Skylanders Academy: Song of the Hunt

by andresponceb2002

After deafeating Omen, Spyro and the Skylanders can see their lives slowly return to normal. However, six sleeping dragons lay in the Academy and unlike them, evil dosen't rest. When a twisted foe from a dark past that refuses to stay buried, returns to torment the Skylanders, Spyro and his freinds will need a helping hand. New allies and enemies await in this brand new adventure!

9. Chapter 9

Skylanders Academy: Song of the Hunt

by andresponceb2002

Chapter 9) Men of Culture

The sky was a clear blue, and a soft, cool breeze blew through the air. Birds chirped in the distance and the leaves of nearby trees rustled soothingly. The light of the sun bathed the Academy grounds in a beautiful glow.

However, something was out of place in this serene scene. A purple dragon, flying hurriedly through the air with a troubled expression on his tired face. As Cyrus flew overhead the floating isles that dotted the further reaches of Skylander Academy grounds, he panned his head from side to side, keeping an eye out for something, or, more accurately, for someone.

The indigo dragon then came to a stop, using his wings to hold himself stationary in the air. He had reached the end of the Academy grounds, and even here, he found nothing. Frustrated, he gave out a groan as he slowly looked around the area.

"Where did you go?" Cyrus asked the wind, his voice heavy with regret.

After receiving no answer, and after searching to no avail, Cyrus lowered his head, staring down at the green isle beneath him. He then closed his eyes and let out a low sigh. He was about to turn around and head back to the main grounds when he felt something strange.

He felt a single drop of rain fall right on the tip of his snout. It made him blink and shake his head slightly. Then, slowly, he lifted his head and looked up above him.

Hovering peacefully a few meters over him, was a peculiar cloud. While all the clouds around the area Cyrus was in, were cotton white, this particular one was a stormy gray color and was dripping rain droplets.

Intrigued, Cyrus flew upwards, to level with the strange cloud. Once he rose up high enough to look down at the top of the cloud, his eyes went round for a moment. For sitting down on the clouds surface, as if it were a couch of some kind, and turning her back to Cyrus, was a cyan dragoness, staying quiet and gazing out at the distance. Cyrus noticed that her head was hanging a bit low, and her wings were drooping at her sides.

Cyrus looked at her silently for a moment. It took him a second, but he remembered the dragoness' name. The next thing he had to do was speak to her, it was after all, what he'd come this distance to do. However, something made his throat tighten. For some reason, he found speaking to the dragoness more difficult than he had foreseen.

But, mustering his drive and remembering what he was here for, Cyrus managed to speak up. "Whirlwind?" He called, as innocently as he could.

At that, the cyan dragoness tensed up suddenly and turned around, a wide-eyed, alerted look on her face. She quickly focused on Cyrus, and for a second, her expression changed. Her long ears shot up and her eyes dilated as he took a step back from Cyrus.

This concerned the indigo dragon, inciting him to speak further. "I'm not going to hurt you," He said, raising his paws to the sides of his chest. "I just wanted to talk." He explained calmly.

At that, Whirlwind's expresion changed again, slowly reverting to a narrow eyed, reserved glare. "Why would I want to talk to you?" She asked, suspiciously.

Cyrus pursed his lips. "This is going to be difficult." He thought to himself. "I just noticed that you took off on a rather down note," He said, recaling how she had left the arena with her head low. "So I was just wondering," He began trying to sound innocent. "If you were alright." He said, forcing out a smile.

Whirlwind looked at him with an almost offended expression. Her eyes dilated again and her ears pressed against her head. "Why would you care about if I'm alright!?" She demanded. "You didn't seem very worried about my well-being when you abducted me!" She snapped, taking an angry step toward Cyrus.

Cyrus tried coming up with an answer. "I mean," He started up. "I just didn't understand what you did to make them shun you," He stated honestly, recalling the way Whirlwind had been left behind back in the arena. "Did you do or say something to them?" He wondered, curious, not having noticed any act of disrespect.

At that, Whirlwind's expresion changed again. Her ears rose a little, her gaze softened and her mouth opened slightly. She then slowly began lowering her head. "Y-You too?" She muttered, suddenly using one of her wings to cover her forehead as she averted her gaze.

After this, Cyrus tilted his head to the side and gave Whirlwind a confused look. "You too?" He pondered, his curiosity rising as steadily as his confusion. "So, uh…" Cyrus tried picking up. "Are you alright?" He asked awkwardly, not certain he had received an answer yet.

When Cyrus asked this, Whirlwind slowly composed herself, still looking away from Cyrus. "Why do you care?" She asked in a low tone. "You kidnapped me- kidnapped all of us-" She said, recalling Cyrus' deeds. "And you gave us to that, creature," She said the word loathingly, making it very clear to Cyrus who she was talking about. "So why? Why would you, of all people care about me?" She demanded.

At that, Cyrus was at a dangerous loss for words. He started feeling a strange sensation on his shoulders and on his back, like a sort of weight. He came to the conclusion that his approach so far wasn't getting him anywhere.

And so, after a brief pause and starting up with a deep breath, Cyrus tried risking it. "Whirlwind," He called, keeping his eyes on her. "Do you remember the day I… came for you?" He asked solemnly.

Whirlwind then looked shocked. She recoiled at Cyrus' words and remained in silence, cueing Cyrus to continue. "You were crying when I found you," He said quietly, looking down. "Sobbing quietly, almost as if you didn't want anyone to hear you." He recalled, the image of the cyan dragoness he'd found that day, flashing back into his memory. "Something told me, that wasn't the first time it had happened, was it?" He asked, lifting his gaze back at Whirlwind. "Whirlwind," Cyrus called again. "Was your life really any better back then?" He asked, honestly.

After that, Whirlwind and Cyrus stayed in silence for a moment. The only sound that filled the air, was the breze, sweeping against the grass and leaves of trees as both dragons stared at each other.

However, after a while, Cyrus noticed something. He saw as Whirlwind's brow started to furrow, her lower lip trembling as her eyes became watery. "At least it was my life." She glowered, giving Cyrus an emotional glare.

Cyrus suddenly felt his left eye twitch, a familiar, uncomfortable itch erupting suddenly on his forehead. By second nature, Cyrus took one of his paws and placed it over the red "A" above his left eye and started scratching it slowly. He felt strange. He wasn't bleeding, or even being attacked, but for some reason, he felt pain. It confused him, scared him, and made him back away from Whirlwind.

After a couple of moments of heavy breaths and silent scratching, Cyrus was about to raise his head back again, but when he did and laid eyes on the cloud in front of him, he noticed two things. The first, was that the cloud had turned into a natural, plain white. The second thing he saw, was Whirlwind gone. That snapped Cyrus back into focus, causing him to hurriedly leave his mark alone and turn his head around, searching for the dragoness he was speaking to a few moments ago.

When he turned around, Cyrus slowed down, his eyes drooping slightly. He saw Whirlwind, flying away already several meters away, not looking back.

Then, Cyrus let out a low sigh, and let the weight that had built up on his shoulders lower him through the air, back onto the isle beneath him. There he slumped over on his rump, sitting on the ground and looking down at his paws. They were shaking, subtly, almost unnoticeably, but shaking nonetheless. And for the life of him, he couldn't get them to stop shaking.

"You're despicable." A stranger's voice spat, coming from behind Cyrus.

This caused Cyrus to quickly get on his feet and turn around, a serious glare on his eyes. Who he saw behind him made him quickly loosen up, not out of comfort, but out of guilt.

Standing a few meters away, was a red, feathered dragon, looking disapprovingly at Cyrus. "Sunburn, was it?" Cyrus asked in a tired tone. "What brings you over here?" He tried asking.

"I came here to think about you," Sunburn responded in a serious tone.

Before Cyrus could stop himself, he found himself speaking. "Aww, how sweet of you," Cyrus replied sarcastically, immediately regretting his nasty reflex.

That response seemed to anger Sunburn, because not only did the bird-like dragon let out a low growl, the temperature around him seemed to rise around him, like a projection of his mood.

"Listen here," Sunburn scolded, causing Cyrus to obey and lower his head a little. "I know you're Spyro's brother, and I know you helped the Skylanders out," He said. "And as much as I respect Spyro, and admire the Skylanders," He continued, calming himself slightly. "It doesn't change the fact you helped that monster capture all of us. You were his faithful little helper and you just being sorry is not going to change that fact."

"I know that," Cyrus interjected, cutting Sunburn off and looking down at the grass beneath his paws. "I know what I've done so far does not amend what I have done in the past." He admitted, clenching his fists. "But… I just…" Cyrus stammered, pausing again. He said the words to himself, closing his eyes shut, not daring to say anything out loud. He wished for things he couldn't have, things he hadn't earned, so, he said nothing, not wanting to upset Sunburn further.

Sunburn had remained silent for a while now. Cyrus found it peculiar, considering how angry the feathered dragon was a moment ago. But, soon enough, the silence was broken.

"I need more time to think," Sunburn stated plainly. "I stand by what I've said. You wounded too many people and did too many wrongs for me to deem you worthy of forgiveness, but…" He paused, causing Cyrus to open his eyes and look at him.

Sunburn was looking to his side, away fro Cyrus. He had an expression of deep though in his face as he let out a long sigh. "I need more time to think." Sunburn repeated. "Do not follow me." He ordered, still not looking at Cyrus. Then, using his wings, Sunburn rose high above Cyrus and proceeded to fly away, back to the Academy.

And with that, Cyrus was left alone. Alone in the little green isle on the edge of the Academy.

Cyrus looked down at himself. He was shaking, still shaking. A terrible itch continued ringing beneath the skin over his left eye. Closing his eyes slowly, Cyrus couldn't stop himself from taking a tremoring paw over to the brand over his eye. There, he pressed it against his scales and began tracing his claws over his forehead, scratching the itch away.

Cyrus felt a strange sensation. He was certain he hadn't been wounded, and yet, he felt a aching pain in his chest, and a great weight on his body. He stat on his hind legs and placed his free paw over his chest, clenching his paw.

"Why?" Cyrus asked in a brittle voice. "Why does it still hurt?" He asked, bending over, grasping his forehead and chest tightly, clenching his teeth as his heart continued aching, beating with strain in his chest.

---

Spyro was breathing heavily. He felt tired and had several sore spots over his body. He was sweating and was having a bit of a hard time staying on his feet.

"Guys?" Spyro called in a breathless voice. "Can we… please take… a break?" He said between tired breaths.

At that, The three dragons surrounding Spyro, making him back up into one of the corners of the Training Arena, all took a step back and let out a collection of disappointed sounds. Zap, Bash and Drobot, rather reluctantly, allowed Spyro to catch his breath.

"Aw come on, man!" Zap complained. "We've only been training for a couple of hours!"

"And that isn't enough?" Spyro asked, as he let out a deep breath, trying to even his respiration.

"Not if you want to take us out for that try out mission." Bash declared with a serious tone, reminding Spyro of the true purpose of this exercise.

"I must agree with Bash," Drobot stated. "As I recall, you insisted we should develop our team coordination to improve our potential as Skylanders." He recalled. "This exercise, which you proposed-" He said, pointing at Spyro, causing him to roll his eyes. "-Was designed so we could all get familiar with each others powers and find the best ways to coordinate with each other accordingly." He stated eloquently.

"Yeah, and seeing as you have impenetrable scales," Zap interjected. "We had the perfect practice dummy." He said, grinning mischievously at Spyro.

"Har, Har," Spyro laughed mirthlessly. "Just cuz' it doesn't hurt me doesn't mean it feels nice, Zap." He stated bitterly as he stretched out his sore legs and wings.

"I think you guys did amazing!" A squeaky, friendly voice shouted, sounding like it came from above the dragons.

At that, Spyro looked up to see the familiar spectator and source of the voice. Camo was looking down from the Arena's seats, a broad smile on his face. The little dragon still had a cast around his injured wing from his wounds a while ago. However, he was looking much more lively now, which made Spyro unable to hold back a smile.

"Yeah, he's right," Another voice, female and familiar agreed. "That was quite a show guys." Cynder said with a small chuckle, which made his his roll his eyes and shake his head a bit, but he keep his smile on.

The dragoness sat down beside Camo. Both of them had been looking down at Spyro being beaten up for, "Educational Purposes" for about an hour, laughing joyously.

"Well, that was a really neat training session, Spyro!" Zap declared proudly. "We should try it again some time!" He suggested as he walked over to Spyro and stretched out a paw for him to take.

"You know Zap?" Spyro began as he took Zap's paw. "That actually sounds like a good idea. But, how about we use you as the training dummy next time?" He suggested with a smirk.

"I wouldn't say no to that." Bash declared with a small chuckle.

"Hey! It's not my fault the hologram villian proyector-thingy isn't working today!" Zap said, raising his paws defensively.

"Regardless," Drobot interjected. "I do believe this exercise was a success." He stated energetically. "I have registered very complete data on your abilities-" He stated, turning over to Bash and Zap. "-And I believe we should now be able to coordinate to a much better degree."

"That's good to hear Drobot," Spyro said, genuine joy in his voice. "And I gotta say, you guys hit hard." He stated, rubbing one of his cheeks from a mild throbbing pain cause of Bash smacking him in the head with his tail.

"Thanks!" The three dragons said in proud unison, causing Spyro to let out a mildly stressed sigh.

"All that would be left to do," Drobot picked up. "Would be for Camo to recover so we can run a similar test on him and the others, Sunburn and Whirlwind, I believe they were called." He held his chin, looking up and to the side.

"Those two have kind of been missing, haven't they?" Zap asked. "I don't think I've seen either one for a while now." He stated.

"Yeah, you're right," Spyro agreed, suddenly very aware of the two dragon's absence. "I wonder where they went off to?" He pondered.

However, Spyro suddenly remembered why both dragons had flown off. He was a little disheartened by the recollection. He remembered Sunburn stormed off because of his grudge with Cyrus, and that Whirlwind had just up and left for reasons Spyro couldn't really understand.

But, after a moment and a short sigh, Spyro shook his head and made himself focus on the moment. "Alright guys, I think we should take a break," He offered. "You all need a rest, and quite frankly, so do I." He admitted, rubbing his cheek again.

"Well alright then," Zap began. "Let's get outta here, I'm beat." He declared, yawning soon afterwards. "You, uh, have any place for new recruits to sleep?" He asked Spyro.

"Yeah actually," Spyro replied. "There's a lot of houses you guys could share." He stated.

"Wait, share?" Bash stepped in, sounding a bit concerned.

"Yep, share," Spyro confirmed. "Don't worry though, you all get diferent rooms, and at least two bathrooms." He said encouragingly. "There's going to be plenty of space for you all, believe me." He promised.

At that, Bash, Zap and Drobot exchanged sideways glances Spyro couldn't decipher the meaning of. However, after a moment, the three dragons seemed to come to terms with the arrangement.

"Okay then," Zap spoke up. "Where's our place?" He asked simply.

---

Whirlwind felt conflicted. The gentle push of the wind against her body, which was usually soothing and relaxing for her, did nothing to help her focus.

She shook her head and shut her eyes close. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about what she had just flown away from. When she thought of what a conversation with the person who kidnapped her and gave her up to some brainwashing monster would have been like, she never thought it would go the way it did.

"He sounded so sad," Whirlwind thought to herself, playing back Cyrus' words through her mind. "Does… does he really feel sorry?" She wondered. "And… he also didn't…" She began thinking wearily, a strange, almost foreign sensation of hope bubbling within her as she traced her claws over the horn on her forehead.

Whirlwind then shook her head wildly and flung her eyes open. She looked ahead, feeling silly. She was hoping for something stupid, she should know better by now. So, putting her mind into it, Whirlwind pushed the complicated thoughts and hopes away, back into the darker corners of her consciousness.

However, before she could relax, completely out of the blue, Whirlwind heard a loud, sudden sound, like a small explosion. This unexpected sound was enough for Whirlwind to let out a frightened yelp and come to an abrupt stop to turn around and get a look at the source of the loud blast.

She was expecting some sort of enemy, like a greeble or a troll. But what she was faced with was something very diferent. She saw a familiar, yet still amusingly peculiar red feathered dragon.

"Sunburn!" Whirlwind called the dragon's name, a small smile building on her face.

"Hello, Whirlwind" Sunburn began, giving Whirlwind a small smile back. However, halfway through his sentence, Sunburn's eyes wandered slightly upward, just above Whirlwind's eyes. There, the stayed fixed on something, for a second, but it was enough.

This made Whirlwind feel an all too familiar discomfort. She felt like she was being probed, and even though Sunburn was quick to draw his gaze back, she noticed that the smile he was now putting on looked diferent, more forced.

"Where are you going?" Sunburn asked in a try-to-be casual tone. "I was heading back to the Academy."

"Yeah, me too," Whirlwind replied in a deflated tone, averting her eyes from Sunburn.

"Well, l-let's go then," Sunburn suggested awkwardly. "They are probably waiting for us." He said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, you're right." Whirlwind agreed, trying to cheer herself up as she turned around and started flying back to the Academy, Sunburn's wingbeat close behind her.

The two dragons traveled in silence save for the sound of the wind being sliced by their wings. Whirlwind felt disheartened, for there was yet another friend she had to bear having an invisible wall around. Since he was right behind her, Whirlwind managed to keep her composure, limiting herself to curse her stupid white horn in silence.

The two dragons had traveled a fair distance now and noticed that the sun was actually starting to get really close to the horizon, turing the sky a bright orange. Whirlwind could also see the colorful buildings that made up the Academy closing in quickly. As Whirlwind continued flying closer, she could spot several Skylanders walking around, heading to diferent places.

Most of them, Whirlwind couldn't recognise, however, there were a few who she did know. She smiled a little smile when she saw Spyro, Cynder and the others, all grouped together, following the purple dragon down a road that led off the main courtyard.

Whirlwind decided to find out where they were heading to, so she began flying over to them. "Hey, guys!" She called, causing them to look up at her.

"Hey Whirlwind, Sunburn!" Spyro replied, smiling and waving up at the duo.

"Where are you going?" Whirlwind asked, curious as she descended to meet her fellow dragons.

"To your new house!" Spyro responded cheerfully.

It took her a moment to understand what Spyro had just said. "Our, what?" Whirlwind blurted out, tripping as she landed in front of the group.

She quickly tried getting on her feet, looking away from Spyro and the others with an embarrassed blush on her face. She saw as Sunburn landed beside her and tried to help her up, letting her rest some of her weight on his side.

"Your new house, Whirlwind," Cynder spoke up, walking over to Whirlwind and helping her up as well. "You guys are going to have to stay here at the Academy to train from now on." She explained patiently.

At that, Whirlwind's face slowly lit up. She realized, she was going to live here now. "Oh! Oh wow, we're getting a house? where is it? Is it close to yours?" She asked her violet friend, with renown energy and cheer.

This caused Cynder to give out a small giggle. "All the houses are rather close to each other, so we're kind of going to be neighbours!" She said.

"Hey, you didn't tell us about that!" Camo's squeaky voice came from behind Cynder. "That's really cool! I've never had neighbours before!" The little green dragon stated with excitement

"Well, there's always a first buddy," Zap said, walking up to Camo and nudging him on the shoulder. "We're also gonna ve roomies you know?" He said with a smirk.

After hearing Zap's words, Camo's eyes went round and for a second, the little dragon stayed very still. Then out of the blue, Camo jumped up and cheered. "Roomies!" He exclaimed, hugging Zap in a sudden motion that caught the blue dragon off guard, causing him to trip and fall over, thudding on the floor.

This caused everyone to let out an amused laugh, save for Bash, who just rolled his eyes and chuckled lightly.

"This sounds great," Sunburn spoke up. "Getting to know all of you better will be much easier with such proximity."

"I agree," Drobot interjected. "Living together should also help with our communication skills." He predicted.

"Alright everyone," Spyro spoke up, calling everyone's attention. "Let's get you to the house so you can settle in. The sun's almost out." He said, looking over to the horizon.

"He's right," Cynder stepped in. "Come on guys, let's get going." She insisted kindly, moving ahead, waving for the others to follow.

At that, Whirlwind began trotting excitedly after her friend, followed closely by the rest of the group.

After a few minutes of walking, the group arrived at a mid-sized isle on which a large, homy-looking house was centered. It had the distinct, grey, gold, and blue color scheme of most buildings in the academy, and was decorated with several colorful banners, each colored and modeled after the Skylands' elements. In the distance, Whirlwind could see a number of other houses, very similar, yet not identical to the one they had in front of them.

"Wow… that's, bigger than I thought it'd be." Camo said as he admired the house. with wide eyes and mouth agape.

Whirlwind shared the sentiment of surprise. She wasn't expecting something like this. Seeing the outside of the house however, only made her more excited to see the inside.

This made her quickly spot the main door into the house, a dark brown double-door with golden handles, wide enough for two of her companions to enter shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Well," Spyro began. "You should sort out your rooms," He recommended, gesturing at the house. "I should mention," He added quickly. "If there happens to be a lack of breakfast, it's probably just cuz Pop Fizz hoarded it all a while ago. Just go to the cafeteria and eat there." The purple dragon explained, refusing further details on the odd story.

"Anyway, we should be going," Cynder spoke up. "Skylanders need their sleep!" She said, letting out a small yawn afterwards, which Whirlwind noticed Spyro caught soon after.

"Yeah, she's right." Spyro agreed with his friend. "Anyway, we'll let you guys decide how you arrange yourselves. There should be enough space for all of you." He said confidently. "So, I'll be seeing you all tomorrow!" Added with a wave, before lifting himself off the ground with his wings. "Later, guys!" He shouted as he began flying away, to his own home, Whirlwind guessed.

"I should go too," Cynder said apologetically. "See you all tomorrow!" She exclaimed as she too, took off, flying in a diferent direction to Spyro, letting Whirlwind know the two dragons had diferent homes.

After both dragons disappeared, Whirlwind turned around and looked at the her companions, who were already closing in on the house. She then rushed over and made her way to front of the group. There they all stared up at the house's door, none taking any steps to open it.

"I just want everyone to know," Camo spoke up in a serious sounding tone, that made Whirlwind look down at him. "That, if for any reason-" He continued, a somber expression on his face, as he took a pause. However, when the little dragon lifted his head, he spoke rapidly"-There is a bunk bed I call dibs in the top bunk!" He blurted out with a goofy smile.

"Dang it!" Zap shouted suddenly, kicking a nearby rock and scoffing, causing Camo to giggle mischievously.

"Alright," Sunburn spoke up. "We should just get in and see what we're going to be dealing with." He stated, taking the initiative and grasping one of the handles on the door.

The feathery dragon then turned the handle and pushed, effectively opening the door and then walking into the house. Whirlwind followed quickly after, followed inside by the rest of the group. The six dragons made their way to a large living room space in the center of the house.

The large room had a spacious design and had hallways that led to the right and left. On the far wall, opposed to the dragons, were large, scenic windows that let them look out at the night sky. The living room itself had several homely things, like a number of diferent colored couches, a low table, a colorful rug and even a TV.

"Alright," Camo spoke up suddenly. "Where is that bunk bed!?" He asked, rubbing his paws in anticipation.

"Let's go look for it dude!" Zap suggested energetically.

"Yeah, let's!" Camo agreed with the same energy.

"Guys," Sunburn called, speaking in an inside voice. "We shouldn't rush-"

The red dragon was unable to finish his sentence before the blue and green duo rushed off and headed to the left hallway, their steps making it sound like they were ascending some stairs.

"Well, this place really is big." Bash said, looking around the room, slowly making his way to the hallway on the right of the room. "And it's got a kitchen." He remarked, a tiny speck of excitement in his voice.

"Really?" Sunburn asked, much more noticeable excitement in his voice as he walked over to the hallway Bash was looking down.

Whirlwind wandered over as well when she saw both dragons walk down the hallway. As she walked over, she noticed that Drobot followed as well. Soon, Whirlwind found herself in a very diferent room.

The kitchen had tile flooring, as well as a large space, separated from the rest of the room by a polished wood counter, designated for cooking. In this space, was an oven, a stove, a sink, a microwave and several cupboards. To the side of this space, was also a large metal fridge. Near the center of the room was a large, circular table with several chairs.

"This is very spacious." Drobot said as he walked over to the fridge. The coppery green dragon then pulled the fridge door open and peered inside for a moment. Then, he closed the door and looked over to the other dragons with disappointed eyes. "Spyro was right, there's no food." He stated.

"Well, it's no trouble, we'll just go eat to the cafeteria like he said," Sunburn stated as he wandered to one of the corners of the room. There, he stopped and Whirlwind noticed he looked down. "There's a trap door here." He said flatly.

"A trap door?" Whirlwind asked as she walked over to where Sunburn was.

Once there, she noticed there indeed was a trap door, which Sunburn had already swung open. The stairway down seemed to be in good condition. There was very little dust and there were a couple of lightbulbs on the way down. However,Whirlwind still wondered why this passage would be here.

"I would like to call dibs," Drobot declared casually.

"What!?" Whirlwind asked, surprised anyone would like to go down there willingly. "You want that to be your room?" She asked, gesturing at the gloomy stairway and

"Indeed," Drobot responded, looking down the hatch. "I tend to be very noisy when I… work." He explained dodgingly. "I imagine the basement is a rather soundproof, so, it meets my needs and spares you all from the loud noises of machinery in the morning." He explained.

"Suit yourself," Bash invited. "I'm going to search for my room." He stated, turning around and heading back to the main room.

"Well, Drobot," Sunburn began. "Sleep well," He said peeking down at the basement hatch. "...I guess?" He added hesitantly.

"Thank you!" Drobot replied with a smile. "Sleep well, too." He said kindly before walking down the basement stairway and closing the hatch behind him.

Afterwards, Whirlwind and Sunburn walked back to the main room. There, they saw Bash walking up the stairs Zap and Camo had rushed up a couple of minutes ago. Quickly, Whirlwind walked over, with Sunburn following her.

After all three dragons reached the top of the stairs, they were faced with another hallway. This one was lined with several doors. There were two doors on each side of the hallway and one last door at the end, which had a small label above it's frame which said: "bathroom".

However, Whirlwind noticed there was one door already open. The first to the right. She also noticed that the sound of faint snoring was emanating from the room and deduced that Zap and Camo had found their bunk bed and were already fast asleep.

"Alright," Sunburn spoke up, walking up to the first door to the left. "I'll sleep here tonight. We can sort out the rooms a bit better tomorrow." He suggested.

"That sound like a plan." Whirlwind said, just before she felt a yawn come up, letting herself know how tired she really was.

"Fine." Bash said plainly as he began heading to the second door on the left. There, he used his mouth to turn the doorknob and let himself into his room. Afterwards, he shut the room door and made no other sound.

"Well, that's that," Sunburn began,turning to Whirlwind. "Good night." He said in a sleep voice before opening his door and walking into his room, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Good night…" Whirlwind said in a tired tone at Sunburn's closed door.

Afterwards, Whirlwind walked over to the second door to the right. There, she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. After she walked into her room, she felt herself smile a tiny, pleased smile.

Her room looked very homy. It had a roughly circular shape and looked like a sort of dome, which had windows on the ceiling, which let her look up at the starry night sky. There were a couple of drawers, a closet, a mid-sized chest for storage and a nightstand. The bed however, might have been her favorite part of the room. It was perfectly circular and it was in the center of the room. It had plenty of diferent colored and diferent shaped pillows.

So, without a moment's hesitation, Whirlwind slumped over her new bed, curling up and resting her head over some of the pillows. Then, with a small sigh, she closed her heavy eyelids and stayed still, waiting patiently for sleep to come.

And soon enough, Whirlwind crossed into a pleasant, dreamless sleep.

---

Far away from the Academy, in a small, electronics shop, Dan was sweating bullets. The small mabu, who was the shopkeeper of the store felt like he was about to die from hypothermia. He was shaking and desperately trying to keep himself warm, all while two hooded figures were standing a single shop counter away from him.

Both of them had the same, ash-colored robes, covering their faces and bodies, but from their voices, which each had a thick, distinct and peculiar accent, Dan could tell they were both male. One of them was tall and carried himself with poise. The other was smaller and was hunchbacked.

This smaller figure was holding an mp3 player in one of its hands. "What is this rectangle?" The smaller figure asked in a croaky, grating voice which had a thick, foreign accent. "What does it do?" It asked as it shook the mp3 in its hand.

"I-I-It's an mp3 player s-sir," Dan answered after swallowing. "It p-plays music."

"Music?" The smaller figure asked, sounding impressed. "How does something this size make music?" It asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Dan couldn't honestly believe anyone didn't know what an mp3 was, or ask how it worked, but, he decided that he would answer kindly. After all, the second figure had its arms crossed over it's chest and was staying very silent, looking at him beneath the darkness cat by it's grey hood.

"Y-You use the earpods," Dan began explaining as sweat trailed down his temples. "You put them in your ears and press the little button," He added, pointing at the play button on the mp3. "And then, music starts playing." He explained.

"Wow, wie faszinierend!" The small figure exclaimed in a foreign language. Then, the figure placed the earpods on it's concealed ears. Then it pressed play and waited in silence.

After a few seconds, the small figure began shuffling in its place. Then, it started swaying it's arms and humming. Apparently it had found a song it liked. "Hey, mein freund! Das solltest du hören!" He said cheerfully, raising the mp3 to his companion.

"Je vais bien," The larger figure kindly refused his smaller friend's offer. Dann noticed that there was something funny about this figure's voice. It sounded like it was muffled by something, like a sort of mask.

However, Dann didn't have time to linegr to the detail, because the larger figure spoke again, this time to Dan. "How much for the thing?" He asked simply.

Dan racked his brain for the mp3's price, trying to keep a straight face as he answered. "Uhh, I think it was twenty silver." He responded shakily.

Afterwards, Dan saw as the large figure reached for something in it's cloak. Dan shrinked when he saw the figure pull it's hand out, convince he was in danger. However, he soon realized, the figure just took out a small, golden coin, which it placed on the shop counter.

"Keep the change," The figure said calmly. He then put an hand on his dancing companion's shoulder and said something. "Allez, allons mon ami."

"Ja, ja," The smaller figure replied lazily.

Afterwards, the two figures turned around and peacefully left the store, causing no . After they left, Dan felt like heat itself returned to the world, and a crushing silence filled the air, so perfect, it let him hear his own blood roar in his ears and notice just how shaky and uneven his breath was.

Dan let out a long, uneven exhale of breath as he slumped over his counter, trying to get a grip of himself. When after a struggle, Dan lifted his head off the counter, he looked at the single gold coin the large figure had left behind.

Not being one to turn a good thing away, Dan took the coin and proceeded to close his store, grateful his night shift had ended the way it did, and not with one of those shadowy figures hurting him… or worse.

---

Spyro woke up with a long,loud yawn. He licked his lips as lifted his head off his bed and opened his eyes.

After properly waking up, the purple dragon made his way downstairs, flying down to the kitchen, ready for a delicious breakfast.

"Hey Eruptor!" Spyro called as he sat down on the kitchen table. "How's breakfast coming…" The purple dragon's voice trailed off. "Along?" He finished, narrowing his eyes in suspicion when he noticed the magma Skylander wasn't even in the kitchen.

"Huh, he kind of takes pride in this." Spyro said to himself, recalling how much the magma Skylander enjoyed his little hobby of cooking.

Afterwards, Spyro stood up and searched the house, flying from room to room in search of Eruptor. However, not only did he not find his friend, but he also noticed that the rest of his friends were missing too.

"Did the all get up early?" Spyro asked himself out loud. "Hmm, maybe Eon and Kaossandra know what's up." He concluded, having guessed that his team probably just left early to mess with him.

After eating a simple ham sandwich he pieced together from the food in the kitchen, Spyro left his house, flying over to the Academy courtyard. On his way there however, he came across a sight that made him come to stop.

He saw none other than his brother, walking over to the Academy courtyard as well. He walked in the same, creepy manner he used to back when Spyro remembered him as an enemy. With his wings dragging behind him and with his head a bit low.

It made Spyro get a small dose of chills, but, he powered through and dived down to speak to his brother. "Hey, Cyrus!" He called cheerfully.

At that, Cyrus turned over to Spyro. When he saw his brother flying down to meet him, the indigo dragon smiled a small smile. "Hello Spyro." He greeted kindly.

"Hey man," Spyro picked up after he landed, walking up to his brother's side. "Where are you going?" He asked, curious.

"Nowhere really," Cyrus responded with a sigh. "I just didn't get to see the whole place on out tour yesterday." He said, giving Spyro a slightly bigger smile.

"Oh! You're right!" Spyro said with realization, his heart beating a bit faster as joy began swelling up within it. "Well, we could go visit the infirmary and the cafeteria today!" He said cheerfully, overjoyed at the thought of Cyrus willingly wanting to spend more time with him.

Cyrus then let out a small chuckle. "That sounds great." He said.

However, before the duo could go any further, Spyro heard as someone called his name in the distance.

When Spyro turned his head over to the source of the call, he saw a great many familiar faces. "Oh, hey guys!" Spyro called back, waving at his six new friends.

Spyro was smiling as he saw his new trainees approaching, however, when he focused on Cyrus once again, his smile was quick to fade. Cyrus was looking down at his paws and looked a lot more glum than when he did a few moments ago. Actually, he seemed to be moving to leave.

"Some other time perhaps." Was all Spyro managed to hear his brother say before he began walking away.

"Cyrus, wait!" Spyro tried calling, however, his words didn't seem to reach his brother's ears in time, because the indigo dragon continued walking away in silence, leaving the scene just as the other six dragon's entered it.

"Hey, Spyro!" Camo's voice sounded once again, much closer since the little dragon was right in front of Spyro. "Whatcha doing?" He asked innocently.

Spyro didn't really listen to his friend the first time he spoke. He was looking over to Cyrus, who just kept slowly drifting away, making a strange ache in Spyro's heart grow with each step he took.

"Spyro?" A diferent voice called, it's mildly synthesised sound made Spyro realize it belonged to Drobot. "Are you quite alright?" He asked, concerned.

"Y-Yeah Drobot, I'm fine." He said, turning his head over to his friends suddenly. "I was just… talking with someone else." He said, glancing to the side.

"Well, we wanted to say," Zap spoke up. "That the new house rules!" He cheered.

"True!" Camo added to his friend's commentary.

"That's good to hear guys." Spyro said with a small smile, unable to stay with low spirits around his friends.

He decided he would finish his tour with Cyrus latter that day, after his duties as a Skylander were fulfilled and he had some time for himself.

Som focusing on the people in front of him and seeing as Sunburn and Whirlwind, who had missed out yesterday's training session where here now, Spyro was about to open his mouth to suggest a training exercise.

However, before the purple dragon could speak, a much louder voice filled the air. "Spyro!" A powerful voice boomed completely out of the blue.

This caused everyone to jump up in surprise and give out frightened yelps. Bash and Sunburn even got into battle pose on reflex. Only Spyro kept his composure, in fact he had a mildly annoyed face and rolled his eyes, because he was the only one who knew what had just happened.

"Hello Master Eon," Spyro greeted the large, ethereal head that had materialized over the group of dragons.

"Oh, sorry. I did it again," Master Eon's floating head apologised with an embarrassed giggle. "Anyway, as I was about to say; Spyro I need to speak to you about a matter of great importance in the Academy common room." He stated in his narrator-like voice. "Come as quickly as you can." He said, just before disappearing in a flash of blue light.

"Well, looks like you have work." Zap said jokingly.

"It's probably best for you to go," Sunburn began. "If Master Eon says it's important, you should be there." He said eloquently. "Besides, we aren't going anywhere. You have some teaching to do." He added, along with a friendly nudge to Spyro's shoulder.

"Heh, yeah, you bet," Spyro replied with a smirk. "Well then, I guess I'll be going. Don't go graduating without me!" He joked as he took off to the air, leaving his friends behind him and heading to the Academy gates.

When he arrived and landed at the large blue doors, Spyro proceeded to push them open and head inside. In the large, family room, Spyro saw two familiar figures.

Sitting behind on her chair, resting her elbows on her desk and with a troubled expression on her face, was Kaossandra. And pacing through the empty space on the room was Master Eon's ethereal form.

The air around both portal masters felt severe and it made Spyro worry. "Uh, hey guys, what's the problem?" He asked in as relaxed a voice as he could.

"Spyro, I'm afraid we have some bad news." Kaossandra was the first to speak, opening with a rather concerning line. "It's about your previous team." She stated.

At that, Spyro dropped the act and listened in carefully. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"They are all alive, and mostly alright." Kaossandra said soothingly, putting a big chunk of Spyro's unease at rest, causing him to let out a relieved sigh. "However, there is a… situation." She added.

"What situation?" Spyro pressed, still a little concerned.

"There is no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it like it is." Kaossandra stated, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment. "Your friends went on a mission to Winter Keep to fight the One-Eyed Legion. They succeeded, but… their Relay Badges got damaged and they were left stranded." She explained somberly.

Spyro felt the blood drain from his face after hearing those words. "They're stranded!?" He exclaimed, distressed.

"Don't worry young dragon," Eon stepped in, speaking calmingly. "They are all under Avril and the Frost Elf Guard's care and are perfectly alright." He stated, managing to calm Spyro slightly. "And we are currently working on contacting Captain Flynn. His ship is fast enough to get your fellow Skylanders and bring them back in roughly two days." He finished with a confident smile.

"The only problem so far has been finding him," Kaossandra stepped in. "We've tried calling him, but I'd have to guess he's lost his phone because he hasn't been answering." The sorceress grumbled, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the thought of Flynn's carelessness. "But, when we do find him, he should bring your friends back soon enough. Even so, until then, I have no doubt in my mind Stealth Elf and the others will be perfectly fine. They are strong heroes, all of them." She finished a small smile tugging at her lips.

At the sorceress' trusting commentary, Spyro couldn't help but feel better. Both he and Kaossandra shared a very firm trust in his friends. Spyro was a little distressed by the news that his friends were stranded somewhere and that, knowing Captain Flynn, there wasn't an exactly set time for them to get back, but now, thanks to his headmasters, old and new, he felt much more sure of the fact that his friend were all alright.

"Well, this was good to know," Spyro began. "I just hope you guys can find Flynn quickly." He added, smirking at the portal masters.

"Oh, believe me, Spyro," Master Eon started up. "We'll be having our fingers crossed." He said, crossing his fingers and giving Spyro a pleasant smile.

This made Spyro let out a small chuckle. "Anyway," He picked up. "I have some dragons to train." He said, reminding the duo of his new responsibilities. "So, if that's all?" He paused, glancing between the portal masters, making sure there was nothing else to be said.

"Actually Spyro," Master Eon spoke up. "There is one more thing." He added. "We have been receiving reports that an old villainous acquaintance of ours has been sighted." He said in a serious tone.

"Really?" Spyro asked, his curiosity rising.

"It's none other than one of the dastardly Doom Raiders…" Master Eon continued. "Broccoli Guy!" He said dramatically, adding effect with movements from his arms.

Spyro stood in silence. He had his lips pursed and his eyes half open in an expression that conveyed a word, rather than an emotion. The word was "Seriously?" Eon didn't seem to be kidding, and Kaossandra also didn't look like she was joking. It admittedly stressed Spyro out a bit, that they had called him of all Skylanders to handle, arguably, the weakest Doom Raider of the bunch.

However, Spyro began looking at the idea of dealing with broccoli guy in a diferent angle, a very diferent angle. The more he entertained the idea, the better it sounded in his head, until, Spyro resolved to suggest it to his headmasters.

"I have an idea," Spyro started up, calling the attention of both portal masters. "Maybe, I could bring along my new trainees along for the ride, you know, as a sort of test?" He tried, attempting to sound as sure of himself as he could.

"You want to send recruits to deal with a Doom Raider?" Master Eon asked, stupefied.

"Six recruits, on one annoying green vegetable." Spyro corrected. "C'mon! It'll be a good chance to introduce them to the real deal of being a Skylander." He argued, taking flight to be at level with Master Eon's ethereal outline. "I'll be with them too, it'll be educational." He added.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea Spyro," Master Eon said, stroking his beard in through. "Broccoli Guy is more dangerous than he seems. Remember, that with his staff's elemental drain powers, he can obtain a terrible might." He reminded Spyro.

"I think it could be a good idea." Kaossandra stated casually, making Spyro's face light up.

"Really!?" Both SPyro and Eon said in surprised unison, turning their heads toward the sorceress.

"Those dragons could use some practical training," Kaossandra began. "Besides, supervising a live battle with also be a good test of leadership for you Spyro." She added, giving Spyro a smirk that made her look just a tiny smidge evil. "Are you sure you can handle it, boy?" She dared.

This didn't dampen Spyro's spirits however. The purple dragon smirked back and spoke boldly. "Just let me show you."

Spyro's comeback made Kaossandra scoff. "Alright, Skylander," She began. "Broccoli Guy has been sighted to the west of the Academy, near Greenspring Isle." She informed.

"Then I'll be going." Spyro replied. "Need to tell the guys!" He said excitedly, hurrying back to the common room doors and readied to leave.

"Spyro!" Kaossandra suddenly called, making Spyro stop in his tracks and slowly turn around to face the sorceress. Her expression was one of regret, like she was about to say something she didn't really want to say. She took a deep breath before speaking, but soon enough, the words came. "Camo can't go with you."

---

"I can go!?" Camo exclaimed, indingnified as he looked up at Spyro. "W-Why!?" He demanded.

"You're still hurt Camo," Spyro began explaining, not looking at Camo. "This is going to be dangerous and I can't take you if you aren't at your fullest."

"But I am at my fullest!" Camo argued desperately. "I can still fight!"

"But can you fly?" Spyro asked, making Camo fall silent. He then looked over at his broken wing. "Camo, you need to be able to react to attacks coming at you that have a killer intent behind them. If you can't dodge them and if you can't run away from them, then… you aren't at your fullest." He finished with a low sigh.

Camo stayed silent, looking up at Spyro, hoping for his friend to reconsider. "Please?" He asked softly. "I don't want to be left behind." He pleaded.

At that, Camo saw as Spyro turned to face him, a sad look on his face. The purple dragon then placed a paw on Camo's shoulder and forced himself to give Camo a small half smile. "You aren't going to be left behind," Spyro stated, speaking with certainty. "You are going to become a Skylander too, and no later than the rest of your teammates," He stated.

"H-How do you know?" Camo asked, taken back by Spyro's words.

"Because," Spyro picked up, his smile becoming more genuine as he took his paw off Camo's shoulder. "Even though you have the most room to grow, Camo… you always seem to grow the fastest." He stated, making Camo's mouth drop by an inch and his eyes to brighten up.

"You learn fast, and nothing gets you down," Spyro continued. "If anything, I think we needed to get the others a head start, otherwise, you'd become a Skylander before them!" He said playfully, getting a small giggle out of Camo.

"Y-You really think that?" Camo asked nervously, fidgeting with his paws and tilting his head down a little.

"I do," Spyro responded. "You are a good person Camo, and that's a bigger part of being a Skylander than fighting bad guys." He said steadily.

After hearing those words, Camo felt a surge of joy course through him. He felt a powerful urge building up within him, and he could barely keep himself in place.

"Huh," Spyro began, looking up and to the side and holding his chin, as if in though. "That sounded pretty cool. Maybe becoming team captain has increased my heroic wisdom." He said dramatically, chuckling to himself.

Meanwhile, Camo couldn't keep it in anymore. The little dragon leaped up at his friend and trapped him in a tight hug that caught him off guard, causing him to let out a surprised gasp.

"Thank you." Camo whispered as he hugged his friend, moved by Spyro's words.

At that, Spyro hugged Camo back and gave him a series of soft pats in the back. After a few moments, Spyro spoke quietly. "C'mon man," He began. "There's people watching." He said with a nervous chuckle.

At that, Camo flung his previously closed eyes open and in a split second realized that he and Spyro were in the Academy courtyard, being stared at by Skylanders and dragons alike.

"Oh, right, sorry." Camo said, letting go of Spyro and stepping away, covering himself from peering eyes with his wings.

"Well, that was really moving to watch," Zap spoke up. "But, last time I checked we had a bad guy to catch." He reminded the other dragon's present.

"Yes, we can't allow a Doom Raider to remain on the loose." Sunburn stated in a serious tone. "We should get moving." He insisted.

"Yeah, you're right," Spyro agreed. "Let's go down to the Portal Gates and get set." He said as he began to walk away, cueing the rest of Camo's friends to follow.

However, before leaving off, Spyro had one last couple of seconds to turn around and give Camo a firm nod, along with a friendly thumbs up, which was enough to get the little dragon to smile a wide, happy smile.

It felt really good to have someone believe in him so much. He felt cheerful and overflowing with energy, which he resolved to spend doing something useful. And so, Camo began heading off to the Academy training course. He was aware he was in rough shape for fighting or doing obstacle courses, but he was certainly well enough to do some target practice.

It took him longer than he was used to, since running was definitely slower than flying, but Camo began to close in on the large building that was the Academy training arena. It was a few isles and bridges away, which made Camo grumble about his broken wing under his breath. But, in spite of this, he kept going.

He was about halfway there, when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. A shape, colored purple. It made Camo stop abruptly, almost by reflex, because he could have sworn it was none other than Spyro.

Curious, Camo took a couple of steps backwards and tried peering out at the purple outline. He noticed that the purple dragon was moving, but not to leave the isle he was in, but rather, to find a comfortable position to lay down.

Camo began feeling the very powerful pull of curiosity take a tight hold of him. It swept him of his feet, compelling him to walk forward, to get a closer look. The little dragon soon found himself walking toward the purple figure, making his way through the floating isles.

These shattered bits of land were a little further apart than the ones which made traversing them a bit more difficult. Camo had to leap and claw onto the small, earthy bits of floating land as he crossed over to the purple dragon.

Camo was close now. He could see the larger isle, just one jump away. This one was a bit further away than the rest though. The distance made Camo hesitate and take a step back, but, after a deep breath, his determination made him take another step back, and then another all the way until Camo was standing on the edge of the small rock he was on.

Then, Camo began running, as fast as he could through the stretch of land he had, and then, when he felt the edge of the isle under his paws, Camo jumped, flinging his body through the gap between isles.

He felt himself rise and then drop through the air. He stretched his paws out to catch the edge of the isle when he landed. Camo felt the solid rim of the isle crash against his chest and the dirt of the ground be split by his claws as he tried to strengthen his hold and stop himself from falling.

Once the little dragon had steadied his hold on the isle, he used his hind legs to push himself up, and shifted his weight forward, effectively getting himself onto the isle. There he lay, belly up and breathing hard.

"That was… difficult..." Camo said between tired breaths as he slowly shifted, getting back on his feet. "Need… more… cardio…" He added, now on his feet as he took a look around the isle.

After catching his breath, Camo found himself raising an eyebrow, for he noticed the purple dragon wasn't here anymore. The purple spot he had seen lying down on the centre of the isle, was simply no longer there.

Camo then started slowly walking to the centre of the isle, treading lightly. He panned his head and looked around, trying to find a sign of where the purple dragon had gone.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked suddenly.

Camo let out a shrill scream and jumped up in fright, turning around to see who had sneaked up on him.

After doing this, Camo tensed up, when he saw a purple figure looking down at him. At first he thought it was Spyro, but, he quickly realized it wasn't his friend. He realized this, when he met the purple dragon's eyes.

They were green, a vile, poisonous green. They had slits instead of pupils, from which a cold, pained loathing seemed to seep out. Looking at them made Camo whimper and shrink, now fully aware of who this dragon was.

However, something then happened, something that took Camo by surprise. The vile eyes he had stared into, suddenly changed, after Cyrus blinked and seemed to recognise Camo. The anger Camo had seen seeping out of them had been replaced by regret, and the thin, inhumane slits had widened into a softer, less acuseing glare.

"I'm sorry," Cyrus said softly, lowering his head. "I just didn't recognise you right away." He apologised, as he scratched his neck.

"I-It's alright," Camo began shakily. "I j-just thought you were S-Spyro." Camo explained.

That seemed to amuse Cyrus, because Camo noticed his lips curled upwards, just a tiny bit, and only for a second, but just enough for the little green dragon to notice.

"Anyway," Camo began. "What are you doing all the way out here?" He tried asking innocently.

At that, Camo noticed that Cyrus' expresion darkened slightly and that the indigo dragon suddenly rubbed his eyes, as if he was tired. "Nothing really," Cyrus started, sounding drained. "I just wanted some quiet I suppose." He said unconvincingly.

Camo looked at Cyrus in silence. The indigo dragon had his head low, and had his wings drooping at his sides and even let out a small yawn. All of that, combined with the black lines he had seen under Cyrus' eyes, made Camo deduce the indigo dragon hadn't been sleeping well.

Camo then saw as images started playing out in his mind. Flashes of information he was surprised he still remembered.

He saw himself walking through his home, the Forest of Life, surrounded by grandiose trees, ancient, moss-covered boulders and long, winding streams, all showered by the light of the sun, faded into a pleasant shimmer by the leaves of the trees above.

He remembered being happy, pulling pranks on the gullible deer and rabbits that wandered through the forest, covering them in sticky fruit, bending over in laughter afterwards.

But then one day, his life changed. In just a few moments, his life had been put on it's head. He remembered being attacked, by a purple dragon, one with poison in his eyes and death's cold embrace in his paws. He remembered blacking out, as the heat was drained out of his blood, and the air in his lungs became thin. Then, for the longest time, all he was able to remember, were faint images and sounds, coming to him through a dark veil.

And throughout all that time, Camo always felt in his heart he would meet that same indigo dragon on another day, and feared that day so much, he could never properly picture himself doing anything about it. If anything, he expected things to go the exact same way they had gone last time.

But now, Camo was looking up at the very same same dragon and not only was Camo completely fine, he could see some details, faint clues that showed him something he wasn't expecting to see.

He might have had the same scales, the same build and the same markings on his chest and forehead, but, for some reason, Camo felt like he had a very dragon in front of him.

So, swallowing hard and mustering his courage, Camo spoke up. "H-Hey," He started up a little shakily. "Are you alright?" He asked nervously.

At that, Camo saw Cyrus flinch, as if he wasn't expecting Camo to say those words. "You...want to know… if I'm alright?" He asked back, speaking slowly, making it seem like he didn't believe what he was saying.

"Y-Yes?" Camo replied, shirking slightly.

"Why?" Cyrus asked, speaking a little more demanding than before. "Aren't you…" He started, but was unable to finish. The indigo dragon lowered his head again before picking up his sentence. "Don't you hate me?" He asked, advertising Camo's eyes.

Camo was startled by the question. He was unsure of what to do next. So, he started thinking. Camo though back to the time he was kidnapped. He was taken from his home, and he was forced to become a servant of evil. He felt like he should hate Cyrus, after all, he had been the who did all of that to him. But then, he remembered what Spyro had said.

"He was only doing it because he was forced to." Spyro's words echoed in Camo's mind, like a sonorous reminder. Camo then remembered all the other things Spyro had said, like how Cyrus had been tortured and would have been killed if he didn't do what he was told and how the real bad guy was some other monster called Omen and how it was all his fault. And, he also remembered that Spyro said Cyrus helped him defeat Omen, and turn Camo and the others back to normal.

All this information, suddenly came back to Camo, and as it did, he started looking at Cyrus differently. All of a sudden, the big, indigo dragon in front of him wasn't so scary after all. In fact, he looked a little sad, wounded even.

And so, Camo took a deep breath before he spoke. "I've never been good at hating anything," He started up, showing Cyrus a thin, sympathetic smile. "And, I can't really blame you. I wouldn't have like being tortured by a psycho either." He said, shrugging innocently.

This caused Cyrus to lift his head again, a softer light in his green eyes. "So… how about we put all of that behind us?" Camo proposed, speaking a bit more cheerfully. "How about-" He began, stretching out a paw. "-If we become friends?"

Camo watched in silence as Cyrus looked at him. The indigo dragon seemed to have become a statue. He didn't move, he didn't speak, and he didn't blink. It actually made Camo start glancing to his sides nervously. He could also feel his paw get a little tired and tired holding it up in the air with help of his free paw.

But then, Cyrus blinked, and then shook his head and took a breath of air, suddenly coming back into his own body. "I…" Cyrus began shakily and it looked like a bunch of nervous ticks had been triggered, since he started glancing around and scratching his chest and neck.

However, after a bit, Cyrus took a deep breath, drawing in air, through his nose, holding it in, and then exhaling through his mouth, relaxing. Then, straightening his posture, he looked at Camo and spoke. "I… would like that." He said with a small, thin, yet happy smile as he took Camo's paw.

This made Camo feel fuzzy inside. He felt like he had done a good thing. The green dragon started smiling broadly, a smile that quickly spread from ear to ear. He could barely contain himself, but, out of fear of scaring his brand new friend, he managed not to give him a huge hug.

"Okay!" Camo said, a little loudly, because he saw Cyrus do a little, surprised jump and let go of Camo's paw. "Now that we're friends, I have so many of questions to ask you!" He said cheerfully.

At that, Cyrus's raised an eyebrow and took a step back. "I, don't think I wanna be friends anymore." He said nervously.

"Oh no, not like that!" Camo said quickly, raising his paws innocently. "What I mean is, friends generally know each other a little better than other people." He began explaining. "So, they ask each other questions to get to know each other better."

Cyrus relaxed slightly as Camo explained, taking a step back forward. "What kind of questions?" He asked, sounding a little intrigued.

"Well, let's start with something basic," Camo instructed, sitting down on his hind legs, something he noticed Cyrus mimicked. Once he was sitting down, Camo took a paw to his chin, and started thinking of questions to ask his new friend. After a few seconds, Camo's face lit up and his eyes went round. However, they quickly narrowed as he smiled a mischievous smile. "Hmm, what's your favorite fruit?" He asked trying very poorly to sound casual.

At that, Cyrus looked to the side for a second. His eyes narrowed and a small humming escaped his throat. Afterwards, he turned back to Camo and spoke. "Apples. The red ones… and the green ones." He answered, making Camo nod along. However, after a brief pause, Cyrus opened his mouth again. "But not the yellow ones." He added hurriedly, scratching his neck and glancing away.

All Camo did was smile. The little dragon was already daydreaming about all the apple-centred pranks he would be able to pull on his new friend.

However, Camo was pulled out of his daydream when Cyrus spoke up. "What's your favorite fruit?" He asked politely, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Ummm," Camo thought for a second. He had eaten quite a variety of fruits in his life, so narrowing them down to one favorite proved challenging. However, he did have one fruit he enjoyed eating more than the rest. "Watermelons," Camo answers. "I like juicy fruits and they are the juiciest!" He explained with excitement.

Camo saw Cyrus smile a little wider. He still looked tired, but at least he didn't look miserable, so in Camo's eyes. It was an improvement, which made his figure the best thing to do was continue.

Camo began thinking about what else to ask. He smiled as he casually came up with an old, yet reliable question. "What's your favorite color?" He asked.

Camo was expecting to keep the cheer going, however, when he looked at Cyrus, his smile quickly vanished. The indigo dragon lowered his gaze in silence, furrowing his brow. "I… I don't think I know," He said in a down tone. "I, never had time to think about that." He said, suddenly putting a paw over his red mark, scratching it slowly.

Camo felt like the joy he'd been building up had suddenly taken a pretty bad swing. Camo's shoulders slumped forward and his eyes drooped. He immediately felt regret for pushing the conversation. He felt like he should have guessed being a psychopath's servant didn't leave enough time for a normal life.

However, Camo's spirits slowly rose when he remembered something Spyro had said to him. "You are a good person Camo, and that's a bigger part of being a Skylander than fighting bad guys." The words resonated deep within Camo's being, and compelled him try and help.

With his mind cleared up,Camo quickly though up an idea. "Well, that's just not going to do." Camo stated, calling Cyrus' attention. "C'mon, follow me!" He said, standing up and waving for Cyrus to follow.

"Wha-What? Where?" Cyrus said, sounding confused as he slowly stood up, not following Camo yet.

"We're going to The Forest of Life!" Camo declared. "It's closer to the Academy than you think and I know a shortcut!" Camo boasted proudly.

"Alright?" Cyrus began sounding a little unconvinced. "But, why are we going there?" He asked, taking a slow, uncertain step toward Camo.

Camo just smiled. "We're getting you a favorite color."

---

Spyro walked down to the Portal Gates, his friends by his side. Already down at the large metallic platform, were two familiar figures. Cynder and Sprocket were talking, waiting for Spyro and his team to arrive. What the duo was talking about, Spyro couldn't hear from that distance, mainly because there was an awful lot of talking a lot closer to him.

"So, this Greenspring Isle," Zap began. "Have we, been there before?" He asked Drobot.

"I believe it is in relative proximity to the Forest of Life," Drobot interjected. "But I do believe none of us have been there before." He confirmed.

"Ah, alright." Zap sighed. "Are you sure?" He asked his friend again.

"It sounds like a nice place," Whirlwind said. "I wonder what it looks like."

"If it's anything like the Forest of Life," Spyro began, looking over to his cyan friend. "It should be a pretty impressive sight." He promised, causing Whirlwind to brighten up slightly.

"Spyro," Bash spoke up suddenly drawing Spyro's attention. "What can we expect from this, Broccoli Guy?" He asked in a serious tone.

"You've faced him before, right?" Sunburn followed up. "Anything we should know?" He asked.

Spyro thought about the question for a second. He quickly recalled Broccoli Guy's more important traits, something that made him frown in annoyance. "He has a real talent for getting on people's nerves." He said, recalling the Doom Raider's insufferable laughter. "And he's kind of dangerous if he uses his staff." He added.

At that, Sunburn and Bash nodded in understanding, seeming satisfied.

"Hey guys!" A new voice called, coming from the Portal Gates. "How are you all doing?" Sprocket asked, waving the group of dragons over.

"We're ready for action!" Zap declared energetically. "Just send us off and we'll deal with the bad guy." He said confidently.

"Easy hotshot," Sprocket said, raising a hand at Zap. "You'll need a way back here after I send you there or in case of an emergency." She stated.

"Oh, right." Zap said, looking away and scratching the back of his head.

"Well, just know that, there aren't nearly enough for all of you," Sprocket warned as she walked over to the Portal Gates monitor and picked up a coppery box. Which she brought back to the dragons. She then opened the box and revealed it's contents.

There were a mere two bronze badges in the box. Spyro deduced it was because his other friends had taken the rest and had ended up damaging them somehow. He also guessed it was too early for Sprocket to have made new ones. However, they were going up against Broccoli Guy, so a quick getaway wasn't really a concern to Spyro.

"These are Relay Badges," Cynder stepped in suddenly. "They help us be teleported all over the Skylands, instead of just specific portals." She explained.

"Wow!" Drobot exclaimed. "That's truly fascinating technology!" He said, picking one of the box, and looking at Sprocket. "Did you make these?" He asked, sounding astounded.

"I did." Sprocked confirmed, smiling proudly.

"This is very impressive, very impressive indeed," Drobot continued. "Tell me, did you use any Arkeyan technology to develop them?" He asked, curiously.

"Yes, a particle emitter actually!" Sprocket stated. "It was very difficult to find, but, I managed to get my hands on it after a little fight with a Juggernaut."

"You defeated an Arkeyan Shield Juggernaut!?" Drobot asked, sounding dumbfounded.

"Oi! Nerds!" Zap spoke up, cutting off both Drobot and Sprocket. "We have a bad guy to catch, remember?"

"R-Right!" Both of them said shaking their heads and getting back into focus.

Spyro noticed that the two seemed to take a couple of steps away from one another and also seemed to avoid looking directly at each other, something Spyro found a little bit suspicious. However, he didn't have time to linger on it, since Sprocket spoke up quickly.

"Anyway," Sprocket picked up. "There's only two badges, and with Cynder coming along-" She gestured at the violet dragoness. "-There's gonna be seven of you. So… any volunteers?" She asked, holding the last remaining badge.

"I guess I could take it." Cynder stated, stepping a bit closer to Sprocket and holding out her paw.

"Alright, that settles it." Sprocket said as she placed the badge on Cynder's paw, for the dragoness to place on her chest. "Everyone, on the platform!" Sprocket called, making her way behind her elaborate monitor.

The large amount of people present made it so that they had to be sent across in two groups. The first group was made up by Sunburn, Drobot, Zap and Bash. The four dragons stepped onto the platform and after a few moments, they were engulfed in a beam of pure white light.

Afterwards, when the light dispersed, the four dragons were gone, allowing Spyro Cynder and Whirlwind to step onto the platform. Once there, Spyro waited patiently for Sprocket to do her thing. He had just enough time to look at his sides, where Cynder and Whirlwind waited as well. And soon enough, the flash of white light overtook Spyro's vision and felt like he was lifted off the ground, as he was sent across the Skylands.

Then, no more than a few seconds later, Spyro felt himself touch down on solid ground once again. His vision returned to him as well and he was quickly able to discern where he was.

Spyro had arrived at a green, lively clearing in a very large forest. Trees steched upward hight above the dragons and the sound of birds and beasts echoed through the clearing.

Spyro looked around and saw his friends had all arrived safe and sound and were already looking around, except for Bash, who was just sitting down. Spyro really hoped his friend had just been waiting for him and not being lazy.

"Well guys," Spyro called, making everyone look over to him. "We should start searching for Broccoli Guy. When his staff drains the elemental power out of something, it usually turns grey and cold." He explained.

"Okay, so we're looking for a trail of grey dead plants, right?" Zap asked, shrugging.

"That's pretty much it, yeah." Spyro confirmed simply.

"Alright then," Whirlwind started up. "This is a pretty big forest, we might actually get to explore a bit before we-"

"Found it." Bash stated flatly, cutting off Whirlwind.

"You found it already?" Cynder asked, amazed. "You have good eyes Bash!" She praised as she flew over to where the brown dragons was.

At that, the rest of the group didn't take long to follow. They all quickly gathered around Bash near the edge of the clearing. Once there, Spyro saw that there indeed was a trail of dead, grey grass, leading forth to a different part of the forest.

"He's probably heading to the Isle," Bash deduced. "It is this way, so we should move before he damages it in some way." He insisted.

"Hold on, hold on," Spyro began, waving for Bash to wait. "Have you actually been to the isle before?" He asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at his friend.

Bash then looked off to the side. "Once." He stated.

"What's it like?" Spyro pressed, curious. "Is there anything we should know?"

"I'll tell you on the way." Bash declared as he began walking ahead, following the trail.

"Well, we are a bit pressed for time." Sunburn said as he quickly trailed after Bash.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Spyro agreed, remembering their situation. "Alright everyone-" He called, making his remaining companions focus. "Let's follow Bash." He said, waving for them to move as he himself began walking after his large earthy friend.

As the group followed Bash, they started traveling through winding paths, made of dirt and grass, where the roots of the huge nearby trees didn't spread over. The dragons kept following the spots and traces of drained platlife. The dull gray color stood out very visibly against the many beautiful shades of green in the forest and made it easy for the dragons to keep on the right track.

"So, Bash," Spyro spoke up, speaking loudly, since Bash was a bit of a distance ahead of him. "About that time you went to this Isle?" He pressed, smirking.

The brown dragon let out an annoyed groan, but, despite not slowing down, he spoke up. "I came here when I was younger," He began. "Mom liked sightseeing, and she insisted this place was a must-see," He continued. "And to her credit, she wasn't wrong." He sighed, his eyes distant, as if he was remembering something.

"It's this medium sized island, near the edge of the forest," Bash began describing. "On it, there's this huge, looming menhir. On the top of this menhir, was a small magic spring," He continued, captivating his companions "This spring, was enchanted to never run out of water, so, it's contents fell down the smooth surface of the menhir, covering all of it, like a waterfall with no edges." He described making Spyro picture a truly beautiful sight.

Bash meanwhile, was looking at the distance, his lips curled upward in a genuine, nostalgic smile. "I suppose I won't mind seeing it again. It really was an amazing sight." He said, his eyes slowly focusing on what was in front of him and his smile shrinking, yet, not disappearing as he kept walking, leading his friends through the forest.

"That was a nice story to hear," Cynder said mellowly. "Thank you for sharing Bash." She said with a smile.

Bash simply nodded firmly and kept moving, a little faster than before. However, in the fleeting second Spyro managed to keep his eyes on his friend's face, he could notice the brown dragon's smile grew back again, if only a little bit.

"Well, he's still friendly," Cynder joked with a small scoff. She opened her mouth again and seemed to have more to say, however, her voice trailed off and Spyro noticed that there was a slight shiver spreading through Cynder's body which became bad enough to make the dragoness come to stop and hug herself. "Whoa, it just… got really cold out of nowhere." She said, rubbing her paws for warmth.

"Now that you mention it," Spyro began, also hugging himself. "It is getting kind of cold around here." He said, as a faint, but noticeable wave of cold washed over him.

"Yeah, you're right," Whirlwind stated, also taking a moment to heat herself. "Could it be that Broccoli Guy's magic?" She wandered.

"I don't know," Sunburn interjected. "But it is hampering our effectivity. So…" The feathered dragon paused for a moment, closing his eyes.

Then, Spyro saw as Sunburn started doing a deep, controlled breathing, inhaling through his nose, and exhaling through his mouth, all with his eyes closed. At first he wondered why the red dragon was doing this, but, his answer came when after a few breaths, Sunburn's red and yellow feathers began glowing, like embers.

Afterwards, Spyro felt pleasant heat slowly spread over him, overpowering the cold. The pleasant change of temperature made Spyro, and all of his companions, let out long relieved sighs.

"Thank you Sunburn." Everyone said in unison.

"You're all welcome." Sunburn said with a small chuckle, patting some of his faintly glowing feathers, causing some sparks to come out and flicker. "But now, we should really get moving. It's possible that Broccoli Guy caused this after all." He added, in a more serious tone.

"Yeah, you're right." Spyro agreed. Then, Spyro looked forward, over to Bash. "Alright Bash, lead the way."

At that, Bash gave Spyro a firm nod before he started walking briskly forward.

"Well, there he goes." Zap said with a groan as he started chasing after Bash.

"C'mon everyone," Spyro called as he took flight and began following Bash. "We should stick together." This cued Spyro's companions to follow his lead, taking flight and moving to follow Bash, who was already a fair distance ahead.

As Spyro flew through the forest with his friends behind him, he noticed that something was a little off. As he followed Bash he could tell that they were reaching the edge of the forest, since the trees were getting further and further apart and since he could see a greyish light, piercing the thinning line of trees, a few meters away. However, as he got closer to the end of the forest, he felt the air get colder. Even with the heat Sunburn was giving off, Spyro ended up feeling chills slowly spread through his body, making get a really bad feeling.

"Everyone," Drobot called as they kept flying. "I am detecting a very significant drop in temperature in the area ahead," He stated. "We should proceed with caution." He suggested.

It only took a few more moments, but Spyro saw Bash cross the edge of the forest, followed by Zap. It didn't take long fro SPyro and the others to cross through the last lines of trees as well.

As Spyro and his friends ended up flying out of the forest, he was expecting to see a beautiful sight, only mildly spoiled by the presence of an annoying Doom Raider. He was kind of hoping to get to see the wonderful sight Bash had described a few minutes ago, an impressive waterfall, like something out of a fairytale. But, what Spyro saw didn't make him feel disappointed, it made him skip all the way to feeling horrified.

The basic outline of the island was how Bash had described it. It was a large, roughly circular island, the edge of which, was dotted with trees, each one sporting a diferent colored kind of flower. The place was large enough for a large crowd of tourists and sightseers to gather without being too cramped. And there was, in fact, a massive menhir in the dead center of the isle. The huge, vertically imposing rock rose high above the dragons, dwarfing them and the other, smaller boulders that were spread close to the menhir completely.

However, the rest of the image, deferred completely from what Bash had described. The waterfall, falling from the top of the menhir, was frozen solid. The water that poured down and crashed on the floor of the isle, spread through the ground, like a web of tiny rivers, all turned into cold, white streams of ice. And, upon closer inspection, Spyro noticed that the green grass, and the many flowers of the trees, were all withering, killed slowly by the monstrous cold that had overtaken the isle.

Spyro was getting a really bad feeling, only made worse when a voice in the back of his head started screaming at him. "Run!" It yelled, a simple, basic command, but nevertheless, a compelling one.

The feeling only got worse when his eyes wandered down, to Bash, who was standing still on the edge of the isle. Spyro flew down beside him, landing carefully. He looked at his friend, and was instantly shocked. Bash's eyes were round, his mouth was hanging half-open and his brow was furrowed. This was the first time Spyro had seen his friend express sadness. However, it didn't take long for the expression on the brown dragon's face to change. His gaze hardened, and his jaw clenched.

"Spyro," Cynder called, landing beside him, followed by the others, who landed around their friends. "This looks really bad, what should we do?" She asked.

"What we came here for." Bash growled, as he began storming off toward the menhir, leaving the others behind.

"I don't think this Broccoli Guy is in for a very good time." Zap said in a meek voice.

"We should stay together," Sunburn suggested. "If Broccoli Guy can do something like this, then maybe he's not as weak as we thought."

"Yeah," Spyro said, keeping his eyes on Bash. "Yeah, you're right." He said, a little absentmindedly.

The feeling on the back of Spyro's mind was getting louder. He kept feeling worse and worse, as to warn him that some dark, twisted horror was lurking here, breathing cold chills down his neck, out of sight.

However, Spyro felt himself snap back into focus, when he felt a soft, gentle paw touch his back. He turned around to see Cynder smiling up at him. "Whatever comes," She started up. "We can handle it. Together." She said mellowly.

Spyro felt himself smile. She never failed to make him smile. "Together." He said, holding Cynder's paw in his as he looked back at her, at her gorgeous blue eyes.

"Uh, guys?" Zap called, snapping Spyro and Cynder out if their moment. "I do believe we have a bad guy to catch?" He said.

"R-Right!" Spyro said shakily, turning away from Cynder as the dragoness did the same. "Well, uh, let's go over to see what Bash has found." He suggested, glancing to the side.

"I think he's about to tell you." Drobot said, seemingly focused on something behind Spyro.

This made Spyro slowly turn around to see what Drobot was focused on. When he did, he saw Bash walking back to him, a worried expression on his face.

Seeing his friend so riled up, naturally made Spyro worry. "What's wrong Bash?" He asked. "Did you find Broccoli Guy?"

"Come," Bash said in a hushed tone, as if he wanted not to wake something up. "Quickly." He insisted, glancing between the dragons behind Spyro before turning around and heading back toward the menhir.

Spyro swallowed hard, before looking back at his friends. He glanced between them, noticing there was a widespread unease among them, an unease Spyro himself was beginning to feel. However, mustering his courage, Spyro took a deep breath and waved for his friend's to follow him as he he began following Bash.

As Spyro followed his friend, he walked with his body close to the ground. Whenever Spyro took a step forward or around a large rock, he made sure not to step on the web of delicate frozen streams that spread on the ground beneath him in order to avoid creating loud noises. He also made sure to step steadily, because the moist, semi-frozen grass was slippery and almost made him stumble several times, a problem his companions also shared.

When Spyro glanced behind him o check on his companions, he saw everyone prowling stealthily as they moved closer to the menhir, watching their step and moving low staying behind Spyro.

"Stop!" Bash hissed suddenly as he came to an abrupt stop, hiding behind a sizeable boulder, just big enough for him.

Spyro did as he was told, not moving an inch further until Bash told him. His companions followed suit, all waiting for an explanation.

"Bash?" Spyro asked in a whisper. "What's wrong?" He asked, slowly treading up to his friend.

Bash took a moment to answer, focused on something closer to the menhir. "Look." He whispered, gesturing forth with his chin.

At that, Spyro shifted his gaze form his friend to what it was he was looking at. When he did this, Spyro's stomach dropped and his face went pale.

Near the base of the menhir, were three figures. The first he was able to recognise, was none other than Broccoli Guy. However, the Doom Raider was in a very peculiar situation. He was tied to a stick which was being held up over an open flame by two piles of flat rocks. The stick Broccoli guy was tied to, was being turned slowly, making it seem like the doom raider was being cooked alive. That by itself was disturbing, but it wasn't all Spyro saw, not all that made him start shaking. There were two other figures, both covered by ash-grey cloaks.

One was about Master Eon's size, it was the one tending to cooking Broccoli Guy. It seemed very focused on it's task, dedicated even.

The second figure, was smaller and it seemed to be humming something, like the lyrics of a song. Spyro saw that it was holding what looked like an mp3 player in one hand, the earplugs of which, seemed to be connected to the figure's ears. After paying attention Spyro though he heard the smaller figure mutter something to the rhythm of a song. "Rammstein, Rammstein!" The little figure sang as it played an invisible guitar and shook it's hooded head like a rock star.

"Who are they?" Spyro heard Cynder's voice ask. When Spyro turned his head to his side, he saw his friend there, looking at the seen in front of them. "What are they doing?"

"I don't know," Spyro admitted. "But I don't think they are good news." He said with a tinge of fear, as cold sweat traveled down his temples.

"Guys!" Spyro suddenly heard Broccoli Guy's voice beguin. "Please, we can talk about this." He said, trying to sound persuasive. "Who in their right mind eats broccoli willingly?" He asked.

"Someone who hasn't eaten in a hundred years, mon ami," The larger figure said, speaking with a strange accent and saying some words Spyro didn't understand. "Believe me, I usually take more pride in my cooking, but your unseasoned corpse will have to do I'm afraid." He said, faint traces of genuine regret in his voice.

"He wants to eat him!?" Cynder hissed, sounding disgusted and horrified.

"I don't like this Spyro," Bash whispered. "This is giving me a really bad feeling." He said.

"You and me both, man," Spyro agreed. "Everyone," Spyro called, gazing back at his friends. "We're getting out of here, really quietly." He stressed. "These guys look like really bad news, so we'll report back to the headmasters." He explained.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Zap said as he began to turn around and walk away from the menhir.

"I do believe this is the more reasonable course of action," Drobot stated. "So I do suggest we leave as quickly as we can." He said, also slowly retreating.

Spyro felt a stab of guilt in his heart. Even if he was a villian, he wasn't alright with leaving Broccoli Guy to be eaten by some psychopath. He wasn't sure if leaving even the likes of Broccoli Guy to die was a choice a Skylander should take, even less so if that Skylander was the leading example for trainees. However, one thing he was sure of, was that he had promised his brother, he promised Cyrus not to let the six get hurt. And that was a promise he was planning to keep.

So, with a low sigh and his head low, Spyro began moving to turn around and retreat along with his friends.

But, when Spyro lifted his paw and shifted his weight, to put it back down and take a step, he felt his paw press against a slippery surface. Spyro's eyes went round when his paw slide to the side, over a smooth, extremely slippery surface. The surface of a rock concealed under the grass.

When he lost his balance and began to stumble downward, Spyro could swear he saw the world move in slow motion, he saw the faces of his companions slowly ight up with horror up until the moment he fell to the ground, crashing on his side with a thud and was accompanied by Spyro groaning from the throbbing pain.

There was silence, flattening and complete. No one made a sound, not the dragons, not Broccoli Guy and not the figures, all to let Spyro focus and realize the severity of his mistake.

The purple dragon slowly got back on his feet. He kept his head down, not daring to look at his friend's faces. He then slowly turned around to where the figures were. When he raised his head to look at them, Spyro saw that both of the figures were looking at him and had abandoned their previous activities.

He felt their eyes fixated on him beneath their hooded faces. Spyro let out a cold, shaky breath as a wave of heinous cold washed over him in an instant. He could feel himself shaking, and he could feel a sensation of dread, like nothing he'd ever felt before. Or well… like one thing he'd felt before.

"Ohhhh, heck yeah!" Broccoli Guy shouted, sounding overjoyed. "My oldest, dearest Skylander friend! It's so good to see you again!" He said. "How long has it been since we saw each other? Since that time I helped you get to Omen's lair, right?" He recalled. "I have to tell you, these guys want to eat me, me! They want to eat broccoli willingly, which I believe, by itself, states that these guys are a very bad crowd." He rambled. "So, how about you help a brother out, huh?" He asked, giving Spyro a very forced and disturbingly wide smile.

Before Spyro could say anything to the Doom Raider, he saw the larger figure raise one of his arms above it's head. Then, with a sudden movement, the figure brought it's arm down, slamming it against Broccoli Guy with such force, the Doom Raider was broken out of his bondage and sent flying backward to crash against the surface of the menhir where he slid slowly down to thud against the base of the massive rock.

"Krall," The larger figure said, in a calm, modulated voice that to Spyro, sounded like it was muffled by something the figure was wearing. "It appears, we have company." The figure said to it's companion.

"Yessss," The smaller figure, apparently named Krall, hissed in a croaky, grating voice as he took off his ear plugs and hid his mp3 in his cloak. "They look young, no older than seventeen, any of them." He guessed, rather accurately at least regarding Spyro and Cynder.

"It also looks like we have some variety," The larger figure continued, taking a step forward, toward the dragons. "So many diferent flavors." He said maliciously, taking another step forward.

"S-Stop!" Spyro commanded, his heart pounding against his chest. "Stay away!" He yelled, his voice shaky from the horrible cold that was spreading through him and gripped with fear he'd only felt once before.

"Awww," Krall began. "Come on Tarrare, you're scaring the little baby dragon." He said mockingly at Spyro.

"Good!" The larger figure, apparently named Tarrare, exclaimed. "They taste better when they die afraid." He stated.

"Who are you!?" Cynder demanded, shaking as badly as Spyro, but not retreating. "What do you want!?"

At that, the two figures glanced at each other. "Nous ne nous sommes pas présentés." Tarrare said in a foreign language.

"Wie unhöflich von uns." Krall added in a diferent language.

Afterwards, the two figures turned back toward the dragons and stared at them for a moment. Then, in a sudden motion, Tarrare gripped his ashen cloak by the hood and ripped it off, revealing himself.

He had a strong, muscular build and carried himself with poise. He wore gentlemanly clothes, like a dark brown coat over a white buttoned shirt, white high waisted pants, elegant purple boots, a red bow around his collar and black leather gloves.

However, there were some peculiar details about his attire as well. One thing that called Spyro's attention was the large, circular pendant he carried around his neck. It was black and thick and had the image of bird engraved on its surface. The bird was holding a strange skull in its talons and seemed quite proud about it.

The next thing Spyro noticed was that, Tarrare seemed to be holding in his right hand, a large winch, rolled up with an impressive length of heavy, black chain. Some of the leght of this chain seemed to be tied around his right arm, as if to hold onto him. Despite the winch's great size and probable weight, Tarrare didn't seem to be bothered.

However, what really called Spyro's attention was his face. His skin was green, the very same green as an old friend of his. He also had long, pointy ears and purely white eyes. All this, made Spyro realize instantly that, Tarrare was an elf, the same kind as Stealth Elf.

But now that he was focused on his face, Spyro also noticed something else. Tarrare was wearing a mask. It was a strange mask, dotted with holes and which covered only half of his face, including his mouth and chin. The mask was pressed against his face by leather straps which went around his head, explaining his muffled voice.

The frightening elf also had a head of wild, dark blue hair, that stood on end from his head in uneven tuffs, which reminded Spyro of a cartoon of mad scientist. Also, Spyro noticed something about his eyes. The weren't like Stealth Elf's. Her eyes were bright, a pure stark white that glowed faintly against her skin. Tarrare's eyes were more like a really pale gray that white. They also didn't glow, almost as if the light behind them had been snuffed out. They were also sunken in and had huge eyesacks beneath them.

"I am Tarrare," The elf introduce himself, doing a cordial bow. "All I seek is to have my hunger sated." He said. Spyro noticed his cheeks went up slightly, making him feel like the elf was smiling behind his mask.

"W-Well, at least h-he's polite." Zap said shakily behind Spyro.

"And you?" Spyro asked the second figure. "W-What about you?" He demanded.

At this, almost as if cued, the second figure promptly removed his cloak.

Krall was much more visually disturbing that his companion. The hunchback, imp-like creature had maroon skin, and skinny, skeletal limbs. His hands had long, bony fingers that ended in black claws, crueler and more beast-like than any Spyro had seen before and that looked sharp enough to slice flesh. Krall also had what looked like crumpled lumps of flesh that could have once been limbs, emerging from his back.

The creature was wearing a large feathery collar made of black and red feathers. It was puffed and covered a lot of his body. He was also wearing ragged, medieval slacks, but no shoes. His arms were also covered in grim bracelets, decorated with tiny bones, bits of wood carved into screaming faces and flat pebbles with carvings of sinister sigils. Spyro noticed that Krall was carrying a black pouch, tied around his waist. The pouch had icy blue inscriptions all over it that looked a lot like runes.

But the most disturbing detail about this creature's gettup, was what it was wearing as a hat. It was a skull, a dragon skull.

The skull lacked a jawbone but had its teeth, except for one, and curved horns. The grimm hat prevented Spyro from seeing Krall's face. The eye sockets of the skull however, were mismatching. The left one, had a circular pendant stuffed into it's empty space, crammed into the eye socket like a sort of eyepatch. It was the exact same pendant that hung from Tarrare's neck, engravement an all. The right eye socket though, was empty and cast a shadow over the imp-like creature's face, a shadow that was cut by a sinister yellow eye that glowed through the shadow the skull cast.

"I am Krall!" The creature introduced itself. "And what I want-" He paused, gesturing at the seven dragons. "-Are your teeth." He said simply.

"Our what!?" Whirlwind asked horrified.

"Your teeth." Krall said, completely casually. "Give them to me." He asked, holding out his palm to the dragoness, waiting patiently.

"We aren't giving you anything you creep!" Zap said defensively taking a step back from the creature.

"That's fine, little dragon," Krall said calmly. The creature then reached for something inside his a few moments, out of the small pouch, Krall drew out rusty, black metal pincers which he pointed at Zap. "I can just take what I want." He threatened.

"We won't let you do that!" Drobot stated, trying to sound brave.

"Awwww," Krall began, holding his hands. "The little lizards are friends!" He mocked, taking a more offensive stance.

"Well," Tarrare interjected, holding up his chained winch. "Ils mourront en amis." He said is peculiar language and even though Spyro couldn't understand, he was certain the elf in front of him didn't plan on being friendly.

This suspicion was confirmed when the duo of malevolent enemies began slowly stepping closer and closer to the dragons. This cause all of them to step back defensively, staying away.

"Spyro?" Drobot called, sounding frightened. "What do we do?" He asked.

"We should try retreating," Whirlwind suggested. "We could use the relay badges." She proposed.

"We can't," Spyro said in a down tone. "Using them properly can only take six people back," He explained, remembering each badge could take up to three people. "So one of us would have to stay here, with them." He finished, just as Krall chuckled cruelly to himself.

"Then that settles it," Sunburn began. "I am not leaving anyone behind, so we'll have to fight them." He declared.

"You really want to fight them!?" Zap asked, utterly dumbfounded. "I don't know about you, but I am getting mayor dragon slayer vibes from these guys!" He said, his voice thick with fear.

"Hah! You figured it out!" Krall congratulated, clapping sarcastically at Zap. "Well done little dragon, you have a brain in that big head of yours after all!"

And just like that, Spyro's mind was sent back to the Outskirts, just outside the BattleBrawl Arena, with Vixen Reynald's blade less than an inch above his eye, about to come down. Spyro now knew full well why the cruel, vicious cold he felt back then was crawling back into every inch of his body and why the same potent, irrational fear was clawing at his heart. The enemies in front of him, were taken from the same mold as Vixen.

"Spyro," Cynder called, making him look over to her. "It's your call. What do we do?" She asked, placing a paw on Spyro's shoulder.

At that, Spyro felt a little more focused. He began thinking about what was at steak. It was his friends. His friends lives were at steak, just like they had been last time. And just like last time, even though he was shaking, even though he was sweating cold, even though his heart kept hammering against his chest, Spyro felt exactly as he did back then.

With a deep breath, Spyro called forth every bit of courage he had left and, taking a firm step forward, something that made the two enemies in front of him stop in their tracks, Spyro spoke.

"We're fighting," He said, glaring at the two enemies, his muscles tensing up. "We're beating these monsters." He stated.

"That's the what I like to hear," Bash said as he got into battle pose.

"Are we really doing this!?" Zap asked, desperately. "Aw great, here we go again." He mumbled under his breath.

"Alright, little lizards," Krall said in a very severe tone. "No more talking." He ordered.

"Now the time has come for the hunt to start anew." Tarrare picked up.

Then, Spyro could feel the air get even colder around him as the two enemies spoke in unison, pouring their malice into their words. "Let the old song be heard again!"

Then, Spyro saw Krall reach for something inside his pouch. But before Spyro could react to the imp-like creature's next move, he became too concerned with the fact that Tarrare was charging straight at him, with elven speed and heavy winch in hand.

Spyro was about to use his wings to fly out of range of the attack, however, before he could even get himself off the ground, Spyro felt something with the texture and structure of a snowball hit him across the face.

And a second, a single second afterwards, Spyro was unable to move, not an inch. He'd been paralyzed by the impact of what he deduced had been whatever Krall had drawn from his pouch.

And then, now that he was unable to move, Spyro saw Tarrare wind his arm back, only to bring it shooting forward, winch and all, aimed right between his eyes.

And then, everything faded to black.

---

Cyrus was carrying Camo as he flew through the air, holding the green dragon by the arms. The indigo dragon had been carrying his brand new friend as he guided him through his fabled shortcut.

Cyrus had little to complain about. Camo was surprisingly light and easy to carry around, and to the little dragon's credit, he was true to his word. It couldn't have been more that ten minutes and Cyrus could already see the massive looking trees of the Forest of Life rearing in the distance.

"Alright!" Camo exclaimed excitedly. "We're almost there!" He cheered.

"We don't have to do this Camo," Cyrus said in a low voice. "I don't need a favorite color." He said, guilt lowering his voice.

"C'mon, dude," Camo began. "Everyone needs a favorite color. It helps them look at life differently, and it says a lot more about them than you'd expect." He explained.

Cyrus didn't say anything else. He remained in silence until they arrived at the Forest of Life. He was thinking, wandering about a lot of things.

He felt very confused about his new friend. He never imagined himself having friends, not to mention ones that would go out of their way to get him a favorite color. However, there was one thing he did know, and that was that he felt grateful, very greatful.

Receiving forgiveness, even if it was just from one person, was one of the most alien sensations Cyrus had felt in his life. All of a sudden, Cyrus felt lighter, he felt like he could breath more evenly, he felt as if part of a great weight had been lifted off him and he felt… better, in a way he really couldn't understand.

"Well, we're here," Camo said, snapping Cyrus back into focus, making him notice they had indeed arrived at the edge of the Forest, cueing him to slowly drop down and let Camo go. "Now we just have to go to the secret isle! I'm sure you'll find your favorite color there!" Camo promised cheerfully as he began running into the forest.

Cyrus began running after him. Cyrus' body felt a bit heavy and he was having a bit of trouble keeping his head high, so catching up to the little green dragon took him a moment. "And where is this secret isle?" He asked as the two dragons moved through the forest.

"A little ways north from here," Camo responded, still moving forward. "You'll know when we get there, I promise," He said. "It's a beautiful sight."

Cyrus just sighed and rolled his eyes as a small smile began spreading through his face. The little dragon's enthusiasm was very contagious.

"Well, now that we're on the subject," Cyrus began, suddenly in the spirits for conversation. "What's your favorite color?" He asked.

"Green!" Camo replied instantly and without hesitation. "Now I know that sounds a bit narcissistic, considering, hehe, you know-" He gestured at his grass green body and stretching his healthy green wing. "-But, it's not that at all. I like green because, it the color of the forest, it's the color that the leaves on trees take when summer and spring come, when people are the happiest." He said, smiling warmly as he did.

"Huh," Cyrus began, a little surprised. "That's… really… nice." He tried finding the right words, cursing himself in silence for never being able to find them when they needed to be said.

"Thanks!" Camo said cheerfully, his joy unwavering under Cyrus' terrible attempt at a complement. "But now, we have to focus on finding your favorite color!" He reminded. "We're almost halfway to the isle!" He stated.

"Have you actually been there before?" Cyrus asked, curious.

"Yeah, a couple of times actually!" Camo stated. "This one time, I saw this family of Mountain Drakes that were passing by, sightseeing." He said, recalling the memory fondly. "I was way younger back then, but I remember them being very nice." He finished.

Camo seemed to be really happy about recalling this memory. The little dragons was smiling and looking at the distance, almost as if he was back in the isle already. However, all out of the sudden, Camo's smile faded, replaced by a disturbed expression as the little dragon began shaking and hugging himself, as if a wave of cold had suddenly washed over him.

Cyrus soon felt the same cold wash over him as well. He started getting a bad feeling, a premonition that something terrible was hiding somewhere nearby.

Then, he heard it. A scream, desperate and filled with dread, but it wasn't just a scream, it was a word, a name. Hearing that name, being cried out so desperately, by that voice, made something deep within Cyrus snap, and made his body start moving by itself.

Cyrus took flight and rushed to where he had heard the scream coming from.

"Cyrus!" Camo called, fright and confusion in his voice. "What's wrong!?"

"It's Spyro and the others!" Cyrus cried, slowing down a moment for his friend. "They're in danger!"

At that, Camo's eyes went round and his shaking started getting worse. A shaky, terrified breath escaped him, before he spoke in a voice that made it clear he remembered, the biting cold he and Cyrus were feeling right now.

"Dragon Slayers." Camo whispered hopelessly, gripping his broken wing and hanging his head.

---

"Spyro!" Cynder cried as she saw her friend be sent sprawling back, flying through the air and crash down several feet away after being struck by Tarrare.

He had landed, belly down, on his side against a large boulder far behind the dragons of their enemies, and didn't seem to be moving.

"Ahhh, I love the sound and feel of a dragon's neck breaking," Tarrare said with cruel nostalgia. "That wasn't it." He sighed with disappointment.

"Only one breed of dragon have those scales," Krall noted, looking at Spyro's fallen figure. "The boy is a purple dragon Adiaperst! We'll have to deal with him last." He said, snapping his rusty blacksmith pliers menacingly.

"You'll have to get through us first!" Cynder stated, furiously, standing in between the dragon slayers and her fallen friend behind her, resolve and new hatred for the two dragon slayers, hardening her expression.

"She's right!" Sunburn stated, equally determined as he stood by Cynder's side, staring down their enemies. "You will not hurt our friend again, you monster!" He stated.

"We'll just have to see about that won't we?" Krall said maliciously, as he reached for something in his pouch.

Cynder then saw Krall pull out a jar, far too large to be contained in the dragon slayer's pouch. This jar was filled with tiny bones, black feathers and bits of purple goo. If it was disgusting to look at, then the smell that came out of it when Krall smashed the glass container against the ground was worse. It was pungent and intense, and it filled Cynder's nostrils with the smell of decay.

But, from the putrid mess and broken glass, Cynder saw a thick, black smoke rise up, like a gaseous shadow. Krall giggled manically as the shadow grew and grew until it was large pillar of darkness.

Then, from the shadows, something emerged. It stuck it's hand out first, slowly reaching out to be touched by the light that pierced the gray sky. But then, the whole thing came stumbling out, flopping onto the frozen grass.

It was a skeleton. No meat or skin covered it's body, or at least not all of it. Despite its body being humanoid, a bit over half Master Eon's size, the creature's head was that of a bird, a dead bird, with some flesh and feathers still sticking onto the skull. The head was also connected to the body by a thick collar of black feathers, identical to the one Krall was wearing.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna puke." Zap, who was behind Sunburn, said as the bony creature began stepping toward the dragons, it's bones creaking as it did.

"Get me their teeth." Krall ordered simply, taking a few steps back from the dark cloud of smoke his creature had emerged from.

After this, the bony creature, let out a loud, raging shriek, which made Cynder's ears ring. And then, from the dark could behind the creature, another monster, made of bones and a bird's head stumbled out, identical to the first. Then another creature came, and another, and another until there was about a dozen creatures standing, looking at the dragons with their dead, beady eyes.

"I believe our odds just dropped dramatically." Drobot's synthesised voice whispered meekly.

Then, the dozen bone creatures shrieked in unison, pointing their gaping black beaks at the dragons as they did, once again, making Cynder's ears ring. Afterwards, the creatured began running at the dragons, crawling on all four like beasts.

"Everyone!" Cynder called, getting everyone's attention. "Destroy the monsters first, then focus on Krall!" She said, planning to make sure the imp-like creature didn't make any more friends.

"Alright!" Everyone said in unison, filling Cynder with a burst of hope.

As Cynder saw the creatures approach her, she stood her ground, getting ready to call forth her lightning. She closed her eyes to focus, and then, when she felt the energy flow through her, she opened her eyes, and from her mouth a stream of blue lightning shot out.

But her attack wasn't alone, it was accompanied, by a pair of laser beams, a current of yellow electricity, a stream of white flames, a miniature rainbow and even by a massive brown wrecking ball.

All of Cynder's friends attacked at once. Their attacks colliding with the unfortunate creatures in the front lines and knocking back the ones behind. As the volley of attacks crashed against the bone creatures, they crumbled into bone meal, letting out a mix of sounds like bones breaking and birds squawking as they fell.

Just like that, Cynder and her companions had taken down half the dozen creatures. However, the second half didn't seem to be frightened. They quickly stood up and attacked again.

One of them seemed to target Cynde and lunged at her, aiming to impale her with it's sharp beak. However, Cynder focused and turned into a shadowy outline of herself. When the bone creature passed through her, stumbling to the ground afterwards, Cynder quickly turned around and resolidified.

She then released a stream of blue lightning at the bone creature, hitting it in the back of it's exposed ribcage, causing it to crumble and turn to a pile of useless bones.

Cynder the turned around to see Bash swinging his spiked tail at one of the creatures, sending it sprawling through the air. Once the creature was up there, Cynder saw Drobot fire a pair of orange laser beams at it, turning into a cloud of white dust.

She also saw Zap slide out of the lunge of another one of the creatures, spraying it with a stream of yellow lightning, which disoriented it enough to let Whirlwind come in and fire a rainbow beam right at its head, which caused the whole creature to turn to dust.

Then, Cynder saw Sunburn stay still as two creatures approached him. Just as the monsters leaped up in the air, about to fall on top of the red dragon, he let out an intense stream of white and yellow flames. He moved his head, and seared both creatures' heard off mid air, turning them into dust as well.

The last remaining creature, was destroyed when Drobot released a small swarm of homing metal gears, which slammed against the creature's body with great force. After this, the creature fell limp on the ground and stayed there, slowly dissolving into dust.

Cynder had her hopes bolstered. Despite the fact Spyro had been knocked out, they had won the first round. No one had gotten hurt and everyone seemed to be ready for more. The dragons took a defensive stance as the dragon slayers stayed in silence, looking at them.

"Is that all you've got?" Cynder asked daringly, smirking at her enemies.

Tarrare and Krall stayed quiet. Looking at Cynder and her companions with analytical faces. Tarrare had his arms crossed over his chest, while Krall seemed to be holding his chin beneath his grim hat.

Cynder then noticed Tarrare leaned a bit towards Krall, as if to say something to him. "Qu'est-ce que tu penses?" He asked in his foreign language.

"Nun, sie sind offensichtlich geschult." Krall spoke in his own language. "Aber sie scheinen größtenteils unkoordiniert zu sein." He continued. "Wenn wir also einige von ihnen töten, sollte der rest auseinanderfallen." He finished.

Afterwards, Tarrare nodded in understanding, now looking at the dragons. "Lequel devons-nous tuer en premier?" He asked, gesturing at them with his chin.

"Hmmm," Krall hummed, scratching his chin beneath his skull helmet shadow. "Die rote eidechse." He said in his foreign language. Then, the imp-like creature began giggling to himself and then turned to face his friend. "Ich habe gerade realisiert." He paused. "Sie können uns nicht verstehen." He said with a snicker as he pointed at the dragons with his thumb.

"Vraiment?" Tarrare exclaimed. The evil elf then turned over to Zap, pointed at him accusingly and said: "Ta maman est si grosse qu'elle met du rouge à lèvres avec un rouleau à peinture!" With the most degrading tone posible.

Zap looked undignified, but it seemed that, just like Cynder, he had no idea what their enemies had just said. "What did you say?" Zap demanded. "What did you say!?" He repeated, sounded angrier.

However, the only response he got from the two dragon slayers was wheezing, roaring laughter. The duo of villains were bending over from laughter. Krall was outright rolling on the grass, wheezing while Tarrare was wiping away tears of laughter form his eyes. All this, while Zap growled with frustration.

"What's so funny!?" The blue dragon roared.

"Zap, calm down." Bash said in a severe tone, stretching an arm in front of the blue dragon, preventing him from doing something stupid.

"Oh, oho, mein kleiner bauch!" Krall wheezed finally getting on his feet once again. "Thank you little dragon, for making us laugh!" He said gratefully, letting out another snicker afterwards.

"We haven't had such a laugh in over a hundred years!" Tarrare added after one last, small chuckle. "We'll be sure to kill you last." He said in a kind tone.

"You aren't killing anyone!" Cynder stated adamantly. "We're putting an end to you!" She declared.

"Alright, alright." Krall said raising his clawed hands. "We should probably take you lizards a little seriously." He said with a sigh.

"Yes, we should." Tarrare agreed, as he let go of his winch. The large metal chain unrolled a bit, still hanging onto Tarrare's arm, like an arm-mounted flail. "Come now little lizards," Tarrare began, slowly walking toward the dragons, a deranged look in his dead eyes, the air colder around him. "Time to tenderize the meat!" He roared.

Then, Tarrare began rushing at Sunburn, his rolled up winch dragging behind him. He then swung the chain over his head, and brought it down, aimed at Sunburn's head.

At the heavy black winch came down, Sunburn rolled to the side, avoiding the attack as it collided with the ground in a violent impact. However, Tarrare quickly pulled back his winch, unrelentingly approaching Sunburn and ready to swing again.

"Stay back!" Drobot commanded as he stepped in between Sunburn and Tarrare, firing his laser beams at the elf.

Tarrare, simply leaned out of the way, causally avoiding the attack. When the evil elf stood staring once again, he grabbed his winch closer to the base and swung it at Drobot. This attack had shorter range, but was much faster that the last. Drobot had less than a second to react, which to Cynder's dread, wasn't enough.

She saw as the copprey dragon's armored head was struck with the mass of black chains, swung by Tarrare. Cynder managed to see the blue metal crumple, the bright yellow spotlights that served for eyes shater and go dark. Drobot then felt to the side, knocked out in a single blow.

"Drobot!" Sunburn cried, guilt and dread in his voice.

Tarrare didn't stop with Drobot however. Using the new new grip on his weapon and Sunburn's distracted state, the elf swung his heavy winch at Sunburn once again.

However, before the attack could land, Tarrare was tacked by a brown boulder, causing his attack to lose momentum.

Cynder saw Bash tackle Tarrare and drive him back, burying his head in the elf's chest and pushing, causing the elf to lift dirt as he tried to stop Bash's advance. And to Cynder's dread he succeeded.

The elf grabed Bash by the horns on the sides of his head and then flung himself upward. It toom Bash a moment to realize Tarrare was now standing on his back, standing tall. There, Tarrare used some of the leght of his chain and tied it around Bash's tail. Then, the dragon slayer pulled the tail upwards, bending it in an angle that didn't look natural.

Bash was then brought to his knees, pressed against the ground and groaning loudly, as if in pain.

"Hey!" Whirlwind shouted as she began charging for Bash. "Don't hurt him!"

However, before she could reach the brown dragon, Whirlwind was struck with a bola, which hit her legs, tying them together and causing her to trim roughly on the ground.

This caused Cynder to turn around, to where the bola had come from. There she saw Krall, with his arm stretched out, as if he'd just thrown something. "Oh let him have his fun." The imp began. "You have me to play with!" He said, reaching for something in his seemingly magical pouch.

"Mountain Drakes are all armour!" Tarrare shouted, causing Cynder to turn around again and focus on Bash. She saw as Tarrare tugged Bash's tail, causing the dragon to let out a pained yelp. "You have to attack their weak points! Like for example." He said, pausing for a moment.

Then, Cynder's eyes went round from horrir when she saw Tarrare jank Bash's tail backwards, causing a fleshy crack, to sound as Bash let out a hideous scream of agony. However, Tarrare didn't stop there. The dragon slayer quickly untied his winch from Bash's tail. Then, he leaped into the air, his winch behind him and as he was coming down, he slammed his weapon down Bash's head in a sonorous blow.

"Bash!" Cynder cried in despair as she saw her friend stay down, even after Tarrare pulled his winch off his head.

Tarrare then looked down at Whirlwind, who was still down, struggling with her tied limbs. He then turned to Krall and spoke. "Merci, mon ami."

"Gern geschehen." Krall replied with a little bow.

Cynder then furrowed her brow. She wasn't going to let this happen. She took flight and rushed straight at Tarrare a furious glare on her eyes.

In response to this, the elf changed his grip on his winch's chain, letting more lenght hang slack. So, when the elf began swinging his weapon overhead, it's arc had more reach. So when Cynder came close enough, Tarrare flicked his wrist and the heavy winch fell down, about to crush Cynder.

However, the dragoness simply turned into black mist and kept going. The attack phased straight through her, landing loudly behind her. After this, Cynder resolidified and took a deep breath. Afterwards, she released a huge torrent of spectral lightning at Tarrare, which knocked the dragon slayed backwards and made him groan loudly.

"Guys!" Cynder called. "Light him up!" She shouted, pointing at Tarrare.

"Right!" Zap and Sunburn said, rushing over to the still disoriented Tarrare.

Cynder meanwhile went down to help Whirlwind. The violet dragoness used her sharp claws to cut the bola's strings and set her friend free.

"Thank you." Whirlwind whispered as Cynder helped her up.

"Don't mention it." Cynder replied. "Cuz we have to keep an eye on him." She said laughingly.

It took Whirlwind second to catch on, but after the second passed, she looked over to where Cynder was looking and realized what she meant.

Krall was standing, blacksmith pliers in hand, looking calmly at the two dragons. "Oh no," He began. "Tarrare does the fighting. I'm more of a support person." He said pointing at himself.

"Then beating you should be easy." Cynder said, not willing to give this monster any mercy.

"Aw well, if you put it that way." Krall said as he reached for yet something else in his pouch.

Cynder saw the imp-like creature pull out what looked like a totem. A piece of carved and painted wood, large enough for the imp to hold it in one hand, made into the shape of a monstrous black crow. Then, Krall set the totem down in front of him, held out a palm at the figure and closed his glowing yellow eye

Cynder heard the imp mutter something she couldn't understand, and that sounded diferent than the strange language he was speaking before. And then, from the little totem, a bubble of purple energy began to spread. It spread over Krall, leaving him inside the radius of a purple bubble, wide enough let him strech out his arms.

"You're welcome to try to get me." Krall invited as he sat down and looked at Cynder with the smug expression of someone who knew they were perfectly safe.

The dragon slayer's smugness angered Cynder, more than she thought it would. However, she was snapped into focus when Whirlwind called her name.

"Cynder!" She cried, turning her away from Krall. "Zap and Sunburn, they need us!" She stated in a distressed tone and with a matching expression.

At that, Cynder turned back to where she had last seen her other friends. She saw Sunburn and Zap were flying above Tarrae, who was spinning his winch above his head like a lasso, trying to swat the two dragons out of the air. And although her friends had stayed out of danger so far, they were starting to look tired.

Whenever one of the two dragons tried getting closer down to Tarrare, they risked getting caught by the dragon slayers chain.

"Forget this!" Sunburn shouted in rage.

Cynder then saw the red dragon disappear in a flash of fiery light, meaning he would appear soon in a more advantageous position. And a moment afterwards, another blast of fire came, this time behind Terrare. Afterwards, Cynder saw Sunburn tackle the dragon slayer, making him stumble forward and his winch to lose momentum, crashing to the ground.

"Get off, lizard!" Tarrare ordered, reaching for his back, effectively grabbing Sunburn by the scruff of the neck, throwing him off his back and onto the ground.

There, Tarrare clutched the red dragon's neck tightly, in a way that kept his mouth shut, preventing him from breathing his flames to get himself free.

Tarrare then twisted a length of chain around his other hand, creating a large, makeshift gauntlet. Then, the dragon slayer was then about to slam his weighted fist on Sunburn's head, but he was compelled to stop when Zap dove down and crashed his full weight on top of the dragon slayer.

"Leave my friends alone!" Zap shouted. "Ladies!" He called as he tried distracting Tarrare. "A little help!?" He asked gesturing at the dragon slayer.

Cynder said nothing, she just flew over to the dragon slayer and, with Whirlwind at her side, release her attack.

When she did this, Cynder saw as Whirlwind fired her rainbow beam and Zap jumped up while he released his own lightning at the dragon slayer. When the three attacks connected, they created a powerful blast of energy that sent the dragon slayer sprawling back, off Sunburn and away from the others.

This let Cynder reach her friends and speak. "Are you guys alright!?" Cynder asked as she regrouped with her friends.

"We will be," Sunburn said, coughinging as he tried getting on his feet. "But, we still have a problem to deal with." He said grimly, looking over to where Cynder and the others had sent Tarrare.

"For the love of the Ancients!" Zap exclaimed in distress. "Why doesn't that guy stay down!?"

"I would like to know too, Zap," Cynder said dryly as she saw Tarrare, already on his feet, brushing some dirt off his shoulders, dragging his winch behind him, ready for the next round.

However, Cynder noticed that the dragon slayer was fiddling with his mask, seemingly tightening the straps to keep it on. "Krall," He called his friend's name. "Je pense que nous les avons sous-estimés." He said in his language.

"Ja," Krall said, still inside his little bubble. "Es scheint, wir haben." He added, nodding simply. "Soll ich dir helfen?" He said in a way that made Cynder understand it was a question.

"Une aide serait appréciée." Tarrare replied, moving his shoulder as if it were sore.

After this, Cynder saw Krall pick up his little totem and place it in his pouch. Afterwards, the purple bubble around him disappeared and the imp began crawling toward the dragons.

Krall then stood still as pulled something out of his pouch. It was something that looked like a little black marble. The red imp then threw the marble at his feet and after a popping sound, a cloud of smoke emerged, enveloping the dragon slayer.

When the cloud dispersed, Cynder was put on edge when Krall was no longer there. He had vanished.

"Cynder?" Sunburn called from behind her, making her turn around.

Once she did, Cynder was admittedly surprised by the sight. Krall was now hanggin off Tarrare's back, hanging onto him though an arm hold around his neck, still holding his blacksmith pliers in one hand.

Cynder found this rather peculiar but her curiosity quickly turned to disgust when the little imp began groaning loudly and twitching awkwardly. Cynder then watched as the two malformed lumps of Krall's back started to writhe, creating gut-churning, fleshy, cracking sounds, only to extend into two new, gangly arms, coming out of his back.

"Alright, my friend." Krall began, cracking his brand new set of knuckles. "What do you say we finish these lizards like the old days?" He said, offering a fist bump to Tarrare.

Tarrare then used one hand to pick up his winch, and the other to bump his friend's fist, glaring disturbingly at the dragons, sending chills down Cynder's spine and rooting a bad feeling deep in her conscience.

Cynder then saw Krall use his new arms to dig around his pouch in preparation for the incoming fight. The imp pulled out little blue marble with one hand and with the other, a fistfull of dark red dust, holding both at the ready.

"Alright," Cynder began trying to come up with a plan. "We should try to-"

"Watch out!" Whirlwind screamed, interrupting Cynder.

Thanks to her friend's warning, Cynder had enough time to turn into dark mist and avoid the incoming attack. She saw as Whirlwind and Zap ducked while Sunburn flew out of the path of a massive, arching attack from Tarrare's winch.

The elvish dragon slayer was already swinging his weapon like a lasso once again and already bringing it back around. This time however, it was aimed directly at Zap. As the winch came down, Zap used his slime to slide out of the way, dodging to the side.

However, he didn't stop there. Already speeding thanks to his slime, Zap began rushing at Tarrare and Krall. "Guys! Cover me!" He said as he approached, ready to release his attack.

However, when Zap got within range to attack, Krall reacted by throwing the fistfull of red dust at the blue dragon. It must have been more than a smoke screen, because when Zap entered the red dust cloud, he stopped in his tracks and began coughing roughly, gripping his throat tightly.

This however, only bought enough time for Tarrare to winde his fist around a length of his chain, once again creating his makeshift gauntlet. Then, Tarrare threw a mighty corkscrew punch at Zap, which connected with the dragon's head sending him sprawling back, where he landed on his back, unmoving.

"Zap, no!" Sunburn cried at the sight of his fallen friend.

After this, Sunburn growled and began diving toward the two dragon slayers. He looked like he took a deep breath and was about to release his attack on them. After seeing this, Cynder decided to help, she began charging at the dragon slayers as well, ready to release her own attack. However, when Cynder was about to release her attack, she saw Krall fling his little blue marble at her. The imp's throw was surprisingly fast, and made it so that Cynder was unable to turn intangible in time.

She felt something like a small snowball hit her near the cheek and then, she lost control of her body. She couldn't even put her paws up to cushion her rough landing. Cynder felt the cold, freezing ground rise up to meet her, leaving a painful throbbing sensation in the right side of her face.

Once in the ground, Cynder couldn't move, not even an inch. All her muscles refused to do what she told them. And so, Cynder was helpless to anything but watch as Sunburn tried diving down at the two dragon slayers.

Meanwhile, Whirlwind began firing her her rainbow beams at the dragon slayers, in an attempt to distract them from Sunburn. However after her first attacks landed, not only did they do little but make Tarrare let out annoyed groans, the cued Krall to dig for something in his pouch.

The dragon slayer then pulled out what looked like a bright blue stone. It was smooth and about twice the size of a fist. Krall then held up this strange stone above his head and waited.

Undeterred, Whirlwind continued attacking, firing another volley of her beams at Tarrare. However, as Whirlwind's attack traveled through the air, aimed at the dragon slayer, they suddenly changed trajectory, moving upwards.

Cynder then realized that Whirlwind's attacks were being pulled into the blue stone Krall had in his hand. She saw as Whirlwind's rainbows shrunk and were absorbed into the blue rock, leaving both dragon slayer's intact. Also, a blue glow began emanating from the blue stone, something that caught Cynder's attention.

This seemed to rile Whirlwind up. Out of desperation or lack of understanding, the dragoness fired another volley of attacks However, just like the last ones, they were absorbed into the blue stone, which now glowed brightly and intensely, which made Cynder worry greatly.

Her fears were confirmed, when she saw Krall wind up his arm before throwing the glowing blue stone at Whirlwind. Much like Cynder herself, the cyan dragoness was unable to predict the incoming attack.

When the blue rock hit the ground at Whirlwind's feet, it exploded, in a brilliant blast of colors, the same colors on Whirlwind's rainbow beams. The blast was powerful enough to send Whirlwind up into the air, only for her to crash down on her back. After crashing back down, the cyan dragoness remained motionless.

Cynder couldn't even call her friend's name, she couldn't even get the peace of mind that she could have survived. However, Cynder's attention was ripped away from Whirlwind and focused on Sunburn and the dragon slayers.

Tarrare was swinging his winch and chain at Sunburn with unrelenting drive, changing the height of the swing every time it came around, causing Sunburn to change his trajectory. Sunburn had to dive and rise out of the incoming chain swings, a task he succeeded at with great effort. However, the red dragon couldn't get in close enough to actually harm the dragon slayers, for the swing of the winch sped up and became harder to predict as he closed in.

This evidently frustrated Sunburn, who growled with tangible stress, even as he avoided the incoming attacks.

"Junge, er ist dabei zu tun!" Krall shouted warningly.

"Je connais." Tarrare said calmly, his expression showing cool Cynder had only seen on Stealth Elf. "les téléporteurs sont si prévisibles." He added with a smug scoff.

Cynder then saw Sunburn disappear in a blast of fire and light, just a swing of Tarrare's chain was about to hit him. But, after this, Tarrare allowed for his winch to lose momentum and drop, chain and all. The elf then quickly turned around and positioned himself with his arm stretched out, as if he was about to catch something.

To Cynder's dread, the dragon slayers preemptive movement had been spot on. She saw as a blast of orange flames appeared in front of Tarrare, something that didn't seem to bother the elf in the slightest, since he kept his posture and hand stretched out.

When the flash of flames dispersed, the blood on Cynder's face drained and dread clawed at her being. She saw Sunburn, caught in Tarrare's hand, squirming and struggling desperately.

"Krall?" Tarrare called in his modulated voice. "If you would." He said patiently.

"Of course!" Krall replied energetically.

At that, Cynder saw, Krall use his new arms to carefully replace Tarrare's hold on Sunburn's neck. The dragon slayers squeezed the red dragon in such a way he couldn't use his flames to defend himself and as such gave both villains plenty of time to handle their exchange.

By the time the two were finished, Krall was holding Sunburn in front of Tarrare, suspending him in the air, like a punching bag.

"Alright," Krall started. "At three?" He asked his friend.

"At three." Tarrare confirmed.

Then, Cynder watched Tarrare start to loosen his arms and take deep breaths.

"Ein… Zwei…" Krall began his count, dread growing in Cynder's heart with every passing number. She managed to close her eyes shut, when Krall shouted. "Drei!"

Cynder then heard a blow land. A powerful punch hit flesh, followed by a breathless gasp of air and after a few moments, by the low thud of something hitting the ground. Cynder opened her eyes slowly to see Sunburn, laid down on the ground, motionless.

"Ahhhh, that was very entertaining!" Krall sighed as he let go of his friend and fell back onto the ground. "Nothing like a good hunt!" He cheered as he began walking over to Sunburn's body.

Tarrare meanwhile, began walking away from his friend, toward Bash, dragging his winch and chain behind him.

Krall on the other hand, started running his hands, all four of them, over Sunburn's unconscious body. "Still warm," He muttered. "Still alive," He added. "Oh well, half breed or not," He said, confusing Cynder with what he meant by half breed. "These are still valuable," He stated in a merry tone as he plucked four feathers off Sunburns body, stuffing them in his pouch. "And useful!" He added, selecting and plucking four more feathers and putting them away as well.

Cynder watched in disgust and horror as the dragon slayer repeated the process three more times, taking more and more feathers. After Krall was satisfied, he let out a pleased sigh and then began scanning the area.

His gaze, fell on Cynder, causing her to shudder and try once again to move. However, even now, her muscles were paralyzed and she couldn't even wiggle away from Krall as the four-armed imp walked over to her.

Cynder shuddered and and closed her eyes as she felt Krall flip her on her back. She then slowly opened her eyes and saw that Krall was looking down at her, his glowing yellow eye fixed on her own.

"You know," Krall began. "I actually have something, a project you could say." He said, gripping his blacksmith pliers tightly. "It consists of making this necklace, as a gift for a dear friend of mine." He explained. "She would love this kind of thing, because see, the necklace I want to make is no ordinary trinket." He said, pointing at Cynder with a sharp claw.

"It's a necklace made of dragon teeth," Krall said proudly, his glowing eye curling up, indicating he was smiling under his skull hat, as if the words he had just said were devoid of any grizzly meaning or disturbing suggestion. "I planned on making it from eight teeth, one for each element a dragon can harness!" He explained. "And it just so happens, little lizard-" He continued, speaking in a darker tone as he began pointing his pliers at Cynder's face. "-I'm missing the tooth of an Undead dragon," He stated. "Thank you for volunteering!" He added cheerfully.

Cynder then felt her heart start to race, pounding frantically against her chest because it knew, just as well as her, what was about to happen. She tried screaming, calling for help, but the only sound that came out of her mouth were garbled groans.

Cynder then felt Krall grab her jaw with one of his hands and her sout with another, pulling her mouth open while leaving two hands left to operate his pliers, which he was clicking with cruel anticipation.

Cynder tried squirming, tried calling for help, tried everything. But her body didn't listen, not even when she felt Krall use one of his hands to pull her jaw down and another to pull her snout up, leaving her mouth wide open as well as leaving Krall with two hands to operate his pliers.

"Say, ahhh!" Krall hissed maliciously as he began placing his open pliers inside Cynder's mouth.

The dragones started tearing up when she felt the cold, rust metal close around one of the grinders in the back of her mouth. She could feel the tears streaming down the sides of her head freeze in the cold, cruel presence of the dragon slayer looming over her.

Then, Cynder began feeling pressure, a powerful pull against her jaw. Then, after a strained groan and a sudden jerk of the pliers, Cynder felt a massive discharge of pain erupt, all the while the heavy, metallic taste of iron filled her mouth and a sharp ringing resonate in her ears. Her agonized scream was muffled by her numbed body, failing to make justice to the pulsing pain she was feeling.

Meanwhile in Krall pulled his arms back, with his prize between the black pincers. "Ahhh, there," The red imp said in a pleased tone as he gazed at Cynder's tooth. "That wasn't soooo bad, was it?" He asked with a cruel mirth. "Now-" He picked up, dropping the tooth into his pouch. "-I really just need one tooth for my necklace. But…" He added, raising a hand at Cynder. "You have really pretty teeth, little lizard." He said, tracing his black claws over Cynder's fangs.

Cynder felt her eyes start watering again when Krall began clicking his pliers again. "You wouldn't mind if took some more would you?" He asked with a casual lack of empathy. "To remember you by." He said in an attempt to justify his cruelty.

Cynder tried one last desperate attempt at moving, at trying to escape to no avail, her body would just not move despite how much pain and fear she was feeling. In desperation her mind started rushing through her memories. She had remembered Spyro being extremely afraid of these monsters, but she hadn't really understood until now.

These villains were diferent to the ones she was used to. They weren't like the Greebles that tried stealing toys every now and then, they weren't like the Doom Raiders, who just spread chaos for the fun of it.

These, horrible creatures wanted to hurt her, they hated her. It felt personal, and the morbid simplicity of their motivation, made them all the more terrifying. This fear she was feeling right now, the one these dragon slayers were making her feel, like a bitting, chilling weight that made her heart pound and her skin crawl, was primal, raw. An instinct she didn't know she had, but that had not lost any of its power.

When Cynder saw Krall beguin lowering his pliers at her mouth once again, the violet dragoness closed her eyes and braced for the worst, trying and failing to stay her terrible fear.

"Krall!" Tarrare's voice suddenly shouted making the imp freeze for a second.

"Yessss?" Krall asked, sounding a little annoyed he couldn't rip Cynder's other teeth out yet.

Cynder then looked to her left, over to where Tarrare's voice was coming from. There, she saw the elven dragon slayer standing at the side of Bash's unconscious body. The two were standing rather close to the edge of the isle, only a short walk away from the drop, something that made Cynder very uneasy.

"Where are my knife and spices?" Tarrare asked his friend. "You know how hard Mountain Drakes are to cook." He said, kicking Bash degradingly in the gut.

"Hmmm… they do taste like gravel without your special seasoning," Krall said, scratching his concealed chin. "Let me get them for you." He said, reaching for his pouch once again.

From the little black bag, Krall pulled out a long curved knife, which ended in a curved tip and another, larger bag. This one was colored brown and neatly tied shut with a simple thin rope. It also smelled heavily of spices.

"Here!" Krall shouted as he tossed the two items to his friend.

Tarrare then caught each item in one hand and proceeded to thank his friend in a language Cynder couldn't understand. She then saw as Tarrare began to knee down near Bash, holding his knife tightly with both hands.

All the blood on Cynder's face thinned out, when she saw Tarrare start pressing the knife against Bash's flank, searching for a weak spot in between his scales. Cynder could do nothing but pray for something to happen to stop Tarrare from finding that weak spot.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called. "Leave him alone!" It commanded, making Tarrare obey, if only to see who the voice belonged to.

Both, Cynder and Krall were surprised to see none other than Whirlwind pounce on Tarrare, who for his part, let out a frightened yelp as he raised his arms in an attempt to defend himself.

Cynder then saw Whirlwind take flight and fire a beam of multicolored energy down at Tarrare, who kept one of his arms up in a defensive stance as he reached for his winch with the other. When the dragon slayer got a grip of his winch's chain, he pulled on it violently, sending the rolled up mass of metal flying upwards at Whirlwind.

The cyan dragoness soared out of the way of the incoming attack and began circling around Tarrare before diving down and firing another rainbow beam from her horn. This caused the dragon slayer to groan loudly and swing his winch again an attack Whirlwind dodged by diving rapidly.

"Mon dieu!" Tarrare exclaimed in frustration. "Can you please stand still!?" He demanded as he swung his chain once again, which to his frustration, was once again dodged.

After that, Tarrare, let his winch and chain go limp and drop down, where he wound it all up, almost as if he'd put his weapon down and given up. However, Cynder noticed the dragon slayer was narrowing his eyes, keeping them very fixed on Whirlwind. She deduced he was thinking, thinking of the best way to handle Whirlwind.

Then, Tarrare looked down at his hand, where he was holding his knife. He then lifted his head and looked at Whirlwind, who was already coming down for another attack against the dragon slayer.

Tarrare looked down at his knife once again. He then shrugged in a bored manner, only to change his grip on the knife, now pinching the tip of the blade with his thumb and the side of his index finger. Then, Tarrare pulled his knife arm back behind his head while he raised his right arm in front of him, holding his thumb up while he held one of his eyes closed.

Cynder then realized what Tarrare was about to do. She tried crying out to warn Whirlwind, only to to force out tears of frustration when her voice would just not power through her paralysis.

And so, Cynder was powerless to warn Whirlwind in time. She had to watch as the cyan dragoness dove down to get in range to fire another rainbow beam at Tarrare, who in response to this, threw his left arm forward, sending hit knife through the air, straight at Whirlwind.

The blade buried itself deep in Whirlwind's left wing, causing the dragoness to cry out in pain and plummet down, losing control of her flight. But, if only to make things worse, Whirlwind fell right into Tarrare's hands.

The elven dragon slayer caught the cyan dragoness and held her in the air, gripping her by the neck. She struggled faintly, leaving her left wing hanging limp. Tarrare quickly noticed this and proceeded to grip his knife's handle, removing it with a quick, clean motion that caused Whirlwind to exclaim in pain a second time. She hung her head low after this, drained from the pain of her injury.

Tarrare then scoffed. "There really is nothing quite as poetic-" He paused, gazing at the edge of the isle, before looking back at Whirlwind, malevolent intent in his eyes. "-As watching a creature of the Sky-" He paused again, slamming his winch on the ground, burreing it partly before walking to the edge of the isle, taking Whirlwind with him. "-Fall to their death." He finished with a cruel chuckle as he stretched his arm out and held Whirlwind out over the edge of the isle, about to drop her into the void beneath.

Tarrare then let go of Whirlwind's wing and Cynder watched as the cyan dragoness began to fall to the emptiness below.

But then, Cynder saw something that made the air leave her chest. She saw Whirlwind be caught mid air and brought back to the isle, by a purple dragon.

"Spyro!?" Cynder instantly thought of her friend.

However, she was led to think again when Tarrare spoke in a surprised tone. "Another one!?" He exclaimed as he took a couple of steps back.

That's when it hit her. The dragon Cynder was looking at right now, was Cyrus.

After gently laying down Whirlwind beside Bash, the indigo dragon moved quickly, leaving only seconds for Cynder to understand what he was doing.

Cyrus pounced on Tarrare, taking the dragon slayer by surprise and clutching onto his shoulders, making him stumble backwards. Before Tarrare could react properly, Cyrus took a ravenous bite at the dragon slayer's neck, causing Tarrare to let out a long, strained groan as he violently shoved Cyrus off his chest.

Tarrare, then leaned forward, gripping the right side of his neck tightly, trying to stop a thick, black, tar-like substance from pouring out of the gruesome bite wound. After Cyrus landed, a few feet away from Tarrare, Cynder noticed he was shaking and that his green eyes were fixed on the elven dragon slayer, glaring at him with venomous hate.

"Oh great!" Krall exclaimed in annoyance. "Now we have that to deal with." He groaned, getting on his feet and turning over to Cyrus, already reaching for something in his pouch.

However, before the maroon imp could pull his hand out, he was tackled, pounced on by a large purple figure. Cynder saw him for a second, before he knocked Krall out of her field of vision, but, she felt a faint hope flicker within her when she did.

---

Spyro was shaking, tense and breathing hard. His blood was boiling, he never remembered feeling as furious at anyone as with the maroon creature he had pinned against the ground.

"If you ever," Spyro began, growling each word, letting his anger flow into them. "Lay a finger on her," He paused, clenching his fists around Krall's shoulders so hard he was sure he could feel the joints pop. "Or any one of them ever again, I swear I'll-"

"You'll what, lizard?" Krall asked in an almost bored tone, looking up at Spyro with a half-open yellow eye, apparently unfazed by his breaking shoulders. "You'll, kill me?" He said in a mocking tone, adding a small chuckle afterwards. "I'd like to see you try. Because, believe me-" He said, narrowing his eye and speaking in a dangerous tone. "It's going to be harder than you realize."

At that, Spyro saw Krall lift a hand, one of the ones that were coming out of his back. Ih this hand, Spyro saw a small, pitch black marble. Krall then squeezed his hand tightly and followed by small popping sound, a large cloud of smoke began rolling out of Krall's hand, enveloping the dragon slayer.

After Krall was completely covered in the greyish mist, Spyro felt him vanish, slipping straight through his paws. Spyro then began looking around, panning his head through the island in search for the two dragon slayers. He found them both a few meters away after glancing to his left.

Spyro saw Krall mounted on Tarrare's back, holding onto him with an armlock around the neck. The imp the handed his friend a potion, filled with bright red liquid. Tarrare then quickly uncorked the potion and drank its contents. When the elven dragon slayer was finished, he let out a pleasing sigh and threw the empty vile away, thanking his friend in his foreign language.

Spyro then noticed the flow of black goo that was running out of a bite wound on Tarrare's neck, began to disperse. The whole wound vanished completely in a couple of seconds, making Spyro deduce the dragon slayer had used a healing potion.

The duo of dragon slayers then composed themselves. They were standing a few meters away from Cyrus, who had his wings stretched out defensively, trying to serve as a line of defence for Whirlwind and Bash, who were laying still behind him.

Spyro didn't plan on letting them hurt his brother. So, without wasting time, Spyro started running, sprinting straight at the duo of villains. He felt a raging heat flow through his whole body as he ran, pushing him to move faster.

As he got closer to the dragon slayers, Spyro lowered his head and bright orange flames began blazing on them, leaving behind a trail of flaming sparks behind Spyro.

When he was just within reach, Spyro tensed his legs for second and leapt into the air. Spyro then felt his head crash into Tarrare's body, helt all that heat he had built up discharge directly onto the dragon slayer. He felt the evil elf's body be shoot away from the force of the impact.

Spyro then felt himself land on his feet and proceed to lift his head. He looked up just in time to see Tarrare and Krall fall of the edge of the island, screaming a quickly fading scream.

Spyro was just about to feel relief and take a moment to greet his brother, until he heard a ringing sound, like a metal chain suddenly being tensed up to its limit.

Then, Spyro turned over to his right, and realized that Tarrare's which was still buried on the dirt, it's chain indeed tensed up and stretching over the edge of the isle, out to the void where Spyro had hoped the dragon slayers had fallen into. Then, to his dread, Spyro started hearing a metallic jingle, quickly paced and consistent. After only seconds, Spyro saw Tarrare slam his body back onto the isle, Krall still on his back.

Spyro was about to attack the prone enemies, however, he saw someone get to it before he could. He saw Cyrus step forward and take a deep breath, causing the gashes on his chest to glow a poisonous green. Then, Cyrus fired a bolt of green and black flames at the dragon slayers, who were still not even on their feet.

The dragon slayers reacted in time to avoid Cyrus' attack. Krall jumped off Tarrare's back, while the elven dragon slayer dashed to his left, causing the green firebolt to crash against the ground, burning a hole right through, bur missing it's mark.

"Alright," Krall began. "An Infernus-" He said, looking over to Cyrus. "-And an Adiaperst-" He added, looking over to Spyro. "A truly rare sight, a truly rare sight indeed." He said in a strange tone.

"The last one you'll get to see." Cyrus spat coldly.

"Ah, you have guts little lizard!" Krall exclaimed merrily. "Too bad guts only get you into fights," He said, reaching for something in his pouch. "They don't get you out of them." He said, tilting his head disturbingly.

Spyro then noticed Tarrare began winding his winch closer to him, ripping it out of the earth and holding it at the ready.

Spyro could feel the tension in the air. This was going to be difficult, and a lot of lives, lives he was responsible for, were at stake. He couldn't let himself loose, not to these monsters, not here. Despite the cruel cold the two dragon slayers' usettleing aura was emitting, Spyro wasn't shaking, or at least not from fear, but from anticipation.

"Cyrus?" Spyro called, looking over to his brother. "Are you ready?"

Cyrus let out a heavy sigh and lowered his head a bit. Then, in a tired tone he spoke. "As I'll ever be." He said getting into battle pose.

After this, it was only a few seconds before Spyro called forth his flames and released a a blazing river of orange flames at the two dragon slayers. He could feel the heat of his fire burn bright.

But then, Spyro saw something pass through his flames. He saw Tarrare's winch shooting through his stream of fire and soon enough, he felt the mass of wound up chains slam against his chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs and sending him sprawling backwards, crashing down roughly against the cold, frozen grass.

Spyro got up quickly, and looked over to Tarrare, who was charging at Spyro with his winch trailing behind him. Tarrare then swung his winch in an overhead ark, aiming to crash it down against Spyro's head.

However, as the winch came down, Spyro dashed to his left, avoiding the impact of the heavy winch. But Spyro had no time to rest, for Tarrare was already closing in to throw punches at Spyro. The dragon slayer attacked unrelentingly, making Spyro back up in an attempt to avoid the attacks. Spyro tried to counter by releasing his fire at his enemy, however, that's when Spyro realized, Tarrare wasn't attacking him at random.

Wherever Spyro tried to call his flames forth, Tarrare seem to notice and anticipated by hitting Spyro with a quick jab to his neck, which made Spyro cough roughly and lose control over his flames. The dragon slayer ususally followed up by hitting Spyro in the bridge of the nose, which made his eyes water and blurred his vision, which made Spyro panic and try using his flames again, only to receive another sharp blow to the neck and be left coughing instead of spewing fire.

As Spyro stumbled backwards, overwhelmed by Tarrare's calculative onslaught, he realized he needed a change of approach. So, Spyro dashed backwards with a small burst of his wings and after a moment to wipe his eyes and clear his vision, Spyro used his wings once again, this time to get himself airborne and get an advantage against Tarrare.

However, when Spyro rose over the dragon slayer, he reacted by swinging his winch in a wide ark, catching Spyro off guard and crashing the mass of metal against Spyro's side.

Spyro felt the force from the impact spread through his body, stunning him for a moment until the shock was dispersed. By that time, Spyro was on the ground, his face pressed against the frozen blades of grass, groaning in strain as he slowly pulled himself off the ground.

After shaking his head to make himself focus and silently thanking his impenetrable scales, Spyro took a look around. He saw Tarrare slowly winding up his winch and walking toward him in a brisk pace, all while Cyrus was nowhere to be seen.

"Cyrus!?" Spyro called, stepping away from the approaching dragon slayer. "Where are you, buddy?" He asked.

"Busy!" Cyrus' voice shouted behind Spyro.

At that, Spyro turned around so fast, he felt a sting of pain in his neck. Behind him, Spyro saw Cyrus flying through the air, being chased by a host of creatures made of humanoid bones and bird heads.

The creatures were leaping up at the flying dragon, pecking their sharp black beaks at Cyrus, attempting to skewer him. However whenever one of the creatures leaped up, Cyrus slashed at their heads with his claws, which were covered in a bloody red glow.

However, there were plenty of creatures attacking him and the indigo dragon was indeed very occupied dealing with them. All the while, Krall was sitting down beside a large pillar of black mist, from the which even more bone creatures were emerging and moving against Cyrus.

Spyro was about to rush over and help his brother, but he suddenly remembered. "Tarrare."

Out of excellent timing or just sheer luck, Spyro ducked out of the way or a horizontal swing of Tarrare's winch which, had he not dodged, would have hit him over the head.

Spyro then turned around and after taking a deep breath and rising his head, he fired a firebolt right at Tarrare's face, causing the dragon slayer to yelp and stumble backwards. Not letting up, Spyro fired another bolt of orange flames at his enemies face which landed once again and once again caused the evil elf to stumble backwards.

However, not pressing his luck, Spyro turned around and flew over to where Cyrus was. Just as another one of the disturbing bone creatures was about to leap up at Cyrus, Spyrolowerd his head and headbutted it mid air, turning its body into bone meal.

"Thanks," Cyrus sighed as he swooped down and slashed another one of the creatures. "I think this is going really well." He said in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, totally." Spyro agreed in the same tone as he shot a firebolt at one of the creatures leaping up at them.

Spyro could tell his brother was just as tired as he was. The indigo dragon was sweating, breathing unevenly and was putting in visible effort into keeping himself airborne.

"My drain doesn't work on them," Cyrus said. "I can't get any stamina back and this fight is really dragging out."

"Yeah, you have a point." Spyro agreed, realizing how heavy his own body was and how all the blows Tarrare had landed on him were throbbing intensely throughout his body, making it difficult for him to concentrate.

However, Spyro knew he had to keep going. So, he took a deep breath and looked down at the bone creatures beneath him. Then, Spyro opened his mouth and released a waterfall of orange flames upon the creatures. The bright flames charred the screeching monsters, soon turning them into dust.

Afterwards, Spyro let out a breathless sigh as he contemplated his work, a little proud of himself. However, his rest was cut short when a familiar voice came from beneath.

"Come on, lizards!" Krall's croaky voice exclaimed. "Get down from there so we can end this!"

"Do these guys ever get tired?" Spyro wondered in frustration at seeing Tarrare walk up to Krall, both dragon slayer giving absolutely no sign of being fatigued or drained, despite fighting for even longer than either one of the purple dragon siblings.

"I don't think they do." Cyrus said in a serious tone. Spyro noticed Cyrus had narrowed his eyes and had gone silent, as if he realized something.

"Well," Krall picked up, making Spyro look down at him. "If you don't wanna come down-" He paused, shiting his gaze from Spyro, back down to Cynder's body. "-You don't have to." He said as he began walking toward the violet dragoness.

At that, anger started boiling up within Spyro once again. He clenched his teeth and fists and was about to dive straight down at the horrible maroon imp for even thinking of hurting Cynder again.

However, before Spyro could dive down, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of green. Spyro then witnessed as a bolt of green and black flames flew downwards through the air, and hit Krall in a blazing impact that knocked him off his feet.

The maroon imp let out a surprised yelp when the green firebolt hit him in the shoulder, incinerating his left arm, part oh his shoulder and making the left arm coming out of his back fall off, only to be turned to ash on the floor by the embering burns on it's base.

Spyro then turned to look at Cyrus, a wide eyed look on his face. The indigo dragon was looking down loathingly at Krall and despite the trails of smoke coming out of his mouth, he kept his composure, if only to spite the wounded dragon slayer.

Krall's wounds were covered in green embers that glowed against the disgusting tar-like substance that was pouring out of his body. However, despite being grievously wounded, Krall didn't seem to be in pain, if anything, the horrifying glare and low growl he was giving Cyrus indicated he was enraged more than anything.

The dragon slayer then shifted his focus from Cyrus and used his remaining arms to reach for something in his black pouch once again.

However, Spyro had no time to dwell on the wounded dragon slayer. He was knocked into a diferent mindset when he saw Tarrare's winch shooting up at him. Spyro reacted by diving down and letting the mass of chains pass above him.

At that, Spyro decided he had just had enough. "Cyrus!" He called.

Cyrus then looked over to Spyro, looking at him with a hard expression. The two dragons then shared a firm nod, before they both looked down to the elven dragon slayer beneath them.

Then, Spyro and Cyrus dove down, flying toward Tarrare. The dragon slayer responded by swinging his winch at the two dragons. Spyro dodged the incoming swing and managed to get close to his enemy. Then, Spyro lowered his head and flew low, so low he felt some tall blades of grass scrape his chest. After getting close enough, Spyro rammed himself against Tarrare's legs, knocking the dragon slayer off his balance and causing him to start falling down.

In that moment, Cyrus swooped in, and with a glowing claw, the indigo dragon slashed upward in a bloody uppercut, giving Tarrare one last dose of damage before the dragon slayer hit the ground with a loud, heavy thud.

Afterwards, Spyro let out a short, triumphant laugh. "Hey! We make a pretty good team!" He said as his brother landed beside him.

"I thought we had already established that." Cyrus said in a sarcastic tone. "You know, back when we destroyed that one bad guy made of trash." He recalled with a small smile.

"Urgh! You two are way too hard to get rid of!" Krall shouted.

"That you are." Tarrare's voice sounded, shortly before the dragon slayer begna getting on his feet and patted himself down, snuffing out any hope Spyro had of dealing lasting damage to the dragon slayer. "And quite honestly," He continued, his modulated voice, to Spyro's surprise, no longer sounding muffled. "I think we should really wrap this up. We haven't had a decent meal in a long time-" He paused and turned around to face Spyro. "-And purple dragons are surprisingly tasty raw."

Tarrare's mask had fallen off, revealing the lower half of the elf's face. It looked normal, except for the part where his lower jaw was split in two, like an ant's mandible. From this grotesk mouth a steady amount of chunky, black saliva dripped, very similar in pretty much every way to the tar-like substance Spyro had seen the dragon slayers bleed whenever they were damaged heavily. He also had a long, oily black tongue which he used to lick his lips in a disgusting manner that made Spyro have to hold back a gag reflex.

"Alright!" A familiar, croaky voice shouted. "Let's put an end to this-" Krall demanded as he hopped onto Tarrare's back, with all four of his arms completely healed. "-For real this time!" He shouted, raising his second pair of arms over his head. Spyro noticed he was holding something in each fist.

"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Spyro shouted back, already in battle pose.

Spyro then saw Cyrus stand beside him, in battle pose, staring down the dragon slayers in front on them. So, building up tension in his muscles, Spyro got ready to pounce on the dragon slayers.

Then, Spyro release the tension he'd built up. He sprung forward, head down and eyes closed, aiming to headbutt Tarrare. And soon enough, Spyro felt himself hit something. However, soon after, Spyro felt something grab a hold of his neck, tightening like a vice. Then, Spyro felt like he was slammed against a smooth surface, far too smooth to be the grass-covered ground on the island.

Spyro was forced to open his eyes out of purse shock. He then saw what the problem was. Spyro had hit something, just not Tarrare. He had hit a bubble of bright purple energy, that was now surrounding the two dragon slayers and was being held against it by Tarrare, who was choke holding him, apparently able to stick his arm through the bubble's surface.

Spyro noticed that Krall had placed something on the top of Tarrare's head, splitting his frenzied blue hair. It was a totem, no larger than a soda can, decorated with the carving of a grimm bird. Spyro guessed this item was the one creating the force field around the dragon slayers, since it only appeared after Krall had placed it on Tarrare's head.

"Spyro!" Cyrus cried in distress.

The indigo dragon then took a deep breath, lighting up the markings on his chest. Afterwards, Cyrus aimed a bolt of green flames at Krall and Tarrare, a bolt that was caught by the purple bubble around the dragon slayers. However, to Spyro's surprise, the green flamed began eating away the magic barrier, creating a widening hole in the purple magic.

After this, Cyrus let out a pained cough, but he held himself high, ignoring the black steams of smoke emerging from his mouth.

"Argh! Infernus sind so nervig!" Krall complained, lifting the totem off Tarrare's head and putting it back in his pouch, dispelling the purple bubble completely.

"Et sont donc Adiapersts." Tarrare added in a frustrated tone. He was looking at Spyro with half open eyes, apparently bored by how long it was taking the purple dragon to choke to death.

"Let him go!" Cyrus ordered angrily.

The indigo dragon then flew upward, and called forth his magic, making his paws glow bloody red. He then began to dive down at the dragon slayers, ready to attack. However, Krall simply tossed forth a fistfull of a fine, red dust, which turned into a wide cloud that floated in front of him, like a smoke screen.

However, when Cyrus entered this cloud of red dust, the indigo dragon suddenly lost control over his body. He plummeted down to the ground and began coughing roughly and gripping his throat tightly. Spyro then saw Tarrare walk over to Cyrus, only to raise his foot over his head and stomp down with a sonorous impact, after then which, Cyrus suddenly stopped moving.

"Bro… ther!" Spyro tried to scream as his heart was gripped by a brutal, familiar cold. However, the words got stuck in Spyro's throat, probably thanks to the hand that was squeezing his throat shut.

"You dragons really are fools." Tarrare spat in a voice that made him sound like a gentleman losing his cool.

"Yeah, fine." Krall mumbled. "You can do the bad guy speech this time." He said with a sigh.

"You really thought you two could defeat us?" Tarrare asked. "What made you think that two dragons could accomplish the task six dragons failed? The fact your scales are purple? Hah! Don't make me laugh." He paused. "You aren't the first purple dragon we've killed, boy. I mean-" He paused, gesturing at his purple boots. "-Where do you think I got the leather for these boots?" He asked with a mangled smile.

"And where I got this sick hat!" Krall interjected, pointing at the skull he was wearing.

"You aren't special, little lizard," Tarrare picked up. "You want to know what you are? You're an animal. Your whole species are animals." He hissed loathingly. "And do you know what happens to animals?" He asked in a sinister tone, pulling Spyro closer to his empty, grey eyes, closer to his butchered mouth and oil-black tongue. "Animals. Get. Put. Down."

At that, Tarrare took his second hand, and griped Spyro's neck, tightening his grip even further. Spyro then began clawing at the dragon slayers hands, desperately trying to catch a breath. But Spyro was losing his strength, his vision was getting dark.

"Tell me, little lizard," Tarrare began in a mocking tone. "What good are those impenetrable scales doing you now?" He asked with a slow, cruel chuckle as Spyro gasped for air.

Spyro's mind was getting cloudy from how close he was to passing out. He could only hear Tarrare's words echoing in his head and images of his friends laying down, defeated, about to fall into the clutches of these monsters, all because of him. The cold kept biting at every inch of his body, the pain of his wounds kept pulsing through him. He wasn't strong enough to keep himself awake.

"Hey!" A voice shouted, sounding distant and faded to Spyro.

"Was jetzt?" Krall's croaky voice exclaimed, sounding annoyed.

"Another dragon," Tarrare's voice stated. "There seems to be an infestation around here." He said as one of his hands let go of Spyro and the other loosened its grip, allowing Spyro to gasp for breath and cough roughly.

Then, under Tarrare's loosened grip, Spyro was able to turn his head and look over to where he'd heard the faint voice come from. Once he did, Spyro's heart started aching, because a few meters away was a familiar, little green dragon.

"L-Let him g-go!" Camo shouted, his voice as shaky as his legs. The green dragon looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Let him go?" Krall asked, sounding astounded. "And why should we do that? Or are you-" Krall pointed at Camo. "-Going to stop us?"

Camo then gulped hard, and cleared his voice before taking a nervous step forward. "Y-You bet I'm gonna m-make you." He stated.

At that, Spyro heard Krall let out a long, breathless wheeze that prolonged itself as the maroon imp began sliding off Tarrare's back and onto the ground. Once there, Krall bent over in a fit of roaring laughter.

"H-Hey, stop laughing!" Camo ordered, trying to sound tough, but failing to get the dragon slayer to take him seriously.

"Oh, ohoho, just-just give me a second." Krall asked between snickers as he got himself off the ground. "Ahhh, that was good laugh Weinkraut." He spat a freshly made nickname.

At that, Camo stiffend slightly, glaring more intensely at Krall. "Nenn mich nicht so, Wichtel." Camo spat back, in the same language Krall used, something that surprised Spyro so much, his blurry vision cleared a bit.

"Ahhhh! Finally!" Krall exclaimed joyously. "Another man of culture!" He said, gesturing at Camo with his four arms. "That language is difficult, Weinkraut! My sincerest congratulations on learning it and on the lack of an accent!" He cheered, giving Camo a small bow.

At that, Camo glanced to his sides, visibly confused. "T-Thanks?" He said shakily.

"Nevertheless," Krall picked up. "I'm afraid we're still going to have to kill you," He stated. "And your friends." He added rapidly, making Camo flinch. "Tarrare, kill the purple one after I pull out all of Weinkraut's teeth." He said, pointing his pliers at Camo before he started walking toward him.

"D'accord." Tarrare said calmly, holding Spyro just tight enough for him to take a breath.

Spyro used that opportunity to call his friend's name. "Camo!" He shouted in his fittingly strangled voice. "Get out of here… you can't… fight these guys!" He said through cold, breathless gasps.

However, Camo didn't seem to heed Spyro's words even as Krall continued walking toward him. In fact, to Spyro's dread, Camo started walking toward Krall as if he wanted to face him.

"No! Camo, no!" Spyro cried, trying to squirm free of Tarrare's grip, clawing at his hand and trying to use his wings to escape.

But then, Spyro was forced to stop, when he felt a sharp, precise blow, courtesy of Tarrare's free hand, land just above his stomach, sending a discharge of pain through his chest, causing his lungs to spasm. Spyro remembered Vixen hitting him in the exact same spot. "Maybe it's a dragon slayer thing." He guessed in his mind as he tried focusing through the pain and cold.

"Komm schon, Weinkraut," Krall's voice sounded. "Let me see those pearly whites." He said, clicking his pliers at Camo.

Camo and Krall were now less than two meters away from one another and Spyro's dread was growing with each step the duo took toward one another. But then, something happened, something that made Spyro's eyes go round.

Camo started glowing, or well, part of him started glowing. Camo himself didn't seem aware of it, because when Krall came to a sudden stop and actually took a step back from him, he seemed confused. Afterwards, Camo looked down at his chest and realized what was going on.

Camo let out a surprised yelp and started poking his chest. "W-What's going on?" He asked, a little frightened. Camo then lifted his head and looked to his left then, his eyes went round and he spoke in an even more frightened voice. "Why is everyone glowing!?"

At that, Spro looked over to where Camo was looking. That's when he saw it. He saw that all his friends, Cynder, Bash, Sunburn, Whirlwind, Drobot and Zap, had a shimmering glow in their chests. Despite them all laying down and unmoving, the light within them shone just as brightly as Camo's.

However, Spyro also noticed that the light was colored differently for each one of his friends. The light that glowed was the same color as the element each dragon belonged to. There was a vibrant spectrum of red, blue, green, brown, orange, cyan and grey that light up the isle's gloomy air.

Spyro then looked at Tarrare. He noticed that the elf was looking down at Spyro's chest, a wide-eyed, frightened look in his face. Then, Spyro lowered his gaze and confirmed himself what Tarrare's expression had made him suspect.

From his chest, right where he could feel his heart beat, Spyro saw a bright purple light. Seeing this light, seeing the same glow on all of his friend's hearts, it made Spyro feel a surge of energy. He felt the cold the dragon slayers were giving off, fade, replaced instead with a warm, effervescent sensation.

Then, Spyro began feeling something swell up within him, trying to escape, running through through his veins, breathing in his lungs, reaching for his throat. Spyro then took a deep breath and he felt that sensation grow stronger, almost as if it was grateful for the breath of fresh air.

When Tarrare noticed this a bit of life came back to his eyes, if only to express fear. Then, with all his might, he tried throwing Spyro away from him, proceeding to lift his arms, as if to protect himself from something

And so, Spyro used his wings to stabilize himself midair to get a better shot. Then, he rocked his head back, only to bring it forward and open his mouth, causing all that energy that had swollen up within him to come storming out.

Spyro saw a stream of flames erupt from his mouth. They had his trademark fiery orange smolder, but, Spyro noticed that his flames were accented by bright flashes of colors. Blue, green, gray and more shimmered in shot flashes beneath the orange glow of Spyro's fire.

These flames then crashed against Tarrare, like a river crashing against a rock. The dragon slayer was pushed backwards, groaning loudly as he was forced to step further and further away from Spyro.

Spyro wanted to keep the flames up, but, before long, he found himself out of breath. When Spyro looked to see what had happened to Tarrare, he was admittedly surprised.

The dragon slayer's arms were covered in grey, stone-like patches of petrified skin and flesh. Tarrare's arms were shaking and his hands were clenched into fists all while an expression of strain and of actual pain remained in his face.

Spyro then looked over to Camo and Krall. He noticed they both had wide eyes, and were looking at Spyro intently. However, Spyro noticed that Camo was smiling a broad astounded smile, while Krall seemed to be stammering, all while his yellow eye twitched beneath his grimm hat.

"Al-right!" Camo said energetically, suddenly focusing on Krall.

The little green dragon, then took a deep breath and fired a spiky yellow orb at Krall. Only that, just like Spyro's flames, bright, familiar colors flashed under the surface of the projectile. And when the orb hit Krall in one of the arms that was coming out of his back, there was a small flash of the very same energy.

When this impact connected, Krall let out a howl of pain as he stumbled over. Spyro noticed that after Camo had attack the dragon slayer's arm, the maroon flesh had turned stone grey, just like the part of Tarrare's forearms he had used to defend himself.

When Krall moved to get himself up, Spyro heard a low, creaking sound, like a clay sculpture breaking. He then noticed that Krall's petrified arm, broke off the imp's body, to shatter on the grass-covered ground.

After this, there was a long silence. Everyone held still, dragon and dragon slayer alike. The silence was broken when Krall's croaky voice whispered something, a single word. "Sternenfeuer." He said in a somber tone.

After that, Krall and Tarrare moved, making Spyro flinch and get into battle pose. However, Spyro noticed that the two villains were walking toward each other, not even looking at Spyro or Camo. Krall then got on Tarrare's back and handed his friend something he'd pulled out of his black pouch. Tarrare took it in silence and kept his eyes on Spyro.

"This." Krall began, hissing his words. "Isn't. Over." He promised, glaring at Spyro with his glowing eye, fixated and unflinching, like a dead man's stare. After giving Spyro this one last dose of chills, the imp the raised an arm over his head, his fist closed, concealing something.

Spyro then saw as both dragon slayers clenched their fists hard, and caused two separate pops to sound. Then, a thick grey mist began pouring out of their clenched fists. It moved unnaturally, enveloping the dragon slayer's bodies. After the mist covered the two villains, it dispersed moments later, relieving that the two villains had vanished, leaving behind nothing except for silence.

Spyro then noticed that the light glowing from his chest had slowly began to fade, disappearing before long. Spyro then looked at Camo and noticed the same had happened to him. Then, Spyro looked over to his friends and noticed that the same was true for them. Their lights had faded as well.

However, Spyro quickly started feeling a terrible sensation claw at him. He saw that none of his friends were moving. Spyro then rushed over to the dragon closest to him, Sunburn and tried seeing if he was alright.

"Sunburn!" Spyro called as he shook his friend's shoulders' trying to wake him up. When the red dragon gave no reaction, Spyro started despairing. "Camo!" He cried. "See if the other's are alright!"

"Y-Yeah!" Camo responded, running past Spyro, over to where Bash and Whirlwind where laying down.

Meanwhile, Spyro started putting Sunburn on his back. Spyro noticed the red dragon was still warm, a good sign he concluded. He carried his fallen friend over to a large rock nearby, resign him gently against its surface. Spyro then looked around, searching for his other companions. He then saw Cyrus, laying motionless, right where Tarrare had stomped on him.

Spyro's heart started aching as he rushed over. When he looked down at his unconscious brother, Spyro's mind started racing, racing until it remembered something. Then, almost by reflex, Spyro took one of his brother's paws and held it in his own.

"Come on man," Spyro spoke to his brother. "You can use your freaky magic, it's fine." He asked, squeezing his brother's paw harder when he didn't respond. "Come on, just like last time, you can take some, I'll be fine." He insisted. With a brittle whisper, he added. "Please."

Spyro felt Cyrus' grip on his paw tighten, by such a slight difference he almost had failed to feel it. And then, Spyro heard something. A small groan, coming from Cyrus' throat. At that, Spyro was overjoyed. He let out a gasp as he held his brother's paw with both of his, thanking him silently for holding on.

Afterwards, Spyro put Cyrus on his back and carried his brother over to the same rock Sunburn was now resting on. After this, Spyro panned his head around, searching for his remaining friends. That's when he saw a familiar, violet figure, laying down a few meters away.

Spyro rushed over, his heart hammering against his chest. "Cynder!" He called as he sat down beside her.

Spyro tried lifting Cynder's head off the ground to get a better look at her. She had her eyes closed and looked knocked out. "Cynder?" He called softly, delicately nudging her snout with his.

After this, Spyro noticed that Cynder's eyes flickered, only to open slowly. Cynder let out a low groan, like that of someone who had just woke up with a headache. "Spy...ro?" She called weakly.

"Yes!" Spyro called, joy heightening his voice. "Yes Cynder, it's me, I'm here." He said, speaking in a more controlled tone. "They're gone," He added. "Krall and Tarrare, they left. You're alright." He soothed.

At that, Cynder closed her eyes again and let out a small chuckle. "Heh, took you long enough." She teased, hitting Spyro's side with a whack of her tail, making him let out a short chuckle.

"I know," Spyro acknowledged with a sad smile, the weight of guilt settling on his back. "I'm sorry." He said, resting a paw on Cynder's forehead, caressing it slowly, while the dragoness kept her eyes closed.

Afterwards, Spyro put Cynder on his back, and carried her over to the others, placing her gently beside Cyrus, letting her rest.

After looking at the three dragons for a moment, making sure they were alright, Spyro moved to turn around, wanting to help Camo out with the others. However, when Spyro turned around, his heart stopped for a second and he almost jumped out of his scales.

"Spyro?" Camo's voice sounded, alarmed by the raket. "What's…" He began as he walked over to Spyro. "...Wrong." He finished when he saw the answer to his question, floating a few feet away.

"Hello!" A squeaky, familiar and very annoying voice sounded.

Spyro didn't know how to react when he saw Broccoli Guy, waving mellowly up at him. So, Spyro tried cutting to the chase. "What do you want, Broccoli Guy?"

"You know how all of your friends are beaten up?" He asked, the obviousness of the question making Spyro angry. "Aaaaand you know how I have healing powers?" Broccoli Guy continued coyly. "Aaaaand how I helped you find Omen's lair that one time."

"Get to the point!" Spyro snapped, surprised at how quickly Broccoli Guy could get on his nerves.

At that, Broccoli Guy simply stared at Spyro, not intimidated. In fact, the little green vegetable hovered a little higher off the ground, to eye level with Spyro. The Doom Raider then smirked, a strange smile Spyro couldn't decipher.

Then, Spyro saw as Broccoli Guy stretched out his little stub of an arm and spoke. "How would you like some help?" He offered simply.

---

Author's notes

Well, here we are, chapter nine. I'm really sorry this took so long, but in my defence, it is by far the ongest chapter I've ever writen. There wer also a couple of other things I had to mannage while I was working on this, so theres that. And also, this cahpter had a whole lot of things to manage and explain so... yeah.

But, I came through. I promised another chapter and you got another chapter, so you know what to expect whenI say this: more chapters are coming.

- Enter Krall and Tarrare, the new dragon slayers! What will become of these terrifying new foes?

- And so returns Broccoli Guy. What does the Doom Raider intend to do?