Skylanders Academy: Song of the Hunt
by andresponceb2002
Chapter 5) The Great Games
Spyro sat on his hind legs as he watched in silence as Whirlwind held Sunburn's wounded wing in her paws. She had her eyes closed as he horn seeped out a bright, thin rainbow, which connected to Sunburn's body.
As the rainbow's light passed over Sunburn's body, his wounds faded almost immediately, making Sunburn let out relieved sighs as it did.
"Thank you Whirlwind," Sunburn said as he backed away from the cyan dragoness to stretch his previously wounded wing out. "I almost can't feel a thing anymore." He stated contently.
"You're welcome." Whirlwind responded with a smile as her horn stopped glowing.
"So your horn thingy," Camo suddenly interjected. "Can let you control the weather and heal stuff and fire lasers!?" He asked, giving Whirlwind an unblinking stare.
This made the dragoness visibly uncomfortable. "Y-Yes, pretty much." She responded with a nervous giggle.
Camo remained silent and unblinking. However, his eyes shifted from Whirlwind to focus solely on her horn. "Can I touch it?" Camo asked in an entranced voice as he very slowly began to stretch out his paw to touch Whirlwind's horn.
"I-I'd prefer if you didn't" Whirlwind responded, hiding her horn and part of her face with one of her wings.
However, Camo continued slowly reaching closer, apparently completely entranced. This made Spyro swat away Camo's paw with his own in a quick motion.
"Ow! Hey!" Camo exclaimed as he rubbed his swatted paw and took a couple of steps back.
Spyro didn't find it necessary to explain to Camo why he did what he did. Instead, he turned to Drobot, who was laying down, belly down with his eyes closed behind the four other dragons.
The wounds previously on the coppery dragon's skin, we nowhere to be seen, for Whirlwind had also healed him with her horn's magic. However, Spyro noticed that Drobot's many metallic appendages were still heavily damaged. Apparently Whirlwind's healing didn't apply to machinery.
"Well, I must say," Sunburn spoke up. "It's rather satisfying to see that my long trip to find medicine was so useful." He said in a deflated tone, reminding Spyro the red dragon had volunteered to find medicine for Drobot.
"It was a nice thing for you to do." Spyro interjected. "None of us knew Whirlwind had healing magic." He stated, giving his new red friend a supportive smile.
"I know, I'm just kidding." Sunburn said with a small chuckle. "In any case, what are we going to do now? I don't believe your friend can come with us to the Academy as he is now." He said, turning to Drobot, giving him a worried look.
"Yeah. As we are now, the trip to the Academy would take quite a while, even if all of us could fly." Spyro stated, taking one of his paws to his chin as he started to think of something to do.
"We could go to my home." Drobot's synthesised voice sounded suddenly.
"What?" Spyro turned around to look at his friend. "We could?"
"Yes. My home is not far away from here actually." Drobot stated, slowly getting up from the ground, letting out a small, yet strained groan. "It's a little bit to the south from here."
"The south?" Sunburn repeated. "Isn't that a little close to the Outlands?" He asked, sounding slightly concerned.
Spyro didn't blame him. His memories of the Outlands weren't exactly pleasant.
"Yeah, it's near the Outskirts, the little middle ground between the Skylands and the Outlands." Drobot explained. "It's a lot nicer than you'd expect, I assure you. Besides, it's the only place where I can fix my gear." He stated, gesturing at his damaged wings.
"A town… in the Outskirts?" Camo spoke suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. The little green dragon looked like he was thinking, his gaze fixed on something far away as he held a paw to his chin. "Where there's cool tech stuff?" Camo continued thinking, humming steadily. Then the little green dragon's eyes went round and his eyebrows shot up. Apparently, he had realised something. "Ah-Ha!" He exclaimed suddenly, pointing at Drobot accusingly as a wide smile spread through his face. "I know where you live!"
"You do!?" Drobot exclaimed in shock. "How!?"
"Ohhh man! How could I not know!?" Camo interjected in Drobot's stead. "That place is soooo cool!" The little dragon stated cheerfully as he wagged his bushy tail behind him.
"Well, what is it?" Sunburn asked, genuinely curious.
"Oh, brother." Drobot sighed, covering his eyes with his paws.
"It's this place called Motleyville!" Camo began excitedly. "It's home to the BattleBrawl Arena and the Ridepocalypse Demo Derby!" He explained, speaking the names with dramatic effect..
"The what now?" Sunburn asked, apparently confused.
"I've never heard of those things." Whirlwind admitted. "What are they?"
"I've heard about them." Spyro interjected, causing everyone to focus on him.
"You have?" Drobot asked nervously.
"Yeah. And I gotta say," Spyro said. "I'm not a big fan of them." He stated with a small frown.
"Why? What are they?" Whirlwind asked.
"From what I heard from Master Eon," Spyro began. "They are these underground fight clubs and illegal supercharger race derbies. It's a whole business, run by some mayor bad guys, which is why the Skylanders haven't taken them out yet." He explained.
"Oh." Whirlwind said simply, shrinking slightly.
"Suddenly," Sunburn began. "I'm not so eager to go to Drobot's home now." He said, frowning. "No offence, Drobot." He added quickly, turning his head to the coppery green dragon."
"None taken," Drobot responded sluggishly. "Part of the reason I put this suit together-" He gestured at his mechanical appendages. "-Was so I could get out of that place. They always host these really dangerous games and get people hurt. And it's all hosted by these two greedy jerks called Pandergast and Baron Von Shellshock." Drobot explained, frowning as he mentioned the two names of who Spyro guessed, were some really nasty villains. "But, it's the only place I know where I can fix my suit." Drobot added, in an almost ashamed tone as he lowered his head.
Spyro ran the situation through his mind. While he would be ready to bet an arm and a leg on Sprocket being able to fix Drobot's gear, he couldn't ignore the fact he secretly wanted to take a look at Motleyville. Not just because it was Drobot's home and he wanted to get to know more about his friend, but also because he found the opportunity to take a swing at such a large evil business very tempting to say the least.
However, Spyro remembered he wasn't alone. He had four other dragons now behind him, with hopes on becoming Skylanders, which meant they were his responsibility, and going to an underground fight-club-illegal-supercharger badguy heaven with them didn't exactly sound like a responsible thing to do.
"Alright guys," Spyro spoke up, drawing his friends' attention to him. "I want to go to Motleyville to help Drobot out. I can't really ask any of you to come with me, and I won't think less of any of you if you don't."
He was about to continue, when he was suddenly cut off by Sunburn. "I'll come with you." He said simply. "I can't stand by when others are doing the right thing around me."
"I'll go too." Whirlwind said steadily. "If… If you'll have me." She added, more shyly.
"Welp, if everyone's going," Camo shrugged. "I guess I'm coming too. Wouldn't want to get lonely." He joked.
After this, Spyro took a long look at his new friends. They all had known each other for so little time, and yet, they were all ready to help eachother out. It left him a little speechless.
"Spyro? You okay?" Drobot asked suddenly. "You've stayed silent for twelve seconds."
"Uhhh, yeah, I'm alright." Spyro responded hurriedly, shaking himself back into focus. "Well, It we are all going, we should follow Drobot," He said, pointing at his friend. "Where to, buddy?" Spyro asked.
At this, Drobot took a little pause to clear his throat. "Yes, of course." He began. "Just follow me." He said, turning around before he started walking in a straight line.
The other dragons followed Drobot until they all reached the edge of the large isle the flea market stood on. There, Drobot came to a sudden stop, looking out to the horizon for a few seconds.
After a short pause, Drobot slowly turned around to face Spyro and the others. He had a paw scratching the back of his head and an embarrassed blush could be faintly seen on his face.
"Yeaaah, I might need to be carried there." Drobot chuckled bashfully, advertising his friend's eyes.
The other four dragons shared an awkward silence and sideways glances. However, before long, Camo stepped up. "Rock, paper scissors?" He suggested, shrugging as he made "scissors" with one of his paws.
Spyro flew through the air, followed by Whirlwind and Camo. The three of them were following Sunburn, who after choosing "scissors" when everyone else chose "rock", was carrying Drobot beneath him.
The five dragons had been flying for a while now. The sun was actually starting to get really low and yellow was now the prevalent color in the sky. However, as Spyro and his friends continued their trip, the sky slowly began losing color. It didn't become dark with nightfall, but rather a dull, lifeless grey, indicating proximity to the Outlands.
"Where to now?" Spyro asked out loud.
"Straight forward." Drobot answered. "We're almost there." He announced.
"Oh, thank you." Sunburn said in relief between tired breaths.
"Sunburn, you know you could just let someone else carry him right?" Spyro asked his friend.
"Oh, don't worry," Sunburn responded, forcing his voice not to sound exhausted. "We're almost there anyway, right Drobot?"
"Yes, we are." Drobot confirmed. "In fact, it's right there." He said, pointing forward with one of his paws.
At that, Spyro looked forward. In the distance, he saw a large chain of yellowish-orange islands, all very large in size and connected by intricate bridges and roads that seemed to be made from scrap metal and monster truck tires. Spyro also noticed that there were several spotlights aimed upwards to the sky.
One island in particular, was much bigger than the rest. the spotlights on that island were moving frantically, as if there was a show happening.
"Alright then." Spyro picked up after absorbing the sight. "Drobot? Where's your house exactly? That place is a bit bigger than I imagined."
"It's near the Stadium." Drobot responded. "Once we land on the island, we should go to my place, wait for my to put my gear back together and leave immediately." He stated. "This place is not the kind of tourist trap you'd enjoy." He warned.
"Alright then." Spyro began. "We'll be in and out." He told his friend reassuringly.
After a while, the five dragons got close enough to one of the islands to make a landing. Spyro, Camo and Whirlwind all landed normally, while Drobot was dropped off by Sunburn who, after letting go of Drobot, collapsed on the dusty, yellowish floor.
There, Sunburn panted with his eyes closed. "I'm not flying him back." He stated as he slowly began getting up.
"You won't need to." Drobot began. "We just need to find my house and I'll be able to fix my gear. Then, I'll fly back myself." He said as he started walking toward the centre of the island chain, to where the largest island was.
Afterwards, the four other dragons followed Drobot closely as the coppery green dragon navigated through the large, junkyard-looking city. As they walked through the dusty streets, Spyro and his friends were faced with many strange sights, like piles of tires, some of which were on fire, pits of tar-like substances, shoddy houses made out of scrap metals and a couple of towers with spotlights, looming down on the streets. There were also what seemed like a lot of scraped supercharges, with varied levels of rust, as well as a lot of large machinery, like construction cranes, junk compactors and more, in smaller islands in the distance.
The locals, were a race of creatures Spyro had heard Master Eon mention, but not elaborate on. They were these short, bipedal fish with sharp teeth and big hands called Landsharks. They all had fins, gills and even shark-like tails, but they seemed able to breath on land just fine. And despite a lot of them looking quite mean at first sight, they were mostly no trouble, save a couple of tourist shoutouts and dirty looks. There were also a couple of mabu, greebles and even a few trolls here and there, but the landsharks were a clear majority.
There was something that caught Spyro's eye however, and that made him get a little on edge, was that he noticed a cyclop. It was small, had green skin and deep a brown robe. With recent events taken into account, Spyro felt like he was a little entitled to be weary of the one eyed creature, especially since it looked like it was following Spyro and his friends for a stretch of the way to Drobot's home.
But then, after a few minutes the robed cyclop took a turn, fading into a crowd of landsharks and not showing up again. This did little to ease Spyro's conscience, since a bad feeling had now settled in his subconscious, but he did his best to keep it to himself. For all he knew, that cyclop was just some guy, not a scout from the One-Eyed Legion.
Then, after walking through a few streets, the five dragons arrived at what looked like a large plaza, surrounded by houses and a single bridge, which led to the largest island of the bunch. Now that they were closer, they could tell that the island seemed to have a huge stadium built on it, which was surrounded by spotlight towers. Even from where they were, the five dragons could hear a thundering racket come from the stadium. It sounded like people cheering, engines roaring and sport hosts speaking through megaphones.
"Must be quite a show." Spyro said, keeping his eyes on the stadium, admittedly impressed by the size of the stadium, which was easily ten times bigger than the one they used for training back in the Academy.
"It always is." Drobot spoke behind Spyro, making him turn around. "That's the problem." He added, his expression darkening up as he did. "Anyway, that there-" He picked up, pointing to Spyro's right. "-Is my house."
At that, Spyro turned to where Drobot was pointing. He was faced with a two floor, rectangular structure. in between two smaller houses. There were a couple of windows on each floor but, other than a garage gate, Spyro couldn't see any way of entering the house.
However, Drobot quickly walked over to his home and stood on the right hand side of the garage door. This prompted Spyro the other dragons to follow him. Once he was closer, Spyro noticed that there was a small keypad on the wall beside the garage door.
With surprising speed, Drobot pressed a six digit code on the keypad. The coppery green dragon did this so quickly, Spyro couldn't even catch the code.
But then, Spyro heard a loud noise, like a machine revving up. The purple dragon soon figured out the sound came from the garage gate on Drobot's house, which slowly rose up, allowing entrance to the dragon's home.
"What a cool door." Camo said in wonder, following the rising garage door with his eyes.
"Thanks. I made it myself." Drobot responded. "Anyway, you guys are welcome to stay in the first floor while I fix myself up." He said as he began walking into his house.
At this, the other four dragons walked in as well, panning their heads around, scanning Drobot's little home. There was a small TV placed over a wooden stand against a wall, a round, bed-like couch in front of it, which had a black remote control between a couple of pillows. There was also a kitchen counter on the opposite wall to the TV. The room was well illuminated by four lightbulbs near the corners of the room and a simple ceiling fan kept the room temperature cool. There was also a stairway, which led to the second floor above the dragons. There seemed to be a metal hatch dividing both floors.
"I'll definitely take a while." Drobot picked up, making his way to the stairway. "So… make yourselves at home." He said, gesturing at his home before walking up the stairway and closing the hatch after him, leaving his four companions by themselves.
"Well, this is… a little smaller than I expected." Sunburn said as he walked over to the kitchen counter.
"I think it's nice." Camo stated as he belly flopped into Drobot's couch and picked up his remote.
"I wonder why he doesn't want us up there?" Whirlwind asked, pointing her head up at the ceiling.
"I'm sure he has his reasons." Spyro interjected. "Besides, I should know that focusing with someone breathing down your shoulder is difficult."
A few minutes passed, and there was no sign of Drobot. Whirlwind and Camo had found a way to entertain themselves by laying on Drobot's couch and watching television. Camo had the remote and constantly changed channels, complaining about there not being anything good to watch.
Sunburn however, was pacing frantically through the room, fidgeting with Drobot's things, as if he was trying to force himself to be patient.
However, after a little while, Sunburn had enough. "That's it, I'm sorry but I can't stay here." He said, making his way to Drobot's doorway. "I'll just go get some fresh air. Tell me when Drobot finishes with his repairs."
"Cool." Camo said simply, not taking his eyes of the TV screen.
"Wait!" Spyro said suddenly, stopping Sunburn and making him turn to face him. "I'll go with you!" He offered.
"Umm, alright." Sunburn agreed awkwardly.
"Be careful, you two." Whirlwind said, in a slightly worried tone, turning her head from the TV to the two dragons.
"We will, Whirlwind." Spyro said reassuringly with a smile, which made Whirlwind smile back.
"O-Okay then." Whirlwind said, quickly turning back to the TV.
After that, Spyro and Sunburn got out of Drobot's house, out to the plaza. There wasn't a whole lot to see in the plaza itself, just a couple of other houses and piles of scrap metal or tires, all covered in yellowish-brown dust. Something that called Spyros attention was that, other than the ruckus coming from the stadium, there was no noise. No locals, no animals, no nothing.
However,before long, Spyro tried breaking the silence. "So, Sunburn," He began, calling his friend's attention. "Why did you want to become a Skylander?" He asked. "Beside you owing me your life of course." He added quickly, still feeling really uncomfortable with the whole deal.
At Spyro's question, Sunburn looked over to the horizon, as if he was thinking his answer through. After a noticeable pause, Sunburn spoke up. "Spyro, I think you can tell, I'm no ordinary dragon." He started. "I don't mean that in a narcissistic way, because I don't consider myself better than others." He explained. "I mean I come from a rather… peculiar heritage." He entonated the last words strangely.
"What do you mean?" Spyro asked, starting to get really curious about Sunburn.
"I mean," Sunburn picked up, after a long sigh. "I'm a hybrid. I'm the son of a dragon and a phoenix." He stated.
"You're a what!?" Spyro asked in shock, not understanding the words on his first go. "That's awesome! I didn't know there were dragon-phoenix hybrids."
"Yeah, it is pretty awesome." Sunburn agreed, puffing his chest proudly. "And yeah, I didn't really expect you to know about dragon-phoenix hybrids. According to my old man, I'm the very first!" He stated with a proud smile.
"You seem very proud of your heritage pal," Spyro said with a chuckle. "I got some cool blood running through my veins myself." He joked, nudging Sunburn with his wing.
"Yeah, I can tell." Sunburn responded, chuckleing lightly. "But anyway, back to why I wanted to become a Skylander." He picked up, making Spyro focus once again. However, before Sunburn started speaking, Spyro noticed he darkened up, as if he was remembering unpleasant memories. "It actually has to do with something really personal and… I want you to know, I don't usually share this with people I've known for such a short time," He stated, making Spyro worry slightly. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of secret Sunburn could have. "However, I don't really know why, but I feel like I can trust you." He stated.
Spyro was a little taken back by this. He took a step back from Sunburn, almost involuntarily as his eyes went round for a second. "Well Sunburn," Spyro started awkwardly. "If you trust me, then I'll try to deserve it." He promised, taken a little by surprise by Sunburn's straightforwardness.
"Thank you, Spyro." Sunburn said with a pleasant smile before he continued speaking. "In any case, the reason I wanted to become a Skylander is-"
"Aw yeah, finally!" A new voice shouted in the distance, interrupting Sunburn. "We found it!"
"After getting lost five times throughout a span of thirty minutes." Another voice grumbled. This one sounded lower and gravely.
Spyro couldn't hold himself back from shifting his focus from Sunburn to where those voices were coming from. He felt a strange sensation when he heard them, like he should know who they were.
And when Spyro turned to look where the voices were coming from, his eyes went round and had to force himself not to gasp out loud.
Walking side by side, apparently heading to the stadium, were two dragons. One was roughly Spyro's size, had deep, ocean blue scales, fish-like tail and horns and a peculiar golden harness around his chest.
The second dragon, was at least twice the size of the first. His thick scales were an earthy brown while the six horns on his head and the spikes running down his back were a rusty yellow. It made him look like a living ore vein in the shape of a dragon, with no wings.
The two of them were taking to each other as the walked and it seemed like they had not noticed Spyro or Sunburn.
"Ok, we got lost three times," The blue dragon corrected, putting three fingers on one paw up and waving it in front of the brown dragon's face, something that seemed to irritated the latter. "And it's not like it matters, the best part of a journey is the journey itself, not the destination." He said with a wry smirk.
"Not if the journey is with you." The brown dragon responded grumpily, rolling his magma-red eyes.
"Ouch." The blue dragon said simply in a mock-hurt tone.
Spyro was about to try and say something to the two dragons, since a strong urge to talk to them was welling up within him. But, he heard his own name called first.
"Spyro." Sunburn's voice called. "It's them, the others from the Academy." He stated. apparently aware of the newly arrived pair as well.
"Yeah," Spyro said simply as he kept eyes on the two new dragons, his mind focusing on remembering the duo's names. "It is them. Should we talk to them?" He asked.
"I don't see why not." Sunburn answered as he began heading toward the two dragons, a course of action Spyro imitated. "Hey!" Sunburn called, actually getting the two dragons to look at him and Spyro.
At this, the two dragons stopped walking and gave Spyro and Sunburn wide eyed looks. "Whoa!" The blue dragon exclaimed in surprise. "You guys are here too?"
"Apparently," Spyro began. "What a coincidence, huh?"
"Yes," The brown dragon answered, with slightly narrow eyes. "Indeed."
"So!" The blue dragon picked up suddenly. "Why are you guys here?" He asked, glancing between Spyro and Sunburn.
"We're helping a friend with something." Spyro answered simply. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked back.
"Oh, we're here for the games!" The blue dragon responded. At his answer, Spyro noticed the brown dragon nodded in agreement.
"You two want to participate in the games here?" Sunburn asked, a slight edge of disbelief in his voice. "You are aware they are some seriously shady bad guy business, right?"
"They are!?" The blue dragon asked suddenly. "Aw, nuts!"
"And also," Spyro began, as his mind began finally recalling some memories about the two dragons. "Zap, was it?" He said, calling the blue dragon's attention. "Didn't you say your parents were worried about you, or something?" He asked, remembering the blue dragon's reason for not staying at the Academy the first time.
At this, Zap's brow furrowed in confusion. He then opened his mouth, as if to respond, However, not only did no sound come out, but after a few seconds, the blue dragons cherry red eyes went round, as if he suddenly remembered something he had completely forgotten about.
"Aw, double nuts!" Zap yelled, facepalming himself and groaning loudly.
"In any case," The brown dragon interjected suddenly. "I at least, am aware of the dangers of these games. I don't need help of warnings from you." He said in a mildly disdainful tone as he gestured at Spyro and Sunburn with his chin.
"Hey, we're not helping you," Sunburn responded, speaking a little louder and taking a step toward the brown dragon. "We're trying to stop you from doing something really stupid."
At that, the brown dragon bared his teeth and let out a low growl. "You don't get to tell me what to do." He spat at Sunburn, which made the bird-like dragon growl back at him.
"Guys," Spyro interjected. "Let's cool down please." He said, getting in between the two dragons.
"Why should we listen to you?" The brown dragon growled at Spyro.
At that, Spyro felt a little sting of stress. He felt like the brown dragon wasn't the most cooperative person he'd meet. "Maybe because I'm a Skylander, buddy?" He snapped back.
At that, the brown dragon's eyes, previously narrow with anger, went round with surprise. "Oh, right." He stammered, taking a couple of steps back from Spyro. "Sorry." He apologised, lowing his head slightly. "I'm… I'm Bash, by the way." He introduced himself.
This sudden change in attitude admittedly surprised Spyro. "Does this guy respect Skylanders or something?" Spyro asked himself, wondering why the previously uncooperative dragon had suddenly loosen up so easily.
"Oh, that's right!" Zap suddenly interjected, surprising Spyro a little. "You are a Skylander! That's really cool!"
"Yeah, and so are we!" A familiar, squeaky voice interrupted suddenly. Spyro and the other dragons looked around, finding no source for the voice until, followed by a strange hissing sound, a small, green dragon appeared in between them all, an innocent smile on his face.
"Aren't we Sunburn?" Camo asked suddenly, giving the bird-like dragon a nudge on the shoulder.
"Actually…" Spyro began slowly.
"Guys? What's going on?" Another voice questioned, which made the five dragons look to their side.
There, they saw Whirlwind walking up to them slowly, almost uncertainty, a slightly worried expression on her face.
"She's a Skylander too by the way." Camo stated casually, pointing at Whirlwind.
"So wait." Zap picked up, making everyone focus on him. "You're telling me-" He said, pointing at Spyro. "-That you've been giving out free Skylander licences to these guys-" He gestured at Sunburn, Camo and Whirlwind. "-And not us!?" He asked, in an almost outraged way.
"Technically…" Spyro tried speaking. "None of them are Skylanders yet. They need to go the Academy and pass an entrance exam." He explained.
"Ohhh... I understand now." Zap stated, nodding in comprehension. "So we could join up too, if we wanted to, right?" He asked, gesturing at himself and Bash.
"Um… I, uh…" Spyro stammered nervously. "I-If you want to, I don't see a problem with it." He stated.
"Oh, cool!" Zap exclaimed. "But, I don't think we're gonna." He stated, pursing his lips.
At that, Spyro's mind froze frame for a second, as if it needed a moment to properly process what Zap had just said.
"Yeah." Bash picked up. "I don't really like the idea of someone barking orders at me." He stated. "I prefer doing thing my own way."
"Same." Zap agreed. "The whole licenced hero deal sounds cool, don't get me wrong, I just don't think it's for for me."
"Woah." Camo interjected suddenly. "You two don't want to be Skylanders?" He asked, his voice riddled in disbelief. "This guy-" He picked up, gesturing at Spyro. "This guy, this… absolute unit, right here, right here." He continued, gesturing at Spyro more and more violently. "Has been handing out Skylander licences on silver platers all day long. And now, you are just gonna turn them down!?"
Bash and Zap then exchanged a sideways glance in a short silence, before looking back at Camo. "Yeah, pretty much." Zap answered with a shrug as Bash nodded in agreement.
"If he's just handing them out." Bash spoke up. "Then they can't be that valuable." He said, turning to look at Spyro.
"Then what of we bet on them?" He questioned suddenly, almost by reflex as his mind just finished catching up with the situation.
"What!?" All the other dragons present asked simultaneously, each one in a diferent tone, with a diferent expression on their face and at a diferent volume.
"You two said you were going to those games right?" Spyro picked up, unfazed as he pointed at the stadium behind him. "Well, what if we put some bets in? If I can beat you guys in whatever game you're going to play in there, you become Skylanders." He offered, forcing himself to keep a straight face.
"Spyro!" Sunburn intervened. "You can't be serious!"
"Aren't those games dangerous?" Whirlwind asked in a worried tone.
"You mean awesome." Camo corrected casually.
"I'm interested," Bash stated, with a strange smile on his face, which seemed to express a strange mix of anticipation and excitement. "Haven't had a good challenge in a while."
"Color me intrigued," Zap said as well, giving Spyro a curious smile. "But! If we're betting, it means you have to give us something if we win too." He said, sitting in his hind legs and crossing his arms. "So? What do you have to give us?"
"He doesn't have to give you anything!" Sunburn declared suddenly. Spyro noticed the red dragon was looking quite tense and was giving Zap and Bash a rather disdainful look. He also started to feel a slowly intensifying heat, coming from Sunburn.
"Sunburn," Spyro called, making his friend turn to look at him, the anger on his face dissipating slightly. "I'll handle this." He said, giving him a small smile.
This made Sunburn open his mouth to protest, but after no sound came out, he closed his mouth again, and lowered his head, backing away slowly in silence.
At this, Spyro looked back to Zap and Bash. He took a moment to think through what he had to give the two dragons. He thought about the gold in the Relic Room in the Academy, however, looking at the two dragons before him, something told him they weren't interested in money or anything in the Relic Room for that matter.
Realizing he had no real stock for bets, Spyro closed his eyes and let out a sigh, lowing his head slightly. He'd thought up a stupid solution, but a solution nonetheless.
After opening his eyes and raised his head back up, he spoke up. "If you beat me, you get one wish." He said with a straight face.
This made Zap and Bash give him confused looks. "What's that supposed to mean?" Zap asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I know the Headmistress of Skylander Academy personally," Spyro began explaining. "She happens to be in charge of one of the most prestigious institutions in the Skylands and also happens to be one of the most powerful spellcasters in the realm." He said, trying to keep a confident tone as he spoke. "If you beat me, you get a favor from her, on my word." He finished.
At that, Zap and Bash remained silent, looking at Spyro vacantly. The two of them then shared a quickly sideways glance, before looking back at Spyro. "Y-You can do that?" Zap asked shakily.
"You bet I can." Spyro confirmed, with a nod. "So, guys? Do we have a deal?" He asked, looking between Zap and Bash.
The two dragons took a little while to answer, as if the two were thinking the situation through. However, before long, the two of them seemed to come to a decision. "You're on!" The duo exclaimed.
"Alright then," Spyro responded in a satisfied tone. "When do we start gentlemen?" He asked, unaware of what exactly the games they were betting on were.
"There should be a new even in about an hour." Bash stated, looking behind Spyro, toward the arena.
As Bash did this, Spyro noticed that the uproar coming from the stadium was slowly diminishing, despite all the spotlights staying on and no one leaving the stadium, indicating the show had taken some sort of intermission.
"And, uh…"Spyro began shakily. "What are these games exactly? It's my first time here." He admitted.
"Yeah, same for us." Zap stated simply.
"Then why are you all betting on this?" Whirlwind asked suddenly. "No one even knows what's going on."
"You, uh…" Zap began, pointing at Whirlwind. "You got me there, girl." He said, taking a couple of steps back from Whirlwind, something Bash did as well. This made her flich slightly, lowering her head a bit.
However, Camo spoke up. "Alright, look," He began, raising his paws over his head, calling everyone's attention. "I talked to the locals around here." Camo began.
"When!?" Sunburn asked incredulously. "You never left the-"
"Shhhhh!" Camo hissed loudly, cutting Sunburn's inquiry off and making the red dragon back off, allowing Camo to continue.
"As I was saying," Camo picked up. "I talked with some locals and they told me there's going to be one really big game instead of two small games. They said it's gonna be like a free-for-all fight, and that there's going to be a big prize, they said they didn't know what."
Everyone stared in silence at the little green dragon, dumbfounded by his strange knowledge. "How in the Underworld do you even know all that?" Sunburn asked incredulously.
"I'm the guide." Camo answered simply with a toothy smile as he wagged his tail behind him.
"So it's a free-for-all, huh?" Zap began. "That sounds kind of cool." He stated, a smile broadening on his face.
"I should be interesting." Bash agreed.
"Oh! By the way!" Camo picked up suddenly. "The show starts in about an hour, so you guys better get to the arena!" He suggested, pointing at the stadium. "And while you guys fight," Camo spoke up again. "We get to watch!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Isn't that cool, guys?" He asked, looking at Sunburn and Whirlwind.
"Not really." Sunburn grumbled, keeping a disdainful stare on Zap and Bash.
"Alright! Then it's decided!" Zap declared. "We'll be seeing you in an hour purple dude!" He said, waving at Spyro before using his wings to boost himself off the ground, flying off toward the stadium.
"In an hour." Bash spoke, making Spyro focus on him. "We'll see what you're made of, Skylander." He said, in a bold way, yet, he said it with a small, stern smile, that gave out vives of competition more so than disrespect.
"In an hour." Spyro responded, smiling back and giving Bash a firm nod, a gesture that was reciprocated before the large brown dragon began walking toward the stadium, leaving Spyro and his friends behind.
Afterwards, Spyro watched as the two dragons made their way toward the stadium. He felt a strange sense of anticipation crawl up his spine. He felt like he was about to do something important. For some reason, Spyro couldn't help but smirk at the thought of facing off against those two.
A while had passed since Spyro had made his bet with Zap and Bash. Now, Spyro and his friends were on the inside of the massive stadium, which was rather imposing from within.
"Impressive." Drobot said, as he looked around. "I've never been on the inside of this place, but I must admit, the engineering is much more respectable than I anticipated."
The coppery green dragon had joined Spyro and his friends just after Zap and Bash had left to the stadium, so he was unable to met them. However, Drobot's blue mechanical appendages were all now free from any sign of damage and, according to Drobot himself, were working at full capacity.
As for the stadium itself, the facility was much more impressive from the inside. Just as Spyro had imagined, it was several times larger than the training field back at the Academy, dwarfing it completely. There was a tall ring of row after row of seats to look down on the massive stage below. These rows were taken up almost entirely by Landshark locals, as well as a couple of shifty-looking mabu, greebles and trolls. There were also several towers, crammed with spotlights shining down on the stage.
The fighting stage below Spyro and his friends, looked like a strange mix between a racetrack and an obstacle course. There was no clear rhyme or reason to it, other than the many diferent hazards, like burning debris, spike pits, landmines and cement barricades for cover, all riddled throughout clearings around very crude asphalt roads. As Spyro looked down at the battlefield, he saw something explode in a huge cloud of black smoke. He didn't get to see what it was, which only made him more nervous.
"That looks safe." Spyro joked, swallowing hard as a drop of sweat fell down his temple.
"Oh, relaaaax." Camo, who was carrying a bucket of popcorn, said dismissively. "It just looks bad, but you can do it. I believe in you." He said, a little unconvincingly since he was cramming a handful of popcorn down his mouth from a bucket he had bought for the show.
"I believe in you too Spyro." Whirlwind admitted shyly, lowering her head as she said so.
"And I," Sunburn spoke up, putting his paw on Spyro's shoulder. "Have no doubt you'll teach those two a lesson." He stated.
"Yeah, that too." Camo added quickly.
"Thanks guys," Spyro began. "It means a lot." He said honestly as he smiled at his friends, who all smiled back supportively.
"Hey, purple dude!" Another voice sounded, coming from behind Spyro. The purple dragon turned around to see Zap, flying a few meters away. "C'mon, the game is about to start!" He said energetically, gesturing at Spyro to follow him.
"I'll be right there!" Spyro responded. At that, Spyro turned back around to his friends. "Wish me luck!" He said. "Not that I need it or anything." He added jokingly.
Then, Spyro flew off, following Zap to the middle of the stage, located a ways away from where Spyro's friends had sat down to watch. As the two dragons landed on the dusty ground, Spyro noticed there were a lot of competitors apart from him and Zap and Bash, who was pacing around the starting point.
"Soooo," Spyro began, taking look around. "We've got a lot of company, huh?" He asked.
"I would seem so." Bash answered plainly.
Scattered through the very sizeable arena, were all sorts of enemies. There were trolls, clad in leather and wearing blast goggles, wielding large, black hammers. Greebles dressed in dirty raggs, swinging silver swords around. Drow elves, sticking to the darker parts of the arena, dressed in their dark red armors, silently sharpening their weapons and even a bulky arkeyan robot or two, standing unmoving, imposingly.
"I wonder how we're gonna focus with all these other guys in the way?" Zap wandered, taking a look at the many other participants.
"Should we set a rendezvous or something?" Spyro proposed sarcastically.
"Hehe." Zap chuckled. "I'm sure we'll find a way." He said with a smirk, which made Spyro smirk back. He was starting to feel like he was getting too eager about this.
"Just try not to lose to a random grunt." Bash stepped in, calling Spyro and Zap's attention. "I would hate to miss out on a good fight."
"Same here." Spyro responded, looking up at the brown dragon with a determined expression, still unable to stop smirking.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A magnified voice Spyro did not recognize suddenly blared through the air, making everyone focus on it. "Welcome, one and all, to tonight's main event!" The voice exclaimed with great showmanship, getting the crowd in the stadium to let out a thunderous cheer.
After this, Spyro saw a large floating podium, slightly similar to Master Eon's descend from the dark sky. This podium was built more like a spectator booth and was a lot of brass colors. And in it, there were two figures smiling broadly before microphones. The podium floated above the centre of the racing curse.
"I am your lovely, outright princely local celebrity, Pandergast!" The first voice introduced itself. Spyro noticed it came came for a strange, fury creature, who was wearing an exaggerated red top hat with bronze goggles and a grey feather on it, as well as an elegant red suit with golden buttons and linings.
"And I am, Baron Von Shellshock!" A second voice introduced itself. Spyro noticed it had a peculiar accent, and that it was coming from a scary-looking blue crab, who was wearing a black pirate hat and a fancy red corsair outfit.
"And we will be your very good-looking hosts for the night!" Pandergast announced proudly. "And what a night it's going to be, ladies and gentlemen! Because we've got a whole boatload of competitors here!"
"Indeed!" Shellshock picked up. "We have a little bit of everything tonight. We have trolls, greebles, spell punks and even a couple of dragons!" He said, referring to Spyro, Zap and Bash.
"This show promises to be a very memorable event, Shellshock!" Pandergast continued. "As you know, this is No-Rules-Sunday! Which means- you guessed it- there are no rules!" The showman exclaimed with a hearty chuckle.
"Whoever is the last one standing gets the super secret prize we have in store!" Shellshock explained. "It will be sure to be worth the while of anyone tough enough to fight their way for it!" The crab declared.
"Now, before we begin with this honestly, fantabulous spectacle." Pandergast interjected. "We have an announcement to make! We have a new gift shop opening soon if anyone is interested." He announced.
"Aw, come now!" Shellshock spoke up. "We are all here for a fight! Not for gifts! Am I right people!?" He shouted, his magnified voice reaching everyone on the stadium, and getting a fittingly booming response.
"Of course! Where's my showmanship!?" Pandergars picked himself up. "Let's not waste anymore time ladies and gentlemen! At the sound of this gun-" He began, pulling out a simple prop gun. "-The games will begin!" He declared, getting another loud cheer from the crowd.
"Alright," Zap began. "This is it, here we go. You better get calling your headmistress pal," He said, looking at Spyro. "I'll be wanting my favor."
"So will I." Bash added, walking closer to the other two dragons, keeping his eyes on Spyro.
"I'll consider talking to Kaossandra about it when you two finish you graduation exams." Spyro responded snarkily, getting into battle pose, something Zap and Bash mirrored.
"In, Three!" Pandergast began counting down. "Two!" He continued, taking an obvious dramatic pause before reaching "One!"
"Wait!" A new voice shouted, it's command heeded by Pandergast, who did not fire the gun. "I have an announcement to make as well." The voice stated, in a breathy voice Spyro found dreadfully familiar.
"And what would that be, stranger?" Pandergast asked curiously.
Spyro slowly turned to his head toward where the breathy voice was coming from. When he did, his fears were confirmed.
Standing hunched over, with his gangly arms dragging behind him and a half-open eye, Unulus stood in the arena, accompanied by four burly, heavily spiked-armored cyclops, all of which were wielding maces.
"Guys," Spyro whispered to Zap and bash, keeping his eyes on Unulus. "The bet is off. Maybe some other time." He stated.
"What? Why?" Zap asked in confusion.
"Those guys aren't here to play games," Spyro explained, pointing at Unulus and his new, burly goons. "You guys should leave." He said, not wanting to get them caught in a crossfire between him and Unulus.
"My announcement," Unulus suddenly picked up, speaking loudly and cutting Spyro off. "Is that no one should leave their seats." He said simply. "You see, I have a couple of friends, hidden somewhere in this stadium, and if they see someone try to leave their seat, let's just say, that that someone will be forced to sit down again, and they might not be able to stand up afterwards." Unulus threatened nonchalantly.
"To put it in short," Unulus restarted, shrugging with his arms. "Everyone in this stadium is my hostage." He stated, a strange sense of malevolent pride in his voice as he did.
At that, as if on cue, Spyro saw a multitude of bright orange lazers fire down from the spotlight towers above the stadium, aimed at random, empty seats, causing people around them to scream in alarm and fright, making it clear Unulus wasn't bluffing.
"Oh no." Spyro thought to himself, a drop of sweat trailing down his temple. "Sunburn, Whirlwind, Camo, Drobot!" He thought. Would his friends stay put? What would Unulus do to them if they didn't? What did the cyclop chieftain have in mind with all of this? How had he even gotten here?
All those questions raced through Spyro's mind so quickly he got a headache, which was only made worse when Pandergast's magnified voice sounded through the air.
"This is an outrage!" Pandergast exclaimed. "You can't just ruin our great games!"
"Yeah!" Shellshock agreed. "Who do you think you are!?" He asked angrily.
"I am Unulus." The cyclop introduced himself. "And I am not here to ruin your little game, on the contrary. I'm here to sponsor it." He stated with an malevolent smile.
This made the two hosts enter a stunned silence, that stretched out for a few seconds. "Um, could you repeat that?" Shellshock asked meekly, snapping back into focus..
"Whatever those two showmen are offering," Unulus picked up, pointing at Pandergast and Shellshock as he seemed to speak not to the audience, but rather to the competitors in the arena. "I am willing to double, for whatever underhanded criminal eliminates…" He said, taking a pause as he moved his arm, pointing away from the two hosts to someone else. "Spyro the purple dragon." He finished, his sharp metal gauntlet now pointing right at Spyro.
Spyro didn't move or look around, he didn't need to. He could already feel the hungry gazes of every criminal in that arena focus on him, apparently easily swayed by Unulus' offer.
"Sorry old friend," Unulus began, a surprisingly genuine tone of regret in his voice. "You're too much of a nuisance to take fairly, and I'm down several troops. This was the only way." He explained, letting out a long sigh afterwards.
Then, he turned back to Pandergast and Shellshock. "Your game will resume as you planned and no spectators will be hurt. As long as they remain spectators." Unulus explained. "I'll just spice things up a little bit, that's all." He said simply.
"Okay," Zap whispered suddenly. "This is not cool. This isn't what I signed up for."
"Neither did I," Bash stated. "I won't stand for this." He said with a low growl.
"No guys," Spyro whispered back. "You need to find a way to leave, this is dangerous." He said, trying to sway the two dragons.
"Dude, we came to this place for the heck of it." Zap interrupted, gesturing around himself. "We aren't going to leave because of some one-eyed punk." He said firmly.
"Besides," Bash picked up, giving Spyro a serious look. "You owe us a fight." He said simply, a very small smile tugging at his lips.
Spyro wasn't eager, but it seemed like there was no way he was going to talk the two dragons out of staying and fighting a rigged free-for-all battle. So, he decided to roll with it.
"If we're gonna make it out of here," Spyro began, drawing Zap and Bash's attention. "We are going to have to work together." He stated, turning around from Zap and Bash and getting into battle pose.
When he did this, Spyro noticed that all around him, all the other competitors, greebles, trolls, drow and more, were all slowly walking toward them, gripping their weapons tightly as they all fixed their bloodthirsty eyes on him.
"What's on your mind?" Zap asked.
"I can handle Unulus," Spyro began, shifting his gaze from the many competitors to the gangly cyclop. "But I'd really appreciate it if you guys could keep the rest of the people here off my back."
"That sounds like fun." Bash said plainly, making it impossible for Spyro to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
"Alright then," Spyro picked up, focusing on Unulus and his bodyguards. "I trust you guys." He said lowering his head, still looking at Unulus, tensing his body up to move for whenever the cyclop made a move.
"You trust us?" Zap asked in disbelief. "Why?" He added, turning to look at Spyro
"We don't know each other," Bash stated. "You're being foolish." He warned, giving Spyro a disapproving look.
"Maybe," Spyro agreed. "But that doesn't change the fact I still need your help." He responded with a smile, turning around to look at the two dragons, who looked taken back by Spyro's response, staying in silence and looking at him with raised brows.
Afterwards, Pandergast's voice blared through the air once again. "Alright ladies and gentlemen," The host began. "There is no cause for alarm, just stay on your seats and enjoy the show!" He said, trying to make himself sound unaffected by the situation, mostly succeeding.
"At the sound of the gun, the game will start!" Shellshock declared, also sounding not entirely composed. "So, just… three, two, one!" He blurted quickly.
At that, the sound of gunfire echoed through the stadium, short but sonorous. And then, Spyro could just feel like something big had been cut loose. Then sudden battle cry of the dozens of competitors only fed this sensation.
However, Spyro kept eyes on the prize. He didn't look back to the competitors, after all, Zap and Bash were behind him. So, releasing the tension he had built up, Spyro used his wings and legs to shoot toward Unulus. As he flew through the air, Spyro dipped his head down, orange flames bursting on his horns as he quickly closed the gap between him and Unulus.
The purple dragon's burst of speed must have caught Unulus by surprise, because Spyro felt his head collide with something, something he sent sprawling back from the impact.
When he lifted his head to see what he had hit, Spyro saw that Unulus was struggling to get on his feet, a few meters away from where Spyro had felt himself impact. The four bodyguards were all exchanging nervous, confused glances and scratching their heads, unsure of what to do.
However, Spyro stayed focused on Unulus, who was already back on his feet. "Is it me, or is my ram getting just a teensee bit stronger?" Spyro asked with a smirk, as Unulus glared at him.
"It certainly has." Unulus hissed. "Making new friends?" He asked, making Spyro look behind him.
At this, Spyro laid eyes on a sight that made him incapable of holding back a smile. He saw Zap and Bash fighting off the other competitors, displaying their awesome powers.
Zap used a strange, gooey substance he secreted from his body to make himself a combat-ready slip-n-slide, using it to casually slide out of the way of the swords and hammers of the many trolls and greebles that were chasing him. Then, once his pursuers were out of breath, panting and bent over their knees, Zap circled back around them and when he was close enough, he released a short but vivrat stream of bright yellow lightning, which knocked out a good bunch of the hostile creatures.
Bash meanwhile, was handling one of the large arkeyan robots in the arena. The towering machine, was sturdily built and had two halves of a sturdy circular shield on both arms.
Spyro had actually fought with a similarly designed robotic enemy a while ago. To him these blue robot were huge and it was also taller than Bash, and definitely bigger. However, at least the difference wasn't as significant, which kind of brought the brown dragon's size into perspective for Spyro.
The two large foes circled each other for a few moments before the arkeyan robot slammed his arms together, completing the shield its arms were designed to create. To this, Bash rolled up into a ball, which began spinning in place, gaining speed, spinning faster and faster. Then, in a single moment, Bash shot directly at the arkeyan robot, crashing violently against its shield. The impact sent a metallic resonance through the air, and the arkeyan robot several feet back, with its circular shield now sporting a very big dent.
Spyro thanked the dragon duo silently, grateful for their help. However, Spyro then remembered he had something to do himself. He had to take care of Unulus.
After turning around, Spyro got into battle pose, ready for another fight with the gangly cyclop. He noticed that the four bodyguards had taken battle positions around their boss, while giving him enough space for him to stretch out his arm beside him.
Then, Unulus shoved his forearm, deep into the glowing rock in his black armor's chestplate, causing strange pink light to emerge from it. Then, in a quick motion, Unulus drew a long, single-bladed sword from his chest, made of a dark purple shimmering crystal, a falchion, identical to the one the cyclop chieftain had used during his first fight against Spyro.
Then, the falchion glowed an eerie purple light, along with the crystal on Unulus chestplate and the three crystal horns on his helmet, signaling the chieftain's murderous intent.
"Very well." Unulus began, giving Spyro a look of battle lust that rivaled the ones Enumat used to give, wild and wide-eyed. "Let us finish this!" He roared.
At that, Unulus charged at Spyro, holding his falchions ready to slice the purple Skylander. And the four bodyguards followed their leader, holding thier maces above their heads to swing them down on Spyro.
Due to the distance between him and his enemies, Spyro was able to use his wings to boost himself up into the air. There, Spyro fired a single firebolt at Unulus. The fiery projectile was blocked with a falchion swing from Unulus. However, as the projectile collided with Unulus' weapon, it created a sizeable cloud of dark smoke.
However, Spyro wasn't trying to harm Unulus, not yet. He instead used the smokescreen he had just made to give himself some time to clear out the bodyguards.
To do this, Spyro dove down, aiming for one of the one-eyed creatures heads. Then, Spyro used his paws to grip the horns on the cyclop's helmet, balancing his body on the creature's head. To this, the cyclop Spyro had landed on started stumbling around, not able to balance himself with a dragon on top of him.
But then, before long, what Spyro was trying to get to happen did. One of the other cyclops roared and raised his mace over his head, aiming to attack Spyro. However, since this was the course of action he had predicted, Spyro used his wings to boost himself off the first cyclop's head, just as the blow from the second cyclop was coming down.
The outcome was one cyclop swinging his mace at his friend's head, making him lose consciousness instantly and Spyro let out an amused laugh. "Nice job, dude! Wanna become a Skylander too?" He taunted at the cyclop.
"Don't lose focus!" Unulus' voice suddenly roared, dangerously close to Spyro.
The purple dragon then felt a slash of energy land on his back, sending a wave of pain through him in an impact that made him lose his balance and plummet down through the air, crashing on the dusty floor. Spyro guessed it must have been that strange energy slash Unulus' falchion could create. It hurt just as bad as it did back when the cyclop had first used it against him.
Afterwards, Spyro shook himself back into focus, powering through the pain from Unulus' strike to take a scan of his surroundings. He saw the three remaining cyclop bodyguards slowly walk toward him, holding their maces at the ready. One of them took a couple of steps forward, apparently very eager to cave Spyro's head in.
However, before the cyclop could reach Spyro, the was a strange clicking sound, followed by rapid beeping. This made the cyclop stop in his tracks and look down, something Spyro did as well.
The cyclop had one foot over a yellow disk with a red button on it's center, a landmine, which was beeping, faster and faster.
So, with an almost disappointed sigh, the cyclop closed his eye and seemingly accepted his fate. Spyro saw as the cyclop was sent flying out of the arena with a mighty blast, coming from the landmine, which also meant the number of bodyguards narrowed down to two.
Silently thanking the traps that were lain out in the arena and not wasting time, Spyro got on his feet and released two firebolts, one aimed at the bulging eyeball on each of the remaining bodyguards' heads.
The two projectiles collide with their targets, making them both let out pained groans and cover their faces. Spyro took this opportunity to ram one of the cyclops, crashing his lowered head against the exposed gut of his target. The impact sent the one-eyed creature sprawling back, knocked out.
Spyro then turned around, ready to release a barrage of firebolts at the last remaining bodyguard, who was still rubbing his wounded eye. Just as the cyclop was lowering his hands and refocusing and just as Spyro was getting ready to fire once again, the purple dragon saw a blazing green barril, roll down a nearby hill, trampling the cyclop.
"Man, those are some effective traps!" Spyro thought to himself, taking a moment to thank the stadium traps for making his fight easier.
However, despite his success in defeating the bodyguards, Spyro had one last enemy to deal with. And that enemy happened to be charging straight at him.
Spyro had little time to react as Unulus approached him with falchion at the ready. The purple dragon tried backing away, but it was no use, the cyclop chieftain had too much reach.
Unulus struck Spyro with the flat of his blade, knocking the purple dragon to the ground, disorienting him slightly, however, thanks to his scales, Spyro could still think clearly enough to come up with a counter for Unulus' attack. Once he was on the ground, Spyro used his tail to slash at Unulus' legs, hitting them with the sharp edge of his tail.
This sent the cyclop chieftain stumbling back, eventually making him fall on his rear, opening him up for another attack. Spyro took this opening by firing a quick firebolt right at Unulus' face, causing the cyclop to let out an angry groan.
And in response to Spyro's attack, Unulus traced his falchion through the air in front of him, creating a vibrant slash of purple energy, which shot through the air, aimed directly at Spyro's face. However, reacting in time, Spyro ducked out of the way and then pounced at Unulus, knocking him on his back and against the floor, making him lose his grip on his falchion and become incapacitated.
"That's enough!" Spyro roared at the cyclop beneath him. "You lost, so just call your goons off!" He demanded, throwing daggers at Unulus with a fierce glare.
The cyclop chieftain glared back, rage and frustration boiling in his dark, purple eye. He also struggled, mustering what seemed like all his strength into getting himself free. But, Spyro summoned all his strength as well. He was more determined to stop Unulus than the cyclop was to keep fighting. The purple dragons subdued the gangly cyclop, preventing him from moving or attacking.
And so, afer one last desperate struggle, Unulus slowly seemed to give up, settling down and closing his eye. "Fine, you win. You've bested me." He muttered, defeated. At this, Spyro was a little taken back. He never though Unulus would be such a good loser.
"And we have a winner, ladies and gentlemen!" Pandergast's voice cheered, causing the whole audience to cheer thunderously. "And it is none other than the absolutely outstanding, olympian-level, Battlebrawl arena extraordinaire, Spyroooo the purple dragoooon!" Pandergast cheered.
"Now, before anyone leaves their seats," Shellshock began warningly, cutting off Pandergast's cheer. "We should confirm there is no threat from out very insistent cyclop sponsor's friends." He stated.
Spyro was about to make Unulus call off his hidden shooters, but before he could, he heard a loud blast, like a miniature explosion in the distance. The sound was followed, after a few short moments, by another sound, identical to the first, just seemingly coming from a diferent tower. Then, after another pause, yet another explosive sound came from yet another spotlight tower.
And then, there was another pause, longer and more dire than the previous ones. Spyro was on edge, for he had no idea of what or who had caused those explosive sounds.
However, the purple dragon's doubts were answered when one final explosion sounded, this one much closer than the rest, so close actually, Spyro was able to feel a small wave of heat spread through his back.
Spyro then turned around to see what had caused the explosion. To his very pleasant surprise, Spyro turned around to find none other than Sunburn standing proudly over three, unconscious white-robed cyclops at the center of a small scorched crater. That would mean that the red, bird-like dragon had teleported around, picking off the cyclop wizards to pile them all up here.
"Well! It would see there is no longer any threat everyone," Shellshock's magnified voice announced as Sunburn dusted himself off.
"Which means!" Pandergast interrupted energetically. "That tonight's game has ended with an absolutely spectacular finale!" He preached "The fights, the thrills! For both audience and competitors! Amazing, simply amazing!" He said with great showmanship. "The winner can come claim his prize at the brand new, stadium gift shop!" Pandergast announced, making Spyro consider visiting the little shop.
"Spyro!" Sunburn called as he trotted over to Spyro, drawing his attention.
"Sunburn! Are you alright?" Spyro responded. "How are the others!?" He asked in concern.
"They're fine," Sunburn stated calmly. "We were all a little riled up with the sudden cyclop attack. The rest actually had to stop me from jumping out to help you." He admitted with a shamed chuckle as he scratched the back of his head.
"I wouldn't have put that past you." Spyro replied jokingly, getting another chuckle out of Sunburn.
"I should probably lump this guy with the rest," Sunburn suggested, gesturing at Unulus, who was still laying motionless beneath Spyro. "You know, so he doesn't try anything."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Spyro agreed, stepping off Unulus slowly, allowing Sunburn to pick him up by his shoulders and start dragging him back
"Hey!" A familiar voice shouted from behind Spyro, making him turn around.
Zap was rushing toward Spyro and Sunburn, with Bash following behind him. As the two dragons approached Spyro, he noticed they were a little battered. There were no serious injuries visible on either dragon, just a couple of scrapes and very light bruises.
"Heya man!" Zap began as he came to a stop in front of Spyro. "You took that one-eyed jerk out!" He entonated.
"That was an impressive display." Bash admitted. "You're tougher than I thought."
"Well I couldn't have done it without you guys," Spyro replied. "You keep all the other baddies off my back long enough to finish this. Thank you." He said, giving the two dragons a small head bow.
The two were evidently taken back by this. Both of them took a step back from Spyro and gave him a wide eyed look.
"D-Don't mention it, dude." Zap said nervously while Bash simply averted his eyes.
"Well, I guess I have to go now," Spyro picked up. "We have to return to the Academy, get back to Skylander-ing, you know." He said casually.
"Oh! Right!" Zap reacted. "You do have to do that, hehe." He stammered.
"Alright then," Spyro picked up. "Until we meet again." He finished, giving the dragon duo a firm, respectful nod.
Then, without saying another word, Spyro turned around, gesturing at Sunburn who had remained silently watching the exchange, to follow him.
When Sunburn caught up with Spyro, he looked a little confused, something he expressed to his friend. "Why didn't you call in the bet?" Sunburn questioned. "You won the tournament, they should be following you now."
"We called it off." Spyro explained simply. "We figured stopping Unulus was more important than some bet, so… we'll just have to wait for some other time." He said with a small sight, thinking ahead, about the day he could face off with those two in a fight.
However, as it was, that day seemed far away to Spyro, but it didn't matter, not right now. Spyro had a whole new load of things to do. He had to cash in on his brand new reward, put Unulus and his goons in Cloudcracker Prison and train a new batch of dragons into Skylanders. Besides, Cynder and his friends should be worrying about him by this point, he wouldn't want to upset them, they were his friends after all.
Spyro was in the gift shop, surrounded by Whirlwind, Sunburn, Camo and Drobot. All five dragons were looking down at the peculiar object in Spyro's right paw. It had been handed to him by a mabu attendant in the gift shop.
The item was slightly smaller than Spyro's paw. It was a triangular sapphire, colored blue, deep as the ocean and carved flawlessly. However, the detail that caught Spyro's eye the most, were the two elegant butterfly wings that were sprouting from the gem's surface, which fluttered, as if the gem was alive and could fly off.
"What is it?" Spyro asked in an absent voice, not able to get his eyes of the peculiar object.
"It's called a winged sapphire," Cam stated. "They are super-duper rare. I actually don't know what they're for, just that they are really valuable." He explained.
"I suppose it's a fitting prize for this game then." Drobot said, unable to pry his eyes from the odd gem.
"Alright, enough," Spyro declared shaking his head to focus and put the sapphire away. "The guys here promised to give Unulus and his goons up to justice, so that means we're supposed to be going to the Academy." He explained.
At that, the other four dragons stepped back, allowing Spyro to start searching for an exit from the gift shop. After scanning the area briefly, Spyro found a simple exit that led out of the stadium.
After telling his friends about the exit, Spyro proceeded to walk toward it, hearing his friends close behind him. When Spyro crossed out through the exit, he was able to see the dead, grey sky of the Outlands, glooming over what seemed like a supercharger scrapyard, fashioned into a poor excuse for an exit trail for the gift shop. The rusty supercharger bits and parts were piled up in such a way that they created a weiding road that Spyro guessed eventually led to the main plaza.
"Well, I'm too beaten up to fly through this," Spyro said deflatedly. "Who wants to take the scenic route?" He asked, forcing a smile and gesturing at the scrapyard trail.
"Me, me!" Camo volunteered excitedly.
"I wouldn't mind a walk." Sunburn stated.
"Maybe I could find some useful parts in there." Drobot said, looking at the supercharger scrap.
"I like scenic routes." Whirlwind voiced quietly.
"Well alright then," Spyro began. "Let's get goin-"
"Wait!" A familiar voice shouted, making Spyro look behind his friends, at the gift shop exit.
There, Spyro saw Zap, followed by Bash, walking toward him. Zap looked exhausted, as he had run a very big distance at full speed. He actually had to take a breather in front of everyone, wheezing loudly and doing the "time out" gesture with his paws all while Bash, who looked just fine, watched in disapproving silence.
Meanwhile Spyro and the others waited in confusion for Zap to recuperate, all silently wandering why the dragon duo had returned so suddenly.
After a few moments, when Zap finally caught his breath, they received their answer. "Spyro!" Zap called in an overly loud tone.
"Yeah, Zap?" Spyro responded nervously.
"We wanna… tag along…" Zap panted. "You guys…"
"Look, I think I'm going to do the talking here." Bash interjected, shoving Zap aside and clearing his throat. "Spyro." He called.
"Yeah, Bash?" Spyro responded again, hoping Bash could articulate a little better than Zap.
"We want to join up." Bash declared firmly. "We want to be Skylanders."
"Really now?" Sunburn interjected suddenly, preventing Spyro from responding. "You two weren't so on board with that idea a few hours ago, what happened?" He asked mockingly.
At that, Bash growled and gave Sunburn an angry stare. "After speaking and fighting beside Spyro," Bash began. "I actually had a couple of reasons, but now, I have one more," He stated. "To prove I can do it better than you, bird-brain." He snapped.
After this, Sunburn started growling back at Bash, tension building quickly between the two. Which naturally made Spyro step in and get in the middle of the two.
"Alright guys, let's calm down." Spyro said in a serene tone, trying to soothe the two dragons.
"Yeah guys, lets not fight." Whirlwind tried helping.
"There would be no point in it either. I'd just be stupid." Drobot added, also trying to help defuse the situation.
On the other hand, the fact Camo was whispering "Fight, fight, fight." Under his breath was not helping.
However, with the insistence of their peers, Bash and Sunburn seemed to calm down, reducing themselves to just scoff and look away from each other.
"Thanks guys, real mature." Spyro said scolding. "But now, Bash, Zap. Are you guys serious? You really want to become Skylanders too?" He asked, giving the two dragons a very serious look.
"Of course!" Zap responded, apparently finally recovering his breath. "I mean, after all-"
"-We have a bet to settle." Bash finished, giving Spyro a stern look and smile, like the one he had given him before they entered the arena.
At that, Spyro suddenly felt like any shade of doubt was expelled from him. He couldn't fully explain why, but he felt like the blue and brown dragons weren't joking around.
"Alright then." Spyro began, smiling broadly. "Let's get going people!"
And so, Spyro began to walk down the scrapyard trail with his companions behind him. As the now seven dragons proceed through the trail, they eventually reached a strange sort of midpoint in the scrapyard trail. It was a large, semi-circular island which had a large clearing for, Spyro guessed, people to look out into the gloomy horizon of the Outlands. There were a couple of small piles of scrap here and there, as well as a few puddles of muddy water but the island was mostly plain and trail continued on the other end of the island, where the scrap piled up into makeshift walls once again.
Meanwhile, the dragons all talked to each other, getting to know their future Skylander teammates. As Spyro walked, he turned his head back to see what his friends were up to. He could overhear Camo bombard Bash with a seemingly endless stream of questions, all the way from what his favourite color to whether he had any phobias. Bash however managed to keep himself from speaking, or sitting on top of Camo, who was three times smaller than Bash.
Zap actually seemed to find interest in Drobot, asking him about his metallic appendages, a subject of conversation Drobot was more than happy to indulge.
Meanwhile Sunburn kept his distance from Bash, giving him a narrow eyed look, apparently still not quite trusting of him. And Whirlwind, she stayed quiet, looking around absentmindedly, apparently enjoying the view.
The sight made Spyro feel happy. Most of his memories of these dragons were usually filed with black shadows and expressionless glowing eyes. And what really bummed Spyro out was that he had seen them as enemies for quite some time, as the Knights of Solitude.
But now, seeing them all together, sporing their true colors, being themselves, it made Spyro feel warm inside, unable to hold back a mellow smile.
But then Spyro heard a voice speak. "Hey, there…" The voice called innocently.
It was a woman's voice. It spoke with a small hint of elegance and pose, but it sounded strange, wrong. It sounded like a dead person speaking, and just hearing it made Spyro get goosebumps.
After a bit, Spyro turned around, to see where the voice was coming from. When he did, he saw a tall figure, standing at the other end of the island, blocking their path through the scrapyard trail. It wearing a large, word-down, greyed out cloak which covered it's face.
"Spyro?" The purple dragon heard his name called by Whirlwind. "Who is that?" She asked nervously.
"H-Hey." Spyro called back, trying to speak steadily, addressing the cloaked figure. "What's up?" He tried asking casually.
At that, the figure didn't respond, not in any way. It remained silent, unmoving, completely unmoving. Spyro couldn't even tell if the figure was breathing. However, after a moment, the figure began to shift and took a step forward toward the dragons... and then another… and another.
When the figure did this, Spyro felt a wave of biting cold wash over him, making him let out a gasp. When he did, Spyro saw his own breath puff out of his mouth. It was not this cold before, it had gotten cold, because of the figure's approach. Spyro also noticed that the small, muddy puddles on the floor of the island had completely frozen over, also affected by the hooded figure's presence.
"Spyrooo?" Camo called, fright clearly in his voice. "What's going on?"
"Hey!" Spyro yelled, the pain from the cruel cold getting him on edge. "Who are you!?" He demanded. "What do you want!?"
"Oh…" The figure let out, suddenly coming to a stop. "I'm sorry… I haven't… introduced myself." The figure stated, lifting one of its arms under its cloak to scratch its concealed head. "I suppose a hundred years in the Outlands can take a toll on a person's social skills."
At that, Spyro felt a drop of cold sweat start to trail down his temple. "A hundred years? In the Outlands?" He thought in disbelief. There was no way someone could live for that long, not in the Outlands. But, as unbelievable as it sounded, something told Spyro it was true, a grim premonition, as if something in the dark corners of his mind was screaming out, warning him about this figure.
"In any case…" The figure picked up, making Spyro focus on it just out of the horrible chills he got from hearing it's voice again.
"My name is Vixen Reynald… and I am here to slay you."
Author's notes
Heya it's me again. New chapter ready and as alwways more coming! Now I wanted to take some requests. Since the cast is going to be geting a whole lot bigger, does anyone wanna see more of a certain caracter? Tell me if this is the case and I'll see if I can give them more lines or scenes. But anyway. Till next time!
-I still don't own Skylanders Academy
-Unulus defeated! Is this the end of the One-Eyed Legion?
-All the Knights, together once again, but under a new banner! A new team of heros rises!
-... And a villian to match them? The cold air of death surrounds their mysterious new enemy...