The Return of the Purple Penny!

Ech: Well, I guess you could update this really quickly. After all, how else would people see it?

Roo: They could look through the archives for it. But remember, Ech, TTE's going on vacation to Tennessee next week. He has to get this made fast.

But not too fast. And I won't have all the Back to the Future jokes that you'd expect in a Spyro story. So sorry.

Wex: And don't forget, you can still vote for who you want to go on Sonic's journey with him up until Chapter 4 is up. That's when the real journey starts. These first three are just a set-up for the characters.

Platypous: Not owning anything but us isn't good. But for TTE it is. Where's my pudding?

At the end of the chapter, Platypous. For now, let's see what Spyro does to invoke the wrath of the Purple Penny...

Spyro torched another group of sheep at the picnic he was having with Hunter, Elora, and Sparx in Summer Forest. "Ahhh, it feels so good to have my flame breath back!"

"My ears are back to normal too." Elora said, "And next time we won't be in such a dangerous situation since Ratchet let you keep that Pyrocitor that he had customized."

Spyro looked at the purple painted Pyrocitor that Hunter was using to burn all of the sheep that Spyro missed. It was a great thing that Ratchet did on their last adventure, customizing his own weapon and giving it to Spyro as a gift. Where the nozzle was before, a small steel head shaped like Spyro's sat, and the tank on the back where the fuel was allowed to expand had now appeared to have sprouted wings. Ratchet and Spyro had joked just before Spyro and company's return to Avalar that it could actually be called a Spyrocitor now.

"You know, I'm really gonna miss Ratchet." Hunter told the group while he conked another sheep on the head with the Spyrocitor. "He's the kind of guy who only appears once in every galaxy, a hero who would stand up for his friends no matter what the cost was to himself." "Ahem." Spyro cleared his throat.

"Oh, but of course I know you're the kind of guy who'd do that too, Spyro" Hunter finished embarrassedly.

"Where's Zoë?"

Elora answered Sparx. "She had a class to teach today in Bianca's magic school. You know how we have to keep Avalar as magical as possible, or none of us would be able to survive here."

"And they said that they'd meet us here at six. It's already five thirty." Hunter added.

"You know, I haven't seen or heard at all from Ripto since Ratchet and I beat him a year ago."

"You don't think he's, you know... finally gone," Elora asked, "do you, Spyro?"

"Jeez, I hope not." Spyro stated abruptly. "Uh, you know," he said quickly, "because then there'd be nobody to fight."

Spyro was now satisfied with his clearing-out job on the sheep, so he took his seat next to Elora. Hunter followed, and seeing the big picnic basket that she had brought with her, his mouth watered. "You know what, we really don't have to wait for Bianca. I'm sure she'd understand."

"Whoa, whoa, Hunter, calm down." Spyro stopped his good friend with his clawed hand. "You know what she did last time when you didn't save her anything."

"Huh?" Hunter thought hard about it. "Oh yeah!"

"What? What did she do to him?"

"Well, Elora, it was back when you visited your parents, remember, just a couple of years ago?"

"Yeah." Hunter continued. "Since you were gone, Spyro, Bianca, and me decided to have a movie night."

"What did you watch?"

"Oh, it was nothing. Just some movie you wouldn't–" "Back to the Future."

"Hunter!" Spyro hissed. "I told you not to tell her, under any circumstances!"

"But Spyro, you know it's my favorite movie." Elora said, not very happy with her friends' secret.

"We watched it to remind ourselves of you." Spyro saved the conversation, but not for long. "We watched the whole trilogy!" Hunter interrupted.

"But you guys, I have the shirt! I joined a club! How could you?"

"But–but–" was all that came out of Spyro's mouth. He saw Elora, his long time friend, and girlfriend ever since they first sent Ratchet home, on the verge of tears. Something wasn't right here. Spyro looked into Elora's green eyes, and behind her he noticed a flash of white disappear behind a tree. Now he knew what was going on. "Okay, just for me doing that, you can ram me. Go ahead, right on the side." Spyro was acting like he was crushed too. "I'm sorry, Elora. Can you ever forgive me?"

Just at that moment, Zoë and Bianca jumped from behind the tree. "Gotcha!" they shouted together, chiming in as Spyro, Hunter, and Elora shouted it at each other. But it wasn't as it seemed. Spyro shouted to Elora, Elora shouted to Hunter, and Hunter shouted to Spyro. After laughing for a while at each other, the six sat down for their picnic dinner.

Hunter was, as usual, complaining that it didn't go to plan. "They fooled me, Zoë!" he yelled before taking a bite of his BLT. Spyro was just regaining his composure after he and Elora had a word fight, to see who could make up the most words from the last one's last letter. Elora's last one had been Oogleflorgamifitz. "You know that's not a real word, don't you?"

"Come on now, Spyro, futuriffic? That's not in any dictionary that I've seen."

"Well, I guess that means we tied, and the loser had to wash the winner's clothes for a week."

"So I guess you should get to my laundry then, Spyro."

"Yeah... Hey, wait a minute!"

"Oogleflorgamifitz!"

Spyro and Elora burst out in laughter again, annoying the other two couples also on the blanket. "Jeez, they should seriously grow up already!" Sparx complained. "It wasn't that funny."

"Well, Zoë and I had better get going, we do have to grade the younger kids' spells. Those frogs won't live forever." Bianca said after she had finished her sandwich. "I'll see you at home, Hunter."

"You know it, Beeblebah."

"I'll see you too, Sparx." Zoë added with a wink.

The two magical folk flew off, leaving the three friends who had met suddenly only five years before to be together again. "Hey, eight o'clock!" Spyro said as he heard the chimes ring. "This was when I had to face Ratchet that one time!"

"And now that he's away from this planet, I might just have a chance, dragon." Ripto's scepter glowed red behind Spyro, reflecting off of Elora and Hunter's eyes. "And since you're the only thing in my way, I'll take care of you first. E pluribus mortem!"

Spyro rolled out of the way of Ripto's magical attack, which burned the blanket below him a dark purple. Ripto's dark eyes focused on Spyro's silhouette against the capital of Avalar. "Don't bother dodging, dragon, you'll only delay my domination of the planet, and maybe even Ratchet and Clank's as well." Ripto charged up his scepter again, but he didn't notice the figure behind him.

"Hey, let me go! Unhand me this instant!" Ripto struggled in vain in Hunter's arms, reaching for the scepter that Elora had quickly taken. "So what's it this time, Shorty? You've tried to take over at least ten different places by now, and you haven't succeeded even once." Spyro told his enemy. "What makes it different this time?" Ripto wasn't paying attention. "Ripto?"

The Riptoc, once a mighty leader and a very powerful sorcerer, was asleep in Hunter's arms, like a baby. "What did you do to him, Hunter?"

"I was just holding him, right here, while you talked to him so he wouldn't get away, and he just zonked on us."

Elora brought the scepter closer to Ripto, and its red glow intensified, bringing to light the problem with Ripto.

"Oh my God, look at his head!" Elora shouted, pointing to the area behind his single horn with her free hand. "It looks like it's all swollen and purple!"

"Pur–Pur–Purple... Pen–Pen–Penny..."

"Ripto?" Spyro drew closer to his enemy. "What purple penny?"

"What? Where is that infernal–? Aaah!" Ripto began to struggle again in Hunter's hands, but he still got nowhere. "Let me go now! Dragon, if you don't tell that moron friend of yours to let me go immediately, your life will be the last thing you need to worry about!"

"Pipe down, Shorty. I want answers." Spyro commanded Ripto to tell him about the bruise that was on his head. "Never! You can't make me speak!"

"Ripto, if you answer us, we'll let you go just this once without a fight." Elora said. "Come on. Are you scared to tell us?"

"Not scared, just... embarrassed." Ripto confessed. "It must come from a power greater than me. A power that could destroy all of Avalar as we know it. It would destroy my home as well, and yours, dragon."

"What is it?" Hunter asked. "Another sorcerer?"

"Maybe his teacher, someone dissatisfied with how he's handled things." Sparx piped up.

"No, not my teacher, or another sorcerer. It's but a penny, a cursed little coin that brings bad luck to all, and causes the holder to be very, very unlucky."

"What?!" Spyro laughed. "A penny?! That's it? You're scared of a penny?"

"Not a penny." Ripto clarified, "The Penny. The Purple Penny."

"I can see why he's scared." Hunter joked.

"It has nothing to do with the dragon's color, you hear me?" Ripto wasn't calm anymore. "This one penny could cause the destruction of Avalar, the Dragon Realms, anywhere! Spyro, I am disappointed in myself for asking you this, but... you have to save the world from this penny!"

A nearby phone rang, and when it had rung for a while without anyone answering it, Spyro walked over and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this... Spyro the Dragon?"

"Oh boy," Spyro thought, "Another crazed fan wants to get my autograph. How did they know I was here?"

"Yes, I'm Spyro. Why?"

"Here at Microsoft, we've been having quite a problem–"

"All right, listen, just because I let Universal put games of my life on every major video game system doesn't mean that I'll sell out to you alone. Seriously!" Spyro was about to angrily hang up the phone when suddenly the voice asked "Do you really want to do that?"

"Do what?" Spyro was really freaked out from this phone call. First, he didn't know who this person was. And now, they knew what he was doing. What was going on?

"Nothing, but I have a proposition for you, Spyro." The voice said.

"What is it?"

"Our Microsoft Word programs have had many problems in the past few weeks. We need you to come and remedy these problems."

"Why can't you get your own goons to do it? They get paid enough!" Spyro hated remembering his first and only meeting at Microsoft. All of the other characters were so full of themselves, and Spyro was basically the only polite one there.

"Our own 'goons,' as you call them, are busy preparing for the release of Xbox 2 and many new games, and we see that you haven't had many plans recently."

"Well, no." Spyro said as he thought "How do they know this?" "So, you want me to come and save Microsoft Word from being destroyed?"

"Yes. Your transport will arrive in exactly twenty-four hours. You may bring another, but only one. Choose your friends carefully, Spyro, and choose your enemies even more carefully." The phone connection abruptly ended, and Spyro was left with only a dial tone. He hung up the phone, and got a strange chill over him. This was weird. He walked back to where Elora, Hunter, and Sparx were guarding Ripto.

"What was that about?" Elora asked when Spyro was within earshot.

"It was some nut at Microsoft. They want me to come save their Microsoft Word program. I don't know why, but I feel like I have to go, you know, at least to check it out."

"But Spyro, while you're gone, who's going to save Avalar from Ripto?"

"Hey!"

"That's no problem. Two of you guys can handle it, because I can only bring one of you with me."

Roo: ...

Wex: Don't even try it. I'm on to you."

Antiroo: !yregnahffilC !hooO

Antiech: Antiroo, don't push Wex. He's already fed up with Roo. Don't make it worse.

Platypous: Where's my pudding?!

You get it when you tell the readers what you have to.

Platypous: Fine. Okay, the future of the fanfic is in your hands. You guys get to vote who goes with Spyro, but only because, yet again, TTE can't decide. Who will it be, Sparx, his long-time partner, Elora, his girlfriend, or Hunter, his best friend? TTE wants YOU to vote.

Princess Aquaech: And voting is still open for Sonic's partner, which could be Shadow, Knuckles, or Tails. There's already one vote for Shadow at this time, so get out there and vote! (Hopes people vote for the red hot echidna)

Platypous: But I thought you loved me! And where's my pudding?

Roo: He's P.A.'s harmless crush on a famous person. Get over it.

Platypous: Pudding!

Fine, here!

Platypous: Yay!

Ech: Well, get going! There's a button down there waiting to be pressed! It's lonely! Until next time, see ya!