Things did not go according to plan.
As Spyro planned his retreat, the human reappeared, stepping out into the hallway.
Spyro froze.
Thankfully the human had turned to the opposite end of the hall then Spyro, but had not moved further.
'What are they doing?'
Were they surveying the Hall first before moving forward, or were they contemplating returning from whence they came?
Spyro held his breath, standing still as a stone statue, but ready to react.
The human glanced around the hall, which didn't carry on much further then the last pair of rooms.
'Now or never.'
Spyro thought to himself.
He slowly stalked backward, one step at a time.
The human finally started moving, slowly traveling away from Spyro.
CLINK
Both froze in place at the sound.
Spyro had unknowingly kicked over a small metal canister, the sound echoing through the quiet ship.
The human spun around, not even aiming before firing the Stasis Rifle.
A beam of blue light shot down the hall, Spyro ducking to the side to miss it by mere inches.
The rifle fired again, Spyro rolling out of its path and pivoting to enact his escape plan.
He sprinted down the hall full speed, hearing the rifle fire and ducking into a slide, the beam passing over him as he continued sprinting without even slightly losing speed.
Quickly approaching the end of the hall, he reached out and grabbed the corner of the wall, using it to skate around the corner.
He kept running, hearing the human chasing after him.
He skidded and made a sharp turn into another hallway, rapidly searching for an escape.
Spying a narrow gap in the damaged walkway above, he leaped to the side and wall jumped upwards, clinging to the walkway and scrambling up.
He glanced down to see the human enter the room and look up to where he now was.
"Time to go..." He mumbled to himself, running along the walkway as the human started climbing up after him.
Spotting a vent ahead, he slid to a stop and yanked the grate off, crawling in and replacing the grate, then using his Fire element to heat the edges of the grate, basically welding it to the wall.
With the threat sealed off, he crawled through the cramped vent shafts, completely lost.
He had no idea where he was going, only thinking about putting as much distance between him and the human as he could.
After what seemed like hours of crawling through the dark vent shafts, he deemed the threat far gone.
He stopped to rest for a few minutes, catching his breath.
He took out the PDA, which still displayed a map of the Aurora. He was very close to the section of the ship that was missing.
If he could get to the outside, he could simply glide back to the Pod.
He crawled on through the vents until he found a grate, pushing it off and crawling out onto a rickety platform.
Looking around, he confirmed what the PDA had told him. He was at the edge of the broken ship, glad to see the sky again.
Giant flames covered most of the platform, Spyro simply holding out a paw to extinguish the fire in seconds.
He walked up to the edge, looking out and spotting the Pod, planning the trajectory.
All he needed was a short running start to get airborne.
He backed up and spread his wings, mostly just stretching them out.
After securing his pack, he darted forward, lunging off the platform and spreading his wings.
No sooner his rear paws left the platform, he caught sight of a bright blue beam streaking towards him.
He wasn't able to react fast enough, hit in the side by the Stasis Rifle blast and blacking out midair.
"Wake up." A soft voice, Cynder's voice called to him. "Spyro, wake up."
"Come here... to me." The unfamiliar voice returned. "Want to...help you."
"You need to wake up." Cynder's voice asserted, sounding concerned.
Spyro slowly opened one eye, finding himself laying on a metallic platform about half a foot under water.
Glancing around, he noticed the platform he was taking off from high above him.
After being knocked out by the blast, he had fallen all the way down to here, which explained the soreness.
He also noticed the human kneeling a few feet away from him.
He raised his head slowly, seeing the human was searching through his pack.
"You know, where I come from it's not polite to take others' stuff." He said.
The human looked over, clearly taken by surprise. "You can speak?" They questioned, muffled by the mask.
"I try." Spyro joked. "So, my pack?"
The human looked down at the pack then back to Spyro, holding up the PDA, "Where did you get this?"
"The Life Pod out there." Spyro answered, standing up.
"How'd you get past the fire?" They asked. "With your tech?"
"Tech?" Spyro echoed, not understanding the term.
"Like what you did up there," They pointed to the platform above.
Spyro guessed they were referring to his extinguishing the blaze.
For the human to not recognize elemental magic solidified his suspicion that this realm was far different then his own, not just in looks but in civilization as well.
"You've never heard of Elemental Magic?" Spyro questioned.
"Magic?" The human repeated, a tone of disbelief. "Are you kidding?"
"I'm not exactly from here." Spyro explained. "Back home, magic is practiced by pretty much everyone, especially elemental magic."
The human seemed to think for a moment, before speaking, "I'm a ways from home too."
Spyro felt disappointment set in, trying not to let it show in his tone. "You too?"
The human nodded, putting the PDA back in the pack and sliding over to Spyro, who zipped it up and slung it over his shoulder.
The human then reached up and removed their mask.
"The pod might be somewhat stable, but it's not a long term shelter." He stated seriously.
"I take it you have one of these long term shelters?" Spyro infrenced.
"I take it you need one?" The human responded.
"If you don't mind a travel buddy?" Spyro joked.
"I guess working together would help us both. And your... Magic... Could be helpful." He replied.
"Do you use names where you're from?" Spyro asked.
"My name's Ryley." He answered. "You?"
"My friends call me Spyro." The purple dragon responded.