AN

Since the chapters for this thing keep getting longer, I've decided to start releasing them in parts for more frequent updates and to get more feedback. Please enjoy!

Thanks to my Patrons for making this possible:

Co-Conspirator: Jcotton

High-Riding Nerdosaurs: Murtaugh & KaouruShin

Fifth-Degree: MIMI

Nerd Club Dinos: AbsoluteZero, Drevulux, and Wasileus

I'm Flapjaw on P-.-A-.-T-.-R-.-E-.-O-.-N. FF Network is silly about external links, so I have to do this insanity for you to even see that website name.

Sunburn shook his beak and ruffled his feathers as he stepped free of the portal and rapidly took stock of his surroundings. Everything seemed normal, but he knew better than to let his guard down. As unlikely as it was that they'd be attacked so early and in the open by Spyro's political opponents, it would be a disaster if it happened anyway and actually worked. That was why he was in front of his group, with Ember behind and Zap protecting her from the rear. Of the three of them, she had the least combat experience, if any at all, and she was a prime target as one of Spyro's first mates. "Come on, this way. I've got the address on my Wayfinder." Wayfinder was an application for mobile phones that used magical nodes to detect one's location and provide directions to all manner of destinations.

Zap was keeping track of who they were meant to gather on his own phone, and he nodded to Sunburn in response, the two stretching their wings in preparation. Ember just sighed at them and fluttered her lashes as she followed suit, clearly amused by their seriousness. They took off at once, making rapid progress toward Hunter's abode. Still, it was a long way off, and an awkward silence was threatening to fall, so Zap began to nod and sway his head while humming a melody he'd learned from the mermaids. Sunburn had heard it from Zap before, and smiled as he joined in, giving Ember a pointed look as he did. She took the hint and listened in closely, then smiled back and surprised them both by singing out an improvised harmony. "Aaaah aaaah aaaah~"

Sunburn gave a "bop!" five times, openly singing a song that had no words. Zap trilled in excitement and started warbling a part of the melody that was usually sung from beneath the water. They went on like that for several minutes, laughing together as they petered to a stop. "Okay, here's one." Ember said, surprising them again as she began to sing a nursery rhyme. Her mother did run the Artisan nursery and was the administrator for the Artisan orphanage, so Ember had picked up a number of fun and simple songs that the boys learned quickly. They continued singing together until they reached Hunter's doorstep, Sunburn taking it upon himself to start knocking.

The bedraggled feline who flung the door open to them was almost unrecognizable as Hunter, with tear-stains all down his cheeks running from bloodshot eyes and a bottle smelling of beer in his padded grip. "Oh, hi guys! I've been waiting for you." Plainly ignoring his own distress, and obviously informed of why they were there, the cheetah stepped back and gestured for them to come inside. "Grab a drink and then we'll pass out the keys to pick everybody up. If it's all the same to you, I'll just leave the gathering of the others to all of you."

The dragons entered with concern on their faces, Sunburn waving off the offer for drinks with his feathered wing. "We are well prepared to leave at once, but you don't look so hot. What's wrong?"

Hunter scowled and chugged his beer bottle down until it was empty, flippantly tossing it over his shoulder onto his couch. "I'm fine. Lets go."

"People who are fine don't usually say it that way." Hunter continued to ignore Sunburn's attempts at friendly concern, focused only on setting them on their course.

"We aren't going to waste any time." He said plainly, showing them to a personal parking area at the side of the house with a roof but no walls. "I get the tank. We'll need it. You pick up the others in the party bus." So Hunter was on his way, driving forth a tank that had Zap obviously impressed, one that would barely fit through the portal it was being driven to. The party bus was exactly what Ember had expected when she heard it called such, a vehicle as tall as a bus with the internal furnishings of a limo, but with no separation between driver and passengers. The luxuriously furnished vehicle, muscle car beside it, and rocket-propelled skateboard and snowboard were stark reminders that Hunter possessed the wealth of a prince.

"All the powerful people do know each other, don't they?" Sunburn said with a neutral tone, still contemplating their circumstances.

Zap, however, had already clambered into the driver's seat. "I'm driving! Dibs!" To his delight, the bus had a navigation system with a number of pre-programmed destinations, including the residences for those they were meant to gather. "Onward!"

They went to pickup Flame and Sheila first; the kangaroo had apparently been staying with Flame for the majority of her stay in the Dragon Realms, and when she was advised of the potential dangers of the current political situation she shoved Flame into the party bus and hopped in after him. "We've been in open war before, ay?" She said to Ember with a grin. "A little tussle and some assassins aren't any trouble we can't handle. We'll just get together at Spyro's place 'til it blows over, and I'll get us a barbie goin'."

Ember nodded with a smile, even though she had no idea what Sheila was saying. Sunburn tilted his head in confusion and whispered to Flame: "What in the Nine Hells do human dolls have to do with this?"

"Dude, she's talking about a barbecue," Flame whispered back. "She's gonna cook for us!"

With the haste of a bird, Sunburn lifted his head and turned around to Sheila with a big smile on his beak. "I'm hungry already!" Ember giggled at the boys, and Sheila started laughing with her soon.

"Oh, boys. They just love it when we cook for them."

"Aye. Best way to get a bloke is to feed 'im good, fair dinkum."

Sergeant Byrd wasn't much further with his home at the edge of the town center, and when Zap pulled up to the abode with its many balconies he honked the horn and leaned out the window. "Calling Byrd! Spyro wants to see you for something important!"

There was a thud as someone landed on the roof, and then a penguin beak was in Zap's face. "If you're going to drop my rank because of my retirement, then the least you could do is use my first name. So, my fine young fellow, I am James. And who are you?"

"Zap, sir James. I'm your driver today. Spyro will explain everything later." James scoffed and waved a fin. "Something funny?"

"Aye. You think I can't read between the lines? I'm sure Spyro can confirm my suspicions later, and it's best not said aloud, but I've been waiting for this. Hummingbirds, load up!" A handful of uniformed hummingbirds with unnaturally large size buzzed out of the balconies at once, carrying all manner of armaments from several cultures. Rifles, bombs, magical traps, and ammunition boxes were rapidly loaded onto the Party Bus, and after several seats were loaded down with the supply, the hummingbirds filed in, rigid and precise. James nodded in satisfaction, adjusted his harness with its jets and rockets loaded up for a fight, and then strode inside himself.

"Gooday, Gabrielle! Gooday, James!" Flame waved sheepishly from beside Sheila while Sunburn did a quick head-count. Six hummingbirds, and all of them outfitted with ammunition belts, rank insignia, sashes, and sidearms.

"A good day to you too, miss roo." Gabrielle replied in an accent the dragons had never heard before. "Pouvons-nous nous asseoir?"

"Of course you can, dears. We have all we can take already." On closer inspection, Sunburn realized each and every hummingbird was female, and he eagerly patted the space next to himself while James was busy catching up with the kangaroo. "Good day, Sheila. I see we are being assembled again. Spyro must have another fight ahead and that means we'll be in the thick of it."

"Oh yeah, but we might not have an out-and-out on this one. Seems like it'll be some underhanded political garbo in place of a proper scrap. More getting shot at, less shooting back. Assassins on the prowl."

"Blast and damnation!" James shook his head and toddled over to hop up into the seat beside Ember. "I suppose all I can do now is hope that you're wrong, but you never are. As for you, my dear, what is your role in the field?" Ember was surprised to be addressed in such a way, shrugging her shoulders and twiddling her thumbs.

"I don't think I'd be much use in a fight. I just cook and clean."

James beamed and the hummingbirds perked up in excitement. "A cook is always welcome behind the front. Got to keep the soldiers going, don't we?"

Encouraged, Ember looked up and tapped her chin. "My mother works with children and has some medical training. She taught me how to clean a wound, resuscitate people, and identify illnesses."

"A field medic too? This lass is pulling double-duty!" James slapped her on the back and laughed good-naturedly, all the hummingbirds chattering between each other about it.

"Oh we will be very glad to have her with us!"

Flame cleared his throat, and then tapped his fingers on his thighs for a moment. "I know a little about cooking too, and I can fight. I could be her assistant and help distribute rations when I people get cut-off."

"Ace, mate!" Sheila gave Flame a firm slap on the back, barely resisting the urge to noogie him between the horns. She didn't want to emasculate him in front of everybody, but he was being so adorable that she just had to do something, so a back-slap would have to be enough. "So, where to now?"

"Next stop, Bentley's caverns!" Zap called back from the driver's seat. "We'll nab his little brother and Blink too. They've been playing a few games together for the afternoon, so we aren't interrupting any particularly important plans."

"Hey!" Flame shouted back, pointing emphatically with a claw. "Games are serious business, dude!" Most of the other occupants started snickering under their breath at that, so Flame sighed and leaned back in his seat. "I'm not joking you know." He muttered quietly to Sheila. "A dragon can build an impressive hoard just from developing a few good games."

Sheila shook her head and gently squeezed his shoulder. "I know, young buck, but we don't need to be thinkin' that far ahead right now." Flame looked up at her as she lifted her arm from him to turn her focus to the seat behind her, a hummingbird passing a pistol to the kangaroo, who quickly checked the chamber, clip, and safety switch before sliding it into a hidden interior pocket of her jacket. "It's best to not be killed before you get rich, ay?"

It occurred to Flame then that while he had been a fan of Spyro's, cheering him on in his previous campaigns, Sheila had been fighting alongside the purple drake on the front lines. Her moment of seriousness finally made him realize that the dangers they would face were not to simply be brushed aside with bravado. He didn't know at all what was going to happen, except that it would be one Hell of a fight.

With anyone crazy enough to attack Spyro arrayed against them, it would have to be.


When they reached their next stop, Bentley came aboard unarmed, barely able to fit himself. He said, "Spyro can breath me up a fresh club on the quick. No need to weigh us down with an old one."

Blink, on the other hand, was armed to the teeth. His gloves had built-in laser guns and he carried on a box of timed excavation grade explosives, ten of which he was already wearing on a leather bandoleer, and he had both a pickax and a shovel strapped to his back. "Keeping all my cave-diving gear on-hand above ground is part of my therapy plan to get over my freshairophobia." He stated succinctly, as if it was at all in the approximate region of being normal.

"Bahamut's Beard, it took two hours to get out here." Zap blubbered, shivering from the cold air that had blasted in while picking up the new passengers. "Come on, lets blow this wintry wasteland!"

"Well," Sunburn said while snuggled up into the crook of a hummingbird's wing. "That's our part of the plan pretty much done, and we weren't even attacked!"

"Hey!" Flame interjected from behind his seat. "Could you maybe not jinx us, please!?"

"What was that? I can't hear you over how soft and snugly Nikita here is." Sunburn replied while nuzzling into the very flattered avian and stroking her feathers.

Flame grumbled to himself in response and crossed his arms, teeth chattering from the cold, until Sheila suddenly picked him up and set him down in her lap. He sank into the crook of her thick thighs and felt her breasts pressing into his back while she whispered into his earhole. "I'm soft and snugly too, mate. Lemme warm ya back up, ay?"

One Hell of a fight would be worth it for this, Flame thought, relaxing into Sheila's embrace.