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Spyro the Dragon, both the game and all related characters (c) Insomniac Games
Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon (c) blah, blah, same copyright

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: Trap

Bianca fanned herself, her hands shaking nervously as she waited for the whirligig to drop off the dragon and his friends. Nobody was expecting him to survive against the Sorceress' creature, and yet, they watched as their whirligig lifted out of the arena, still in one piece and with all of its passengers safe and sound.

Was there no stopping this creature? Didn't he understand that they were doing it for a good cause? But of course, such a young dragon could never understand what the old days of the Forgotten Worlds were like. If anything, most of the elders were even too young to see the worlds for themselves. The Forgotten Worlds were likely just as legendary there as the dragons were here.

"Alright, Bianca, just calm down," she said, trying to pep-talk her tough face back on. "You can do this. Just be nice and try to talk to the dragon like a normal person. All you have to do is reason with him, and-"

"And what? We'll just change our minds and go away?"

Bianca jumped, scrounging to grab up the edges of her robes before Spyro could think to torch them. "Don't they teach you not to sneak up on people in the Dragon Realms?"

"Yeah, but I'm not a very good listener," Spyro teased.

"I can see that." With a breath, Bianca launched into the speech she had prepared. "Alright, listen up, dragon. ...Spyro. I know I've been threatening you this whole time, but you have to trust me: NOW it's serious. The Sorceress is waiting to spring a trap on you while you're here in Evening Lake, and if she catches you..." SHE knew the details of what was waiting, but it didn't make sharing the details any more uneasy. "...Look, you don't want to know what she's going to do if she catches you."

"Hold on a second," Hunter interrupted. "Why would YOU tell US about the trap? What if you telling us about the trap is really the trap in the first place?"

"The stupid one has a point, Spy," Sparx buzzed from his lounging spot in Spyro's frill.

"Of course I do. ...Hey!"

"Look, I'm not trying to scare you off or anything," Bianca continued. "You have half of them now, don't you? How about we call it even and you guys just go home? I PROMISE to take good care of the ones that are left if you leave them here."

"Oh, yeah, a single rabbit trying to take care of eighty dragonlets?" Spyro scoffed. "You'd be a GREAT guardian."

"Spyro, you don't understand!"

"No, YOU don't understand! These dragon eggs aren't just things that you and your witch friends can use to cast your fancy spells! They're DRAGONS, actual babies that you're taking away from their homes and families! So how about you take a second to actually learn something about all of the eggs you dragon-napped before you try striking some kind of deal with me, okay?"

Spyro turned sharply, heading off towards the lake. He didn't really expect her to understand; how could she? Nobody stole baby rabbits from their families and sold them on the black market to evil sorcerers. Nobody tore her away from her mother before she was hatched so she'd never know her real family. "Sorry, Bianca, but it's all or nothing. Come on, guys, we have eggs to find."

Bianca sighed. She should've figured that wouldn't work. Her first time ever meeting a dragon, and it hates everything about her and won't listen to a word she says; total dream come true. Would it even make any difference to bother explaining? That she DID want the dragons to grow up healthy and happy here, in the worlds where dragons once belonged and needed to belong again?

"Spyro!"

"What?"

She wavered under the heat of his steely eyes. No, it really wouldn't. He was going to fight to get the eggs back, Sorceress or no Sorceress. "...Ago phasmatis draconis, Spyro."

The purple Artisan slid to a halt. The Peacekeeper way of life, and not only was it on the other side of the world, but he was hearing it from his newest nemesis. "...Excuse me?"

"It means good luck. You'll need it."

oo00oo00oo

Sparx stretched his wings as he basked in the lowering sun of the Evening Lake. He loved adventure as much as his partner in crimebusting, but Sparx was the more laid-back of the two by far. Spyro could barely stand the thought of sitting still, but Sparx was more than content to keep off his wings for a few hours and enjoy the cozy grass.

Still, even with his dragon-brother down exploring the lake, Sparx had to keep his dragonfly senses on high alert. And they twitched to life the second Zoe's fluttering came within earshot.

"Hey, Sparx!" The ginger fae giggled at the sight of the dragonfly. "Comfy?"

"I was," Sparx buzzed, taking to the air to meet the young fairy. "What's up?"

"Where's Spyro?"

"Last I checked, underwater. Something about a whale."

"Okay, great!" Before Sparx could ask why she wanted to know, Zoe whipped out her wand and used it to summon a mighty zap!, shooting both of them back to the Midday Gardens.

"What was that for?!" Sparx jumped, trying to shake the fairy magic from his wings. (Spyro was much better suited for dealing with fairy zaps than he was.)

"Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to explain!" the fairy apologized, sheparding him up into a crevice just below the Midday Ridge.

"I think I can guess," Sparx buzzed flatly, noting that this was the second not-dragon-sized hole she had found for them to explore. "You found another dragon egg hiding in one of these things? Really?"

"Well, think about it: if you were hiding eggs from a dragon, wouldn't you put them somewhere too small for him to get through?"

"...Yeah, I guess."

After carefully traversing the silk-ridden cavern, Zoe finally brought them to a central arena, where a dragon egg lay untouched in its center. "There it is; all you gotta do is rush out and get it."

Sparx looked around. The room was strangely fortified - it looked more like a metal maze than any sort of natural cave. Webbing was strung from every corner, as if this place once belonged to somebody else and had been taken over by cobwebs in their absence. Still, as far as he looked, there was no sign of...well, anything. "So...why did I have to come along? Where's the scary bad guy? Couldn't you get this egg yourself?"

"I...tried," Zoe argued sheepishly. "But when I got close..."

She pointed to the egg, so Sparx quietly flew in to see. Upon closer inspection, the dragon egg was also draped in cobwebs, dotted with the tiny black wriggles of newly-hatched spiders. The dragonfly laughed. "Really? That's it? Baby spiders?"

"Don't laugh," Zoe pouted. "I don't like spiders."

"Alright, I won't laugh," Sparx buzzed, clearly doing everything in his power to uphold that promise. "Okay, Zo, I'll go take care of the big, scary spiders."

He approached the unwatched egg, gently beating his wings to blow off the cobwebs. The baby spiders all squealed as their nests were torn up in the wind, sending them skittering across the ground. Once the egg was cleaned off, he gently laid it on its side and rolled it back to where Zoe was waiting. "See? Nothing to it."

As he and the egg moved along, though, Sparx noticed that the spiders he brushed away weren't going away as he thought. In fact, quite the opposite: it seemed that there were MORE of them, rushing past as they poked out from the cracks and cobwebs that littered the walls. "Hey, what's the rush?" he buzzed, stopping to blow them away from the dragon egg. "Where you guys go-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! SPARX, LOOK OUT!"

Spinning around at the sound of Zoe's shriek, Sparx just barely had time to dodge the spinning black disc that shot towards him and the egg. Giving the egg a gentle shove to roll it out of the way, the dragonfly shot off in the other direction, hoping to direct the attack away from the unhatched dragonlet.

The disc took the bait, skidding to a stop. Once it slowed down, Sparx could get a better look at its features; namely, the toxic green markings on its back and its spindly spider legs. An arachnul, the sick offspring of a tarantula and a draclet...and judging by its size, this one was the queen.

Sparx fluttered backwards step by step, trying not to spook the impending monster as it clicked closer and closer to him. "Uhm...hey, Your Majesty! Uhm...sorry about, y'know, that thing with the, uh...the baby spiders and all, but that egg you have over there is kind of-"

Before he could finish making his case, the arachnul queen reared back with a hiss, opening her slimy jaws wide. Her belly gave a shudder, and waves upon waves of tiny black spiders poured out, rushing towards Sparx with only one thought written in their beady, glittery eyes - lunchtime.

In a panic, Sparx reared back himself, spitting a line of flyfire to fight back the sudden mob of enemies. His attack tore through the wave of baby spiders, but by the time the shots got to the queen, she jumped into another vicious spin. Every single spark simply bounced off.

The arachnul shoved off the ground with her spindly legs, right before they went limp to aid in her spin, becoming deadly whips at all angles. But instead of rushing towards Sparx, she rocketed off in another direction entirely.

Towards Zoe and the egg. "ZOE, LOOK OUT!"

Zoe, nearly paralyzed out of fear (why did it have to be SPIDERS?), had to force her hand up. Leaving would've meant abandoning the dragon egg, which she couldn't do. Despite shaking like a leaf, she managed to unleash a single zap of fairy magic. It wasn't much, but it did bounce the queen back slightly, ending her spin and protecting the egg.

For a moment, she seemed safe, but the fairy froze up once more when the arachnul reared back once more with another slobbery hiss. Trying to rush to the rescue, Sparx charged in as fast as his wings would carry him, and managed to give the queen a swift headbutt before she could unleash another small wave of minions.

The arachnul queen shook off the minor attack from behind and went into another frenzy, grabbing the dragonfly in her wild limbs and tossing him against a wall, where he was rightly smashed. "Sparx!" Her arachnaphobia blinded by concern for the green-looking dragonfly, Zoe re-tightened her grip on her wand and summoned another bolt of fairy magic - one to dizzy the queen, another to summon a butterfly.

The bolt of magic bounced off of the arachnul's shell, though it did push her aside and stop her spinning, as the first had done. After the richochet, the magic hit the wall near where Sparx was nearly-splattered, materializing into a butterfly...though not the usual pink-and-yellow of dragon fodder, but rather an odd shade of draclet green.

Sparx, head spinning from the attack, saw the familiar shape and choked it down anyway. He gave a shudder, color not changing to reflect the lack of sweet healing nectar the butterfly normally provided. Instead, this butterfly left a burning in his throat and a thick, hot smoke in his chest - nothing a fire dragon's dragonfly couldn't handle, but still not too pleasant.

Awoken by the sour taste in his mouth, Sparx saw the arachnul queen also recover, rearing up for another blast of baby spiders. Realizing his opportunity, the dragonfly did the same, unleashing a stream of flyfire to combat the spiders as they spewed forth.

Instead of his normal stream, though, the butterfly's burning exploded into a furious jet stream of flame - a dragonfly super-flame, if you would. The arachnul, still suspect to the draclet's great weakness to heat, couldn't spit spiders fast enough to protect herself. She writhed and shrieked in pain before falling flat and crumbling into a pile of gems.

With the danger gone (ignoring the tiny spiderlets that still hid in the cobwebs), Zoe rushed over to tend to Sparx, who fell flat against the ground as well. "Oh, my gosh, Sparx, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine if you promise to NEVER drag me into one of these again," Sparx buzzed flatly.

Biting her lip, the young fairy gently scratched at the delicate spot right between the dragonfly's antennae. "Sorry."

"You hang out with Elora too much."

"Huh?"

Sparx smirked, not unlike what his dragon would've done. "You two apologize way too much."

Zoe laughed, making a proper butterfly to help Sparx back onto his feet. "Well, uhm...thanks for your help."

"Hey, you helped, too."

The fairy blushed slightly. "Oh, that was nothing. I-I was just...y'know, just...I'm nowhere near the hero that you are."

Sparx couldn't help but let that sentence roll in his head for a bit as Zoe went to recover the egg. The hero that HE was - not Spyro, but HIM. Ever since they were hatchlings, Sparx had always just accepted his role as the sidekick. Spyro was the crazy hero dragon that would jump into the heat of battle and save the day, and he would live the cushy life of fame, fortune, and free rides in Spyro's frill. Hearing that HE was the star of the show was a bit of a shock, but not something he couldn't get used to. Could he really do this save-the-world thing on his own? Battle epic monsters? Save dragon eggs from evil lairs? Rescue gorgeous damsels in distress?

...Alright, so he was already there. (Especially on that last one, though he knew Spyro'd never let him live it down if he admitted to having a crush on a girl.)

"Alright, that does it for eggs here. We should probably get you back to the Evening Lake."

"Oh, right. Yeah, before Spyro notices I'm gone."

"Hey, Sparx?"

"Yeah?"

"Just, uhm..." Zoe's wings fluttered nervously. How hard was it to say? 'We should hang out sometimes, without having to go adventuring for eggs.' Don't have to say the word date, just "hanging out." They were heading back to Evening Lake, and the fairy lofts in the Charmed Ridge were supposed to be beautiful for picnics. All she had to do was force the words out of her mouth.

And yet, she couldn't. "Just...thanks again for putting up with all this mess."

"All in a day's work. ...Hey, Zoe?"

The fairy tried to hide how hard her heart was beating. Was Sparx thinking the same thing? What could he want? A date? A kiss, even? The last thought popped into her mind as the dragonfly fluttered just a bit closer, turning her cheeks almost as red as her locks. "Y-Yeah?"

"You, uh...have a spider in your hair."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Oh, my gosh, are you serious?! Augh, get it off, get it off! Sparx, this isn't funny! If you're joking, I'm going to kill you! I HATE spiders! Oh, my, get it off, get it off, GET IT OFF!"

oo00oo00oo

After the spider crisis was taken care of, Zoe zapped them both back to Evening Lake, bidding her hero farewell before she returned to her own egg-hunt. Sparx found the flower he was resting by when she first showed up, just seconds before Spyro finally emerged from the lake.

So there they were, a dragonfly covered in bruises and cobwebs, meeting his dragon, who was covered in bite marks and whale slobber.

"I won't ask if you won't."

"Deal."

oo00oo00oo

And so, Spyro and Sparx found the rest of the eggs, gems, and other little secrets in the Evening Lake.

...Or so it seemed.

"I just feel like we're missing something, y'know?" Spyro said, mind racing as he paced around outside of the Evening Castle.

"Hey, Spyro?"

"I mean, we've been in the station, around the castle, up on the towers..."

"Spyro?"

"I'm pretty sure we've been through the whole lake a few times, and I'm not messing with that whale any more than I have to..."

"Spy~ro! Hello?"

"I just get that weird feeling that we're missing something! Like there's an area we didn't cover yet, or-"

"SPYRO!" The Artisan slipped slightly, his attention FINALLY turning to his dragonfly. "Man, you're dense. Do we need to get your hearing checked when we get back to the Dragon Realms?"

"Sorry, sorry," Spyro grumbled, getting back to his feet. "What is it?"

Sparx flew over to the front-most tower, pointing at some inaccessible area behind the ladders that led up to the upper levels. "I think there's something in here that you missed. And I think I saw a door down in the lake that might lead up here."

Spyro looked down into the water, spotting the doorway that Sparx mentioned. In his rush through the lake, he must've missed it. The dragon looked back up, eyes narrowed in a bit of suspicious confusion. "Wait, how do you know there's something there?"

Sparx didn't have an answer right away. Well, he did, somewhat - his dragonfly senses were going berserk, telling him there were bags of dragon treasure right behind the wall. What he COULDN'T answer was how he could suddenly pick up on it. Some dragonflies had the ability to sense things like magic and dragon treasure, but he wasn't one of them. Usually, those dragonflies were much older, and tended to be tied to the...

Magic Crafters. Could Zoe's magic and the dragon eggs be messing with his dragon sense?

He'd have to ask next time he saw her. For now, he'd have to come up with something convincing to fool Spyro. "Dude, come on, I'm a dragonfly," he scoffed. "It's my job to catch the things you're too dumb to spot, remember?"

Sparx wasn't quite sure he bought it, but at least Spyro dropped the subject. "Yeah, yeah, and it's my job to feed you for floating around and doing nothing," he laughed. "Come on, let's go!"

The duo rushed into the water, ducking into the underwater passage and coming up within the tower, just as Sparx had predicted.

And the tower shook as they broke the water's surface inside. It wasn't a pile of dragon treasure, like Sparx had thought, but a towering yeti in one of the Sorceress' golden cages. A blue-tinted club lay at the cage's base, just out of reach for the snow-giant, who found himself gagged and bound at the hands regardless. Still, with his feet free, the monster stomped and kicked as much as he could, desperate for escape, with blind screaming that became incomprehensible thanks to the rope and cloth over his mouth.

Spyro considered running back out - their previous experiences with the yetis weren't particularly pleasant - but stopped when he saw Moneybags' fat tail sticking out from behind an unloading box. "Sparx, go untie the yeti," he whispered quietly. If Moneybags and the golden cages were involved, he may have to re-evaluate his stance on yetis.

The dragonfly nodded, buzzing off before Moneybags stood up to find him, leaving Spyro to climb out and distract him. "Hey, Moneybags, whatcha got here?"

Moneybags gave a bit of a shriek when Spyro snuck up on him. Babysitting the yeti was a nightmare, especially after the kangaroo and the penguin before it being fairly gentle creatures (while in their cages, anyway). Every bump and jolt gave the bear a heart-attack, as any of those sounds could be the monster breaking out of its trap, going on a mad yeti rampage to devour everyone it finds. He still remembered the Colossus yeti tragedy quite fondly, and didn't want to find himself in the same spot as Brother Andrew.

"Oh, Spyro!" the bear panted, fanning himself in an attempt to calm down. "D-Didn't hear you come in! Still, uh, looking for those d-dragon eggs?"

"I was," Spyro answered. "What's up with the yeti?"

"O-Oh, the yeti?" Moneybags choked, trying not to make eye contact with his bloodthirsty captive. "O-Oh, you know how that new job with the Sorceress goes. She, uh, found this one roaming in the Frozen Alps! A-And you remember how awful these yetis can be if you let them run rampant near a hockey rink, right, Spyro? L-Luckily, he's all cooped up in this cage now, so he won't be eating anybody anytime soon, right?"

"WHY, YOU BRAZENLY AVARICIOUS, DUPLICITOUS, LARCENOUS URSINE!"

Both Spyro and Moneybags took a nervous step back as the yeti, now free of its bindings, smashed through the cage door, reclaiming his club and storming towards them. "N-Now hold on, furball!" Moneybags tried to argue, putting on his tough face. "D-Don't think you can just-"

POW! WHAM! WHACK! BAM! Spyro ducked down, lifting a wing to shield both his eyes and Sparx's from the carnage. Suddenly, the brutal beating stopped, and the dragon looked up to see the yeti calmly kneel towards him. "Oh, excuse my manners, dragon. If this is one of your companions, I will cease my actions immediately."

Spyro looked over at the bruised and beaten Moneybags in front of them. "Nah, you can keep hitting him."

"Delightful." With a bit of a cackle, the yeti gave the pompous bear one final whack, sending him crashing into the watery pathway.

He then gave a mighty yawn, stretching his burly arms. "Ah, the first rejuvenating breath of freedom!" The yeti lowered his club, giving a graceful bow. "With the humility of a wounded sparrow, I genuflect on my noble deliverer."

Spyro wasn't sure what confused him more: the fact that he wasn't yeti-chow or what in the world the yeti was saying. "Uh...sure. It was no big deal, really."

They went through the usual speeches: the yeti introduced himself as Bentley, and Spyro had to once again explain that he was in the Forgotten Worlds to hunt down dragon eggs that were stolen by the Sorceress.

"Stealing dragon eggs on the eve of the Year of the Dragon celebration?" Bentley tsked. "A most tragic situation; my humblest apologies for any inconveniences the Sorceress may have caused for you or the other dragons."

"Hey, man, it's cool. Not your fault. But if it's not too much to ask, would you mind giving us a hand in finding them?"

"It would be my honor to assist in such an exigent undertaking, my draconic companion, but I must temporarily decline," Bentley answered with a shake of his head. "My younger sibling Bartholomew has been left to his own devices in our outpost, and the Sorceress' armies are most certainly prowling the mountains. However, once I can be certain that my brother is out of harm's way, I will gladly reciprocate the favor of kindness."

The draconic duo watched as Bentley gave them a final bow, then rushed through his portal home. "I think he said he'll help after finding his brother," Sparx tried to translate.

"Good, you caught more of it than I did."

I warned you guys we're in for a few long chapters. XD Anyway, where will the misadventures of Evening Lake take our heroes next? Tune in next week and find out! Thanks for reading, guys, hope you enjoyed! :)

Tucker's Mayflower, awkwardly signing off without the ability to copy-paste her sig until the copy protection disabler patches through!