Surprise, guys! :) I've got plans this weekend - that may or may not involve a certain young author in this conversation turning 21 - so rather than derp it off and risk posting late, you guys are getting your chapter hot and fresh on Friday! Whoo! Now let's get on with the show, now 20% ahead of schedule!
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.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage / Gateway to Glimmer, as well as all related characters (c) blah-blah, same copyright.
CHAPTER TWENTY: The Glacier
Oggy and Iggy kept as quiet as they could as they crawled towards the edge of the icy ledge. Down below, they could see the wicked Ice Wizards leading Shaman Tuk into his elaborately-carved ice cell. It was heartbreaking to see their proud ruler, one of the most mystical men in Crystal Glacier, trapped behind walls of ice and bone.
Especially since he had their hockey tickets.
Sneaking through the shadows, the young icebuilders made their way to the back of the cell. They silently nodded at each other, having rehearsed the plan several times before their departure. Oggy lowered his spear, allowing Iggy to step on top of it. With a swift flip, Iggy shot straight into the air, ready to land on top of the cell and start smashing the ice to free Shaman Tuk.
As Iggy reached the apex of his jump, he found himself face-to-face with an Ice Wizard. "Eep."
The Ice Wizard unleashed a ball of frosty magic, trapping the icebuilder in a block of ice. Gravity quickly finished the job, dropping the ice-block straight down and smashing the accomplice below.
oo00oo00oo
"Seriously, Avalar is getting weirder and weirder every time we step through a portal."
Spyro frowned, taking a closer look at the blocks of frozen icebuilder that littered Crystal Glacier. "Sparx, I don't think they're just laying around frozen for fun."
The purple Artisan shook off the cold, then took a deep breath and torched the block of ice. After a shudder of his own, the icebuilder stretched out his muscles before approaching his rescue-dragon. "So is there a problem here, or is this ice-block thing a weird game you guys play?" Spyro asked.
The icebuilder, Widgie, shook his head. "It's the work of those scary Ice Wizards!"
"Ice Wizards?" Spyro and Sparx gave each other a look. They were plenty familiar with the Ice Wizards, considering the weather wizards had all but taken over the Magic Crafters during Gnasty's short reign. But...what was dragon magic doing in Avalar?
Shaking off the question (and adding it to the long list of things he'd have to discuss with the Professor, Nestor and Astor, or just about anyone else after Ripto was taken care of), Spyro turned back to the icebuilder. "So the Ice Wizards have locked up you and all of your friends?"
"Oh, no, much worse than that!" Widgie countered. "They've locked up our leader, Shaman Tuk! And he has all of our tickets to tonight's hockey game in Colossus Valley!"
For some reason, Spyro felt so much more urgency in getting the icebuilders to Colossus than any of the other Ripto-tastrophes he had stopped thus far. "Don't worry, you guys aren't missing a game on my watch! Just leave it to me!"
The dragon went to rush off, then skidded just short of the gorge. They were sitting on a small island, quite some distance away from the Glacier mainland. "Uhm...why does the portal drop you off all the way over here?"
"Problems with the bonebuilders in the long-long-ago," Widgie explained, grabbing a rock and smashing his friends free. "Don't worry, we'll show you how to get across! Just stand there!" The icebuilder pointed to a large, flat bone, sitting atop a rounded rock - namely, the side of the bone touching the ground.
However apprehensive, Spyro obeyed the icebuilder's order. Once Widgie freed the remaining icebuilders, the acrobatic cave-dwellers climbed into a tall stack, with Widgie at its top. With a giddy scream, Widgie jumped off, landing hard and fast on the elevated half of the old bone.
Physics went to work, and the purple dragon was thrown across the treacherous chasm, skidding to a stop after a less-than-pleasant landing in the snowpiles on the other side.
Well, that was one way to get from Point A to Point B.
oo00oo00oo
Another way, as Spyro was quick to discover, was by flying. Crystal Glacier was home to yet another of the Professor's shoddy powerups. This one was a superfly, with the same enchantment that had changed Spyro's life only a year ago: the wind spell that filled the speedways and made it possible for dragonlets to fly with premature wings.
And Shaman Tik promised unlimited use of their sacred powerup...for a price.
Spyro quietly flew through the dark tunnels, having only his keen dragon sight and Sparx's glow to show the path through the tourist tunnels. Tik had mentioned an infestation, a horrible take-over of creatures called 'draclets' that reproduced like mad and devoured anyone who dared to tour through the tunnels. (Not that he could figure out why they ran tours through this tunnel in the first place; the entire system was lined in frigid water that burned your flesh with frostbite within seconds of contact. Hence the superfly.)
"I dunno, Sparx, I don't see any draculs or whatever they're called," Spyro tsked quietly, flapping his wings to stay above the eerie ice-water.
"Well, maybe the icebuilders are overreacting," Sparx buzzed. "Maybe people are just falling in the water or-"
BLEH-HEH-HEH!
"Ack!" Spyro's wings went into a panic, frantic to stay in flight as dragon and dragonfly screeched to a halt in fright. A creature had just dropped from the ceiling, dangling from the stalactites by a glittering thread. It was a toxic shade of green, with three bulging eyes that were lit up in excitement from finding a meal. Its six spindly legs twitched in every direction, and drool dripped from its rows of pointy teeth. It slurped and chirped in a tizzy, swinging about in hopes of capturing the dragon in its mouth.
Spyro lost a few feet of altitude, but ran against the wall and spun around to re-face the draclet. Pumping his wings to regain the lost height, the Artisan rushed forward, unleashing a breath of flame that knocked the draclet from its web and sent it crashing into the icy waters below. "Man, that was a little too close," the dragon panted.
Sparx laughed. "You were scared."
"I was not!" Spyro retorted, swiping at his dragonfly-brother. "I was just spooked, that's all!"
"Yeah, sure."
"Hey, you screamed, to-AAH!"
Mid-argument, Spyro was forced into an impromptu backflip as two more draclets dropped down from the shadows, landing on a safe piece of land below them and jumping high into the air to grab at the intruding dragon. The Artisan circled past as quick as he could, flying just close enough to the islet to torch the draclets back into the water and resume his flight. "Come on, how many of these things ARE there?"
"Oh, these oversized bugs aren't so tough," Sparx buzzed. "Come on, let's just finish flying through these spooky caves and blast these things."
"Yeah, I know." Spyro winced for a second as a spike of pain hit his back, but he shook it off and shot a smile to his partner. "Dragon Shores by lunchtime, right?" he joked.
Despite the dragon's best attempt, though, his dragonfly noticed the wince. "You alright, Spy?"
"Y-Yeah, just..." He winced again as the pain returned, now slowly pulsing through his wings. "I think my wings are cramping up or something."
Sparx buzzed in front, flying backwards to stay eye-to-eye with his dragon. "You're kidding me, right, Spyro? I've seen you spend a whole day out on the speedways, and you can't fly through Crystal Glaciers for five minutes?"
Spyro puffed a breath of hot air, just enough to send Sparx flying a few feet. "Back off, Sparx; not all of us can be dragonflies and get through life without legs." He dipped off course slightly, rolling a shoulder in hopes of relieving the pain and tension building in his wings. "L-Look, like you said, let's just...finish these caves and-"
The Artisan didn't finish his statement, interrupting by a biting pain that crumpled his wing. In a last-ditch effort, Spyro dug his claws into the icy walls and, with the extra push, just barely tumbled onto another of the caverns' rare islets of safety. "Ow, ow, ow!"
Sparx took a second to look at his own bright, golden glow. Spyro hurt in a way that wasn't setting off his dragon-sense? It just didn't add up. "Seriously, Spy, what's going on?"
Spyro stretched his back, allowing his wings to refold against his back for a moment of rest. Now that he was grounded, the pain immediately began to fade. "Ow...I don't know, but...I think I'm alright now. Must've just been a weird cramp or wing-spasm or something."
Sparx scoffed - dragons, go figure. "Whatever you say, Spyro. Come on, let's go. Can you get airborne?"
Spyro took a few steps of a running start, then jumped into the air and flapped his wings, expecting the spell to take over and lift him into the skies. However, the spell faltered and gravity took over instead. Just like normal, Spyro's wings flattened under his weight, and he fell straight back to the ice. "Uhm...I think that's a no."
"Oh, that's just great!" Sparx buzzed annoyedly. "Junk powerups; Tik sent you in here with a temporary flying spell! Great, the shamans are trying to get us killed, you're grounded in the middle of this dark, frozen cave, and-"
The dragonfly's buzz came to a halt as Sparx turned the corner. Every inch of the icy-blue caves were suddenly covered in spots of toxic green, and a chorus of clicking legs and slurping laughs echoed through the darkness as it was slowly lit up by hundreds and hundreds of bulging draclet eyes. Slimy eggs crackled in the distance; every time one would crack, a new trio of eyes would appear.
"...And what?"
"...And good news; you won't have to fly to find the draclets..."
oo00oo00oo
The Ice Wizards laughed as they continued freezing up all of the little icebuilders who they found scurrying past, all desperate to free their beloved Shaman. They lapped up the pathetic attempts of their captives, who were clearly incapable of taking care of themselves without the one called Tuk. By removing one simple leader, they had thrown all of Crystal Glacier into a tizzy, causing madness and the collapse of society.
...The Ice Wizards also didn't know about the Colossus game. Suprisingly, they weren't known for being fans of ice hockey.
So while the Wizards enjoyed their moment of victory, Spyro, Oggy, and Iggy snuck up to the mountain behind the ice prison where Shaman Tuk was being held. The prison was made of the thickest, most magical ice Spyro had ever seen; one that could even withstand a blast of his mighty flames.
So the Artisan turned to the local experts. "You two have a plan?"
Oggy nodded. "Go distract the Ice Wizards; we free Shaman Tuk."
Obeying his orders, Spyro ran out to the circle of Ice Wizards, sliding out in the most dramatic of fashions across the slippery snow. "Hey, Ice Wizards! Cool party you guys are having! Nice to see you wizards can keep it chill!"
The Ice Wizards looked up from their icebuilder harassment. "Is that dragon throwing ice puns at us?"
"Oh, I dunno, Spyro!" Sparx added in. "I heard that a warm front's coming! Looks like the weather won't be so ICE!"
"Sparx, you can't make jokes about the weather!" Spyro lightly scolded. "That's snow good!"
"That dragon's throwing ice puns at us!" Infuriated (as weather wizards are notorious pun-haters), one of the Ice Wizards threw a large snowball their way.
Spyro easily rolled out of the way, playfully shaking his tail. "Aw, what's the matter, guys? I thought my jokes would be a good ice-breaker!"
"Ripto will have your head, pun-dragon!" another Ice Wizard cursed, adding to the snowball assault.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "LOOK OUT BELOW!"
While Spyro was nimble enough to rush out of the way, the Ice Wizards couldn't process the giant snowball rolling down towards them, and were helpless to avoid it. The evil sorcerers were crushed under their own element as it rolled down the slick mountainside, smashing into the door of the ice prison.
...And the rest of the prison, too. Hockey tickets or not, Oggy and Iggy ran for their lives upon realizing that they may have flattened Shaman Tuk on accident. So it was up to Spyro to go inside once the area was quiet. "Shaman Tuk? Are you okay?"
Inside, the Artisan found a reeling shaman, shaking snow out of his staff and robe. "I'm fine," he grumbled. "But those idiots could've found a way to get me out of this thing without smashing me with a two-ton snowball."
"Yeah, that might've been nice." The icebuilders were extraordinarily clever, but seemed to lack in general common sense.
After getting back to his feet, Shaman Tuk reached into his robes and pulled out a sparkling crystal. "You're the dragon fighting Ripto, right? Here, you'll need our talisman. I had to trade some hockey tickets to get it, but your mission is a bit more important than a trip to Colossus Valley."
oo00oo00oo
With the Ice Wizards defeated and Shaman Tuk free to roam the Glacier, there was only one piece of business left (since the Ice Wizards "stole" their hockey tickets). Oggy, Iggy, and Widgie were tasked with bringing the icebuilder flag back up to the village centertower, since it had been taken down by the Ice Wizards.
Oggy planted the golden landmark, and stepped back to admire their accomplishment. Unfortunately, the narrow path of the tower-top didn't allow this, and Oggy fell to the ground, smashing head-first into the snow.
Iggy got a few good laughs at Oggy's expense, and Widgie repaid the favor by knocking Iggy off of the tower and into the snow.
And, of course, the icebuilders were gymnasts of style and coordination, so Widgie jumped down to join them.
Shaman Tuk wandered out to see the newly-planted flag, and eyes quickly fell to the three icebuilder bodies sticking out from the snow, all wriggling and mumbling for help. He shook his head, no longer questioning why the two-ton snowball was their escape plan of choice.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter; it's one of my favorites, just like Crystal Glacier is one of my favorite areas. XD Anyway, thanks for reading, guys! See you next time!
§ Tucker's Mayflower, signing off! §