"Spyro...?" a gentle voice called to him. "Spyro...?"
He slowly opened his weary eyes, seeing Cynder standing before him. He smiled sleepily and lifted his head.
Cynder returned his smile with one of her own. She was very beautiful already, and her smile made her even more so.
"Not a bad sight to wake up to..." Spyro thought aloud as he admired her.
She chuckled and her smile grew. "Good morning to you too."
Spyro stood up groggily and followed Cynder to the edge of the cliff they'd spent the night on, both dragons gazing at the breath-taking sunrise.
They had defeated Malefor and saved the Dragon Realm only a week ago, and had been traveling around freely since.
The thought of returning to Warfang had occurred to them, but they had agreed to take a 'vacation' as Cynder called it, and so they had.
Over the week they spent together, they'd grown much closer. Spyro had to admit, he'd had feelings for Cynder for the longest time, and Cynder admitted she felt the same about him for just as long.
But the three words Cynder said to him following their battle with Malefor broke down emotional barriers, and allowed their relationship to grow.
Spyro looked over at Cynder, and she looked back at him. As their gazes met, Spyro thought about how lucky he was to have her, and how grateful he was that she'd been with him through the trials he faced.
His happy thoughts were suddenly cut off when he lost the ability to breathe. He coughed, water leaking out of his mouth.
He could feel with every inhale water was caught in his windpipes, from nowhere it seemed. His coughing grew more violent, until he abruptly woke up.
He was laying half submerged in water, quickly jerking his head up and out of the water, coughing up the water he had inhaled.
Once he could breathe clearly again, he looked around, taking in his surroundings.
Directly behind him was a massive object. He trudged backwards a few steps through the water and gazed upward, barely able to see the top of the object.
He observed that it appeared to be heavily damaged, portions of it in flames or bent and weathered.
It seemed greatly longer then it was tall, as looking in either direction he couldn't clearly see the object's ends. He could however see large writing on the object's side.
"Starship Aurora..." Spyro read aloud. The words made no sense to him, but he knew Ships were a means of transportation that non-dragon folk sometimes used to cross large bodies of water.
But those were typically constructed from wood and rope, this object seemed to be made of some sort of metal, and was much larger then any ship he'd ever seen.
It's colossal size reminded him of the Destroyer, and he wondered if this object could possibly be larger then the monster that nearly ended the world.
A small chirp followed by a splash broke his chain of thought, as he whipped around to the origin of the sounds, seeing a few small fish dart past him.
He fully turned to look behind him, deciding to abandon examining the Ship to examine the rest of his surroundings. It was immediately apparent he was in an unfamiliar area.
Ocean stretched as far as he could see in any direction. He was on a small patch of sand that had piled up next to the massive ship, Spyro guessed the current had a hand in it's creation.
The water itself was crystal clear, allowing him to see blurry figures of small fish swimming around. Suddenly something caught his eye, a plume of smoke coming from a smaller object bobbing in the tides a few yards away.
It was dark grey, meaning the fire was still burning. He dove off his small sandy perch, paddling over to the object.
It was mostly white, metal like the Ship, and had a number 5 on its side along with a few rungs that made a ladder.
Spyro climbed to the top of the object, peering through a hole in its roof. A fire indeed blazed inside, and Spyro noticed burn marks much older then this fire was.
Clearly someone had tried to extinguish the flames, doing a poor job of it. Spyro waved a paw and the flames extinguished themselves instantly as he climbed inside the object.
It was a small room inside the object, with two chairs built into the walls. Spyro quickly noticed a faint blue light coming from a charred area of the room, finding a rectangular hatch and opening it.
Inside was a few strange slabs of glass, each with a narrow sliver of metal attached to one side. He picked one up and examined it, using his wing to dust off flakes of char that had clung to the glass.
At his touch the glass slab began to glow bright blue, several shapes and images appearing within the glass and swirling around.
Spyro watched the shapes, mesmerized, until a voice came from the object.
"Initializing PDA in Emergency Mode."
Spyro jumped at the voice, completely caught off guard, nearly dropping the Object.
The voice continued, as the shapes in the glass disappeared and a grid pattern appeared.
"This program will catalogue your inventory, record essential information, and issue survival advice as necessary. PDA has one directive, to keep you alive in a hostile world. Good Luck."
"Uh... Thanks...?" Spyro replied softly. The fact that a piece of glass had just spoken to him was indeed quite surprising, but seeing as it had basically offered to help him, and help was the primary resource he desperately needed right about now...
"Um... Where am I? What is this place?" He asked, partly not expecting a response. But against what he expected, the images in the glass changed to show a planet.
"Currently, you are on Planet 4546B, an un-colonized Ocean Planet." the voice answered his question.
"Ocean Planet?" Spyro repeated. This had to mean that the entire planet he was on was one big ocean, which meant not only was he not in the Dragon Realm, but on a totally different planet. That was a lot to take in.
The mental realization of this crisis was cut short by a sharp pain in his wrist. He yelled out in pain and surprise, looking down to see the PDA had extended a tiny mechanical arm and stabbed a tiny, rounded needle into his wrist.
"Vital Signs indicate severe dehydration and minor abrasions. Fluid intake highly recommended." The PDA reported, retracting its arm.
"Guess I am a bit thirsty..." Spyro mumbled, rubbing his wrist. After searching the room for a couple minutes, he found a plastic container half full of water, which he promptly guzzled.
In the same search he found a mask looking object with two small glass panes he guessed were meant for seeing through, along with a squishy rectangular block the PDA had identified as a 'Nutrient Block', and a backpack the PDA told him was water tight.
He put the Nutrient Block and the almost empty water container into the backpack and shoved it to the side. The PDA had told him about different 'essential materials' that were nearby.
Seeing as it seemed to be a bit more of a survival expert then Spyro was, he decided it would be best to followed its lead. Following the PDA's instructions, Spyro flicked a tiny switch on the side of the Dive Mask and let it scan his face.
Soon after it morphed to fit around his face, with spare room to allow him to speak comfortably, as it had a built in radio that linked to the PDA, allowing them to communicate.
Then he was ready, or as ready as he possibly could be, as he climbed back out, to the top of the Life Pod, staring down at the water below.
"Relax, " he told himself, "Your only about to blindly follow a talking piece of glass into an unknown ocean planet world. What's the worst that could happen?"
He almost had to laugh at that thought, What was the worst thing that could happen?
He chuckled nervously as he slipped the newly shaped mask on and once again glanced down at the water, wondering what he would find down there.