As of this chapter Ember gets her song, I'd like to thanks John's Hourglass, once for thanks being amazing and a great help in general, and once again for suggesting this extraordinary song, I think it's perfect. (Please do listen to it.)

For Those Who Wait, by Fireflight.

Story now:

Ember looked at Cynder, Cynder looked at Ember.

It was an uncomfortable moment.

Ember was seemingly paralysed by shock. The pink dragoness's eyes revealed a flicker of fear. She stepped back.

"Hello Cynder."

"Ember." Cynder inclined her head.

It was still an awkward moment.

Ember tried to speak but she faltered. Nobody else seemed able to help her, Flare, Spyro and Flame just watched the two girls.

"Cynder… Can we talk?" Ember asked hesitantly. "Privately?"

Cynder considered. She glanced at Spyro, he seemed to be at a complete loss. After a moment Cynder nodded.

"Fine."

"I have a room." Ember said. "We can go there."

Cynder went with Ember.

The pink dragoness had made the room her own, unwilling to leave it in the plain state she'd found it in. Cynder didn't think many of the other fire dragons would decorate their rooms with carefully arranged desert flowers. She glanced around with some interest before focusing on Ember.

"What did you want to say?" She asked.

Ember nodded nervously, gathering her confidence.

"I want to say sorry. Cynder I'm sorry about how I've treated you, I shouldn't have been this way towards you."

"You're sorry. Why?"

"Well after we fought you came and apologised, then Cyria came too and we talked about it. She's right, I've been awful to you and I don't want to do that anymore."

Cynder thought about Ember's apology for a moment before deciding on a reply. All the little jibes and taunts Ember had sent her way, all of Cynder's responses, all the anger she wished she could just take out on the pink dragoness. In the colosseum Ember had finally crossed the line and given Cynder the chance to make her hurt in return, but that had been only a taste of what Cynder had wanted to do to her, fair recompense.

Cynder couldn't trust the pink dragoness, and she didn't want to, she felt only scorn for Ember. Now she had an even sweeter chance to show Ember just how much she had done to Cynder. How much pain having your words thrown back in your face could cause.

"Oh, well that makes everything better then." Cynder said mockingly. Ember flinched. "You really think that after the pleasure you took in what you did that I could just forgive you that easily?"

"But… you apologised… I thought that-" Ember hesitated and Cynder cut her off.

"Yes I did, I apologised promptly, and honestly, and I was apologising for the way our fight ended, not for everything I'd done to you ever. You can't just say 'I'm sorry' for what you've done Ember. It doesn't work that way."

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it. Ember you've lost, you have to give him up. Do you remember what the first thing you said to me when I came back to Warfang was? I remember it. You mocked me for slinking away with my tail between my legs. Now it's your turn to slink, pinky. And until you understand how bad you've made me feel don't be expecting any forgiveness."

"I don't know what else to say! I can't give up Spyro! I tried but I just can't!" Ember sobbed. "Cynder please, just tell me what I can do." The pink dragoness was crying but she fought through her tears to hold Cynder's gaze.

"Don't say anything. Don't do anything. Get out of my sight Ember, I'll forgive you if I feel like it, but don't hold your breath."

Ember stood for a moment, stunned, trying to find words but unable to do it.

"We're done here." Cynder said coldly.

She turned around and walked away, behind her she heard Ember fling herself down on the bed and start crying uncontrollably.

Cynder re-joined Spyro, Flame and Flare in the corridor. Spyro looked at her, silently questioning.

Cynder hung her head as the adrenaline she had felt left her body. In the heat of the moment the things she'd said to Ember had felt good, but already a part of her wished she hadn't said them. That was just one part of her, another part of Cynder was glad she'd said those things. She thought Ember had deserved what she'd gotten. In fact she'd probably deserved worse.

"How did it go?" Flare asked. She had her suspicions as to what had happened between the pink and black dragonesses. She didn't want to interfere with this, but she also didn't want either of the two dragonesses hurt too badly.

"Slightly better than I thought it would go, but that isn't saying much." Cynder said wearily. "I've sorted her out."

"Are you okay?" Spyro asked.

Cynder nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine."

Spyro didn't press her, but he wanted to know what had gone on. He resolved to talk about it to Cynder later, after she'd had some time to think it over.

None of the dragons said anything for a while. Cynder could still faintly hear Ember crying in her room. The sombre mood was interrupted by the arrival of two more familiar dragons.

"Flare, can I stop looking after him now?"

An orange coloured dragon walked up to them. Perched on top of his head and grinning cheekily was a second little fire dragon.

"Walk faster you loser! Spyro and Cynder are here! C'mon, walk!"

Feyer did not increase his pace; the large dragon looked rather irritated.

"Hi Spyro. Hi Cynder!" Spark called out to them.

"Spark? What are you doing here?" Spyro looked astonished.

"I should be asking you that! You were meant to go to that other place, what was it called? Darkmire's tomb. How did you get here so quickly?"

"And how did you get out of Warfang? I can't believe Imperia or your parents let you come along." Spyro said. When Spark didn't immediately respond he looked at Flare, who looked away uncomfortably.

"Nadder and Stratos helped me fake being sick for my parents and Imperia, and then I stowed away with Flare." Spark said proudly.

"What?" Spyro stared first at Spark, then at Flare. The fire guardian had the decency to look embarrassed.

"My mind was on other things while I was packing my bag." She said defensively. "We were nearly here by the time I found out he was in there."

"It was a tight squeeze, but still pretty comfortable in the pack." Spark confided.

"Since then we've been taking turns to make sure he doesn't get in trouble." Feyer said, sounding annoyed. "It's someone else's turn to babysit."

Spark wacked Feyer on the back of the head, then jumped down to Flare's head before the orange dragon could get his own back. Feyer was bigger than Flare, but he didn't risk reaching up and smacking Spark while the little dragon had taken a spot on her head.

"Right. He's your problem now." Feyer said. "I've got better things to do than have a reunion." The orange dragon turned around and walked off.

"I'm glad that he's gotten over you knocking him out." Spyro said to Cynder.

"Had he really gotten over it? He still seems a bit grumpy."

"He's always like that." Spyro said.

Spyro and Cynder had not had much free time over the past few days. They were temporarily at a loss for what to do now that they had it, but eventually they decided that the first thing to do was sleep. Flare took them to the end room, the only one that was unoccupied, and then she left them to it.

Spyro and Cynder went to the bed and flopped down on it, snuggling together and relaxing. Cynder closed her eyes and rested her head on Spyro's chest so she could listen to the purple dragon's slow breathing.

She pretended to sleep, and her body rested, but Cynder found that she couldn't actually fall asleep. She just didn't feel tired.

She lay there beside Spyro and waited as time went by. Eventually she opened her eyes and looked around. Spyro's eyes were open too; he looked at her with a smile.

"Not asleep?"

"Apparently not."

"Do you want to talk?"

"Sure. What about?"

"You can choose the subject." Spyro offered.

"I can't think of anything. What do you want to talk about?"

"Do you mind if I ask? What did you and Ember say to each other?"

"She tried to apologise to me." Cynder said with a sigh.

"Is that a good thing?" Spyro asked.

"I don't know." Cynder said. "But I crushed her for it."

"You what?" Spyro asked.

"I used it as a chance for payback. I regret it now. I shouldn't have done it, it was cruel. I don't know what I should have done, but not that. I just don't think it should be so easy for Ember to just apologise after what she's done."

"I disagree about that." Spyro said.

"You think I should have just accepted her apology?" Cynder asked.

"It's up to you if you do or don't, but if someone seems to regret what they did then I always want to give them another chance. It's not a good feeling when your apologies aren't accepted."

Cynder knew that better than most, she'd tried to apologise to other dragons for what her controlled form had done in the past, but it had hurt too much for her to keep trying because her apologies had never made any difference.

"I don't even know if she's being sincere. This could just be one more way she'll try to hurt me and keep you away from me. I made her cry." Cynder closed her eyes, remembering Ember crying.

"I guess that the best thing there is to do is to wait and see what she does next. You can try to apologise for what you said to her, but also make it clear that you aren't forgiving her at the same time."

Cynder nodded, that seemed like good advice.

Spyro smiled and grabbed hold of Cynder, holding her tightly. "Ember can't keep me away from you."

Cynder laughed. Spyro rolled her onto her back. She lay there for a moment before smiling playfully, she moved around him so she was on top, he was comfortable to lie on. Spyro was laughing too.

"What do you want to do after we're done with Malefor and Magmar and all of this?" Spyro asked Cynder.

"Whatever you do I'd do. We could explore, or we could stay in Warfang. Now that there's Imperia and Volteer and Miasma and the others Warfang feels like a more friendly place. I'd be happy to stay there for a while. What were you thinking?"

"If I've got you then I'm happy." Spyro said, he rolled them around again and pinned Cynder. "And I have got you." He smiled.

"No you haven't." Cynder said. Spyro grinned, and then Cynder turned to shadows below him. He fell straight through where she had been lying, the shadows brushed over him and then Cynder was standing on his back. "I've got you."

"Your shadow element is so sexy." Spyro said.

"You've said so before." Cynder smiled. Spyro looked up at her, also smiling.

"It's true." He said.

Cynder performed a few steps of a massage for Spyro and the purple dragon sighed in pleasure, then Cynder stopped and sat down on top of him. Spyro laughed and flipped them, catching Cynder again. She struggled playfully. Spyro went to kiss her throat but Cynder caught him with a kiss of her own before he could start. She reversed their position again and pinned Spyro.

"This isn't submitting." Spyro laughed.

Cynder froze.

"So you did remember that?"

"Of course I remembered that." Spyro grinned at her smugly. "It was very memorable. I remember how you wriggled when I finally caught you, and I remember how you scowled and laughed at the same time."

"I can't believe you remember that." Cynder huffed. "It was embarrassing."

"I thought it was adorable. Submission suits you." Spyro grinned.

"Don't poke fun, or else." Cynder threatened.

"Or else what?" Spyro laughed. He tried to escape her hold, but he wasn't able to.

"You don't want to find out." Cynder told him.

"Or else you'll submit? That'd really teach me a lesson I'm sure." Spyro teased.

"I'll teach you a thing or two about submission." Cynder growled.

"Would you?" The purple dragon laughed. He got a paw free and tried to get hold of Cynder. She caught his paw again and pinned it.

"I certainly would. It would be slow, and I'd take great pleasure in it. It would involve some screaming, psychological mind games, possibly straps, fear magic and Imperia's lavender scented bath soap."

Spyro's mind took a moment to process this unusual threat.

"Forget everything else; the moment we're done with all of this we are doing that."

Cynder blinked.

"What? That was meant to intimidate you."

"It does! Of course it does. Are you kidding? I'm terrified! That was completely insane. Where did that idea come from?"

"Oh, it was just sort of floating around in my mind, just in case you ever bought up what happened that night."

"That is brilliant." Spyro said. He managed to get his paw free again, but instead of continuing to battle Cynder for position he only pulled her close and cuddled her. Cynder hummed happily as she lay on Spyro.

"Do you really actually think so? You aren't just being nice?"

"Of course I think so. I loved that, it was… sexy."

"I like being sexy."

"Sexiness suits you."

The morning came. Spyro and Cynder decided to sleep in; after all they didn't need to do anything, for once.

Eventually the two dragons were gotten up by the prospect of food. Flare and Spark happened to be passing by their room as they went into the corridor, which was fortunate because Spyro and Cynder had completely forgotten where the food was to be found.

They followed Flare through the city until they arrived back where they'd eaten last time.

After food Flare suggested they all go to the training field. The others agreed enthusiastically, so they travelled through a series of tunnels until they arrived in a large room, the floor was sand and there were several dragons scattered across it.

Cynder spotted a few dragons practicing manipulating fire, a class of dragons about Spark's age were listening to a teacher; other dragons were sparring against each other. Then she spotted Ember.

The pink dragoness was on the far side of the chamber, talking to another young dragoness who was primarily blue but who had swirling red patterns on her scales.

The blue dragoness looked over and caught sight of Spyro and Cynder; she pointed them out to Ember. Ember shook her head and ran out of the room through a different passage. Cynder sighed, she felt even worse about what she'd done to Ember now, and it looked like apologising wouldn't be easy either.

She put Ember out of her mind for the moment when Flame came up to them and called a greeting, he brought Spyro and Cynder along to a duo of dragons that were the same age as them. The dragons started discussing some element of fire manipulation, Cynder didn't understand all of it and she didn't have a lot to add to the discussion because she didn't have a fire element, but she didn't mind, she simply enjoyed listening to the conversation.

Spyro didn't get the same sort of respect simply for being a purple dragon here, the Shattershelf dragons interrupted him and argued with him casually, but Spyro didn't seem bothered by that. It was a novel thing for Spyro to be treated in this sort of way and he found it rather funny.

"So which is better? Warfang fire or Shattershelf fire?" One of the fire dragons, who had introduced himself as Suna, asked Spyro.

"Oh no, we are not starting this again." The other dragon, Ferno, said. "How would he know anyway? He's only just got here."

"I thought we agreed that Flare's match against Asha would decide that." Flame said. "And we all know who won that particular event."

"That was just one dragon from each of our styles, not really a big sample. Still Flare is quite strong."

"She's amazing." Ferno said.

"And good looking." Suna added.

There was general agreement from the other three dragons. The conversation paused for a moment, and then the others took notice of Cynder.

"So who's the pretty black dragoness? Is she your girlfriend?"

"Yes." Spyro said proudly.

"You're a lucky dragon."

"You have no idea." Spyro smiled.

The conversation circle shifted so that Cynder had space to stand beside Spyro.

"So what's your name?" Ferno asked Cynder.

Cynder hesitated before answering; one or both of these fire dragons might have lost friends or family to her attacks in the past.

"Cynder." She said.

"Cynder? As in the Terror of the Skies, the same Cynder that-?"

"Not the same Cynder." Spyro said firmly. He put his wing protectively over the black dragoness.

Cynder was grateful that Spyro immediately defended her, but she felt that she could give the two fire dragons some explanation, they seemed nice enough.

"Think of it like this, I was being possessed by the Dark Master, it was still my physical body, but altered and with different powers. Now I'm free of the Dark Master and I'm not like I was. If you look at it one way I'm the same Cynder, but if you look at it another way then I'm not."

The two fire dragons considered this, and then Ferno nodded; content with the explanation.

"So are you a fire dragoness then, Cynder?"

"No I'm not."

"Really? What is your element then?"

"Well I have a few. Wind, Shadow, Poison and Fear."

"I didn't know there were dragons with those elements at all. Except wind, that one exists."

"They all exist. But they're rare. I barely know any dragons with the same elements."

"Cool. So are you a good fighter?"

"She's more than good at fighting." Flame said. "She's brilliant. She's probably about as strong as Spyro, and way stronger than me. She fought five dragons at once, including both Ember and Feyer, and she beat them all without using any magic at all. Just melee."

"No way. I don't believe you, Flame." Suna said, he looked over at Cynder. "That big dragon Feyer would be tough enough, but plus four other dragons too? You can't have done that."

"She did." Flame insisted. "She kicked their asses. It was awesome."

"I didn't fight them all at once. I was able to knock out Feyer right at the start of the fight, and then one of the dragonesses wanted to fight me alone, so it was more like three on one in the end." Cynder said.

"You knocked out Feyer right at the start? I definitely don't believe you now."

"You should." Spyro grinned. "Ember challenged her for going out with me, then several of the other dragons challenged her for other reasons and Cynder beat them all."

"You are a very lucky dragon." Suna said to Spyro. Then he grinned. "Would you do the same for her?"

"Is that a challenge?" Spyro asked, also grinning.

"And if it is?"

"You guys are joking right?" Flame said. "Don't take this too seriously."

"I wasn't being serious." Suna said. He reached out his paw to Spyro. "Friends?"

"Friends." Spyro agreed, he reached out and shook the offered paw. "But if you did challenge me then I'd kick your ass just as well as my girlfriend would… Friend"

"I rather doubt it. I'm the best fighter our age in this city by far."

"Spyro's the best fighter in Warfang." Flame put in helpfully.

"Then let's see." Suna said. "Fire and melee, nothing else. That way we'll also be able to find out whose way of fire manipulation is stronger."

"Bring it."

Suna was rather alike to Spyro in physical build, quite lean and not especially large, but still strong. He moved with a similar agility to Spyro too, but without quite the same easy grace. He also had very similar confidence in his bearing. Cynder had no doubt whatsoever as to who the winner would be here, Spyro would win of course, but she was interested to see how far the fire dragon could push him. Also she couldn't help but note that both dragons were quite attractive, she liked this matchup.

Spyro waited for the other dragon to make the first move, but Suna seemed to be in no hurry either. The two dragons faced each other casually and talked.

"So have you been graded for mastery?" Spyro asked.

"Of course. Twice."

"So you're at second Mastery?"

"Comfortably. What about you?"

"I'm the same. Well done on that. How about in melee combat? You look like you know what you're doing."

"I'd like to think so."

"Would you like to prove it? I can keep talking if you'd prefer."

"Sure, keep talking Spyro. If you can." Suna strolled forward, as he got within range of Spyro he turned and lashed out with his tail, it was a fast move but easily predicted; Spyro blocked the attack with his wings. Suna circled left around Spyro before leaping up and trying an implausible spinning strike. Spyro blocked again, but Suna was able to simply continue his spinning attack around Spyro's defence and force him to dodge away.

"I can keep talking. That was a neat move; it almost seemed like a wind dragon technique, considering that impressive jump."

"It's not really standard fighting, but it usually works. Most fire dragons aren't as willing to retreat from an unexpected attack as you apparently are." Suna smirked.

"Most of your fire dragons are foolish then. I had nothing to lose from dodging your attack. One point to Warfang." Spyro smirked in return.

Suna advanced, this time Spyro circled back and then darted forwards. Suna met Spyro head on, blocking Spyro's paw with his wing before responding with a strike of his own. Spyro moved past the attack and rammed the fire dragon but was unable to stagger him. Suna caught hold of Spyro and tried to grapple with him.

He got Spyro in close and slammed an elbow into the purple dragon's belly. Spyro grunted and Suna followed up with a knee. He torqued his body to throw Spyro off balance, aiming to get a stranglehold on him but the purple dragon's paw came up and caught Suna right on the jaw with a powerful punch. The fire dragon lost his grip and Spyro kicked him away, sweeping his tail down low to send him sprawling.

"Not bad." Spyro admitted. "It's violent."

"One to Shattershelf." Suna rose to his feet and advanced on Spyro again.

"I'll give you that. But I wouldn't have thought close quarters fighting was the best style for dragons of our build. What happens when you try that on someone bigger than me?"

"The harder they fall." Suna smiled. "We're a good size for this style, you were big and strong enough to match my power but also slim and quick enough to be able to adapt as fast as I could and get out. Bigger opponents are too slow to be able to do much about grappling."

"I can't see that theory holding up very well against a dragon like Magmar."

"No, definitely not. He is fast, way faster than he looks. I wouldn't want to get anywhere near him, even before you consider his tendency to create explosions and using his comet dash to move around. Standard tactics against him would be to run away very fast."

"I don't like grappling personally. It's a crude sort of tactic and requires no skill or grace."

"Is Shattershelf fighting not stylish enough for you Warfang dragons?"

"If I win then I'll win with style, that'll be worth a bonus point."

"If you win. Which you won't."

Spyro grinned; he half turned and struck with his tail, before he even saw the result of the attack he leapt forwards, using Suna's own wings as a platform to jump from. He landed behind Suna and kicked out, sending the fire dragon stumbling before following up with another tail lash.

Suna whirled around to face the purple dragon, but he was off balance and this time he fell as Spyro slammed into him, Spyro followed up by kicking Suna in the head and going for a winning attack.

Suna wrapped his tail around Spyro's foreleg and brought the purple dragon down to his level, and then he grabbed hold of him and started to strike Spyro repeatedly.

Cynder watched the two dragons struggle, she still had little doubt Spyro would win, but this fight was proving even more interesting than she had hoped. She glanced across at Flame and Ferno, when she looked around the rest of the training field she saw the match had drawn attention from many of the other dragons who were there as well.

Suna rolled them so that he was on top of Spyro and tried to hold him down; Spyro got his feet on Suna's belly and forced the fire dragon off him and back to Spyro's preferred range. He threw in a second strike at the fire dragon's jaw which briefly stunned Suna. Spyro wriggled out of his grip before unfurling his wings and leaping clear of the fight.

By the time he landed Suna was back on his feet. The two dragons each reconsidered their opponent.

Suna had a slight advantage in strength and was more capable than Spyro at close range combat. He had also proven good enough to get Spyro into his preferred range more than once to wear the purple dragon down with his punishing attacks.

Spyro may have had less raw strength but his fighting style and technique gave him more power. He needed to keep Suna far enough away from him that he could use his agility and poise to attack safely. This required a very different method of fighting to the way he had approached sparring against Cynder. There he'd been trying to catch the black dragoness and keep her still; here he was almost playing the other side of that game.

Both dragons still seemed to have roughly even odds of winning, neither one seriously believed that they might lose. Somebody had to lose though.

Suna opened his mouth, heat glowed within and he blasted a stream of fire at Spyro. Spyro dodged, the way that Suna had breathed his fire was different to the way Spyro had been taught by Ignitus. Suna's fire was more concentrated in a smaller stream, making it an attack with more range, impact and intensity, but also easier to dodge.

Spyro responded with his own fire breath, he considered holding back on his power but decided not to bother, if it was to be an elemental battle then he would show this fire dragon just what he was dealing with.

Spyro exhaled a massive firestorm; it was far too big to dodge out of the way of and it consumed the other dragon instantly. Spyro controlled the fire, keeping it from reaching the spectators and directing its heat and power upon the dragon caught in its centre.

Spyro doubted he would harm Suna a great deal, fire dragons were very resistant to fire, but the scale of his attack would make the sheer power that Spyro possessed quite clear.

He maintained the fire for a few seconds before cutting of his stream and focusing on controlling the fire he had already created. He balanced on his hind legs, spreading his wings and clasping his forepaws as he focused. He sent the fire whirling upwards towards the high ceiling, then began to shape it.

Spyro spun his fire into a dragon shape, then quickly but carefully refined its form into that of a slender dragoness. With wonder Cynder recognised her own horns and tail blade, Spyro had created a figure of her, the sight made her heart beat faster.

Spyro cut off his magic and the image faded, but the image of Spyro posed there creating a fiery figure of her above him was still burned firmly into Cynder's mind. Spyro looked around to where she stood and mouthed words at her.

'I love you'

Cynder took a moment to snap out of her lovestruck daze before mouthing the same words back to Spyro. He smiled.

Flare spoke from beside Cynder, the black dragoness still found it unusually difficult to detect the fire dragonesses approach.

"That showed a great deal of skill. I do hope you're flattered."

"I am." She said in a voice that was full of emotion.

Cynder turned back to watch Spyro and Suna fight, Flare considered the black dragoness for a moment, thinking to herself.

Spyro was disappointed when he saw Suna had used a blue bubble to shield himself from the heat; Spyro's powerful attack hadn't physically affected the fire dragon in the slightest. Still Suna looked impressed and that was what Spyro had been aiming for.

"That was pointless, but admittedly quite amazing." The fire dragon said.

"Two points for Warfang." Spyro said. He looked around. "We've drawn a crowd." He noted.

All of the fire dragons in the field had stopped what they were doing to watch the match. It was rare for a dragon in Shattershelf to bother with fire manipulation purely for dramatic effect, and when the watchers had realised this was because a Warfang dragon was battling one of the strongest young dragons in the city they all wanted to see what would happen.

"Good, I'd hate to embarrass my new friend by needing to brag about your loss here myself. This way everyone will know that I won and I can be gracious in my victory." The fire dragon started to walk closer to Spyro.

"Sure." Spyro smiled. "But first you've got to w-"

Suna had closed in enough to use his fire breath again faster than Spyro could dodge it. The purple dragon took the attack full on.

Spyro was staggered by the impact of the fire torrent; the concentration of Suna's fire gave the breath attack a physical force. He used his magic to deflect the heat and planted his feet to withstand the attack.

Suna cut off his fire, Spyro was surrounded by flames but unharmed. The purple dragon spread his wings and swept the fire back at its creator. Suna swept his wings too and the fire faded to smoke. Spyro grinned, seeing the smoke. Before Suna could launch another attack Spyro opened his maw and breathed out a dense cloud of smoke.

Cynder created a smoke free bubble around herself but none of the other dragons were able to do the same. Clearly fire dragons weren't able to control smoke like they could fire. Flare was trying to fan the smoke away from herself but having little success; Cynder extended her air bubble to include the fire guardian dragoness too.

"This is annoying, but not very useful." Suna called out to the smoke, he wasn't able to see Spyro, but the purple dragon was at the same disadvantage. "Do you learn any actual attacks in Warfang or is it all aesthetic stuff like this?"

A response came in the form of a fireball. Suna didn't see it coming, but he realised that his speech had allowed Spyro to locate him. The fireball was astonishingly accurate, hitting just below where Spyro had judged Suna's mouth and head to be. It exploded against Suna's chest and threw him off his feet. He landed with a soft thud and heard the whoosh of spreading wings. A second fireball exploded on the ground right beside him. He launched one of his own upwards in the direction he guessed Spyro was, but he heard it explode harmlessly on the roof just before Spyro hit him for a second time.

Suna was battered by the explosive impacts, but not beaten, he moved quickly and silently around the field so Spyro wouldn't know where to aim.

"The best fighters vary their tactics and use their techniques to complement each other. Earth dragons and Wind dragons are particularly good at this, but all dragons can do it if they're skilled enough."

"Are you saying I'm not skilled?" Suna yelled. He launched a volley of fireballs at the source of the voice and growled in satisfaction when he heard one of them hit the purple dragon. "I'll show you skill!"

Spyro located the Suna from the direction of his attacks and voice, shrugging off the impact of the accurate fireball he dove towards the dragon below.

Suna was not expecting a full speed attack, Spyro hit him and drove him onto the ground. Suna was unable to recover from the impact quickly enough and Spyro started to hit him repeatedly, going for a knockout blow. Suna covered up as best he could and then countered with a comet dash.

Spyro was thrown back, but used his own comet dash on the fire dragon before Suna could get his bearings. He knocked Suna down and followed up his advantage, trying to stun the other dragon.

The smoke was clearing now; Cynder didn't like it interrupting her view so she made a gentle breeze to get rid of it faster.

Suna got clear and turned around, using his own comet dash straight toward Spyro. The purple dragon stood his ground and turned, carefully choosing the perfect angle he struck right into the centre of the oncoming explosive attack, catching Suna dead on with his tail.

The fire dragon was knocked to the ground but didn't stay there for long. He hurled himself at Spyro with a growl, rearing up and creating fire right in his paws to use as a weapon. Spyro smacked Suna's paw aside and turned side on, kicking him in the chest, the fire dragon grunted but wasn't knocked back. His fire took the form of a straight sword and he swung it. Spyro ducked under the attack, surprised to see that the fire Suna used was nearly solid.

Suna put both his paws together and morphed his sword into a huge greataxe made of fire, before swinging back at Spyro. The purple dragon dodged back, and then hurriedly threw himself flat with a yelp upon realising that he hadn't dodged far enough to account for the extreme reach of the fire weapon.

Spyro looked up to see the greataxe sweeping down for his head; he rolled aside and scrambled away.

"That's cool." He managed to say. Suna formed his fire into a long spear and hurled it at Spyro, but the purple dragon turned it into a fireball and launched it back. Suna stepped aside to let the fire go past.

"It's good fun. These weapons aren't strong enough to cut dragon scales, but I intend to become skilled enough to be the first dragon to have that ability. Do you not have these in Warfang?"

Spyro shrugged.

"I read a book about it once. I think it was written by a Shattershelf dragon. I've never really been able to get the hang of fire weapons; they always disappear in my paws."

"That can happen; I recommend you start with larger weapons, the fire maintains its integrity more easily that way."

Spyro nodded, he created fire in his paws and turned it into a long scythe. He leapt forwards as he swung it at Suna, but the fire dragon simply broke through the fire. Undeterred Spyro strengthened the shortened scythe handle into a weighty mace and thrust it straight out at Suna.

Suna grunted at the solid impact and was driven back a step.

'You're not bad at that. For a newbie."

"I've done this with both ice and earth before, so it's not totally new. But thanks for the praise." Spyro said. He added more fire to his mace until it resembled a huge club, then jumped and spun in a full circle to bring it down in a diagonal slash. Suna dodged back and threw another spear at Spyro, hitting him in the chest.

"Fire has more adaptability then those other two elements." Spyro said. "I did not expect that you could change weapons so quickly."

"You know what the most difficult weapon to make is that I've found?"

"What?"

"This." Suna created a long whip of fire and struck out at Spyro. The purple dragon caught it and shredded it easily.

"Doesn't work very well."

"You don't have to rub it in." Suna grumbled. "I'm working on it."

"Right, let's get serious."

Spyro leapt forwards, Suna went to meet him, creating a curved blade of fire in each of his paws, but Spyro grabbed a pawful of sand and in a second he had heated it until it was glowing hot, then he threw it in the other dragon's eyes.

Suna cursed and faltered, trying to maintain a defence while also wanting to rub his eyes. Spyro stepped around him neatly and dumped him on the ground; Suna went to get up but was halted by something very cold pressing at his throat.

"I thought we said only fire." Suna protested. Spyro frowned, then he realised he had created a blade of ice to threaten the other dragon. He got rid of it and stepped back.

"Sorry, it's habit."

"Are you at second mastery in all four of your elements?" Suna asked, incredulous.

"Yes." Spyro said. The fire dragon contemplated this new information for a moment before nodding.

"You win, Spyro."

"Well fought." Spyro offered his paw and the fire dragon took it, allowing Spyro to pull him to his feet.

"And you." He looked around at the other dragons who had gathered to watch the fight. "Fight's over now!"

"There was a fight?"

Spyro and Suna looked around as a fire dragoness walked into the training area.

"Lady Asha." Suna bowed to Asha, Spyro did the same in politeness. Cynder and Flare joined them, Flame and Ferno also came forward to hear what was going on.

"Was there a fight?" Asha pressed.

"Not like that. It was just a sparring match."

"In friendship." Spyro clarified.

"You two are friends?" Asha asked doubtfully. "Since when?"

"About ten minutes ago. Probably less." Spyro said.

"Really?"

Spyro and Suna nodded.

"Consider me impressed." Asha said. "I'm glad of it." She looked up at Flare. "You brought the right dragons along here."

"I didn't bring Spyro. But I'm glad he came here." Flare said.

"That reminds me. Spyro you came here to warn us of an impending war. Magmar sends me with his thanks for your information. Had we not been alerted, the wall defences on the plain could quite possibly have been taken."

"What?"

"Your army of orcs. They're here."

"From the darkest ashes grow the strongest seeds."

-4Dragons