'll have to be careful with all of the water, but-"

The red full-grown sighed as he heard Spyro and Sparx rush through the portal. "Why do I bother?"

Hooray for taking creative liberties and tying up loose ends between games! :D You guys know what this means, right? The adventure begins anew next chapter! (For anyone who can't see it, I'll give you a hint: it looks like rain in the Dragon Realms...)

§ Tucker's Mayflower, signing off! §