Thanks to my Patrons for making this possible:

Co-Conspirator: Jcotton

High-Riding Nerdosaurs: Murtaugh & KaouruShin

Fifth-Degree: MIMI & The Mediator

Nerd Club Dinos: AbsoluteZero, Drevulux, & Wasileus

I'm Flapjaw at the Patronage Place.


High-Five Buzzed on ahead while Sparx hovered over Cynder's head in the back, the blade on her tail cutting through the air as she twisted slightly at everything that looked even marginally out of place. She was covering the back of the procession and the life dragons ahead of her were likewise on edge. It hadn't escaped their notice that they had been sent with Sparx to protect them, and the former Mountain Crackers had been kept together as if to rely on how effective they already were as a team. If only one team was going to have to deal with some form of assassination attempt, it would be theirs. Everyone knew that The Professor was old, frail, and extremely valuable to Spyro. He was easy to underestimate, his high-tech gadgets giving him an edge that most didn't account for, and Drobot was almost always with him, but the elder mole was still the most obvious target.

As they approached the lab, Sparx made a rather loud droning noise and pointed up, Cynder lifting her gaze to see an ivory dragoness at about Cynder's own size and age diving down toward them from the clouds. "Spotlight." Cynder spat the name like a curse, remembering several scuffles with the Lightbringer from her days as a high-ranking Knifetail. The Lightbringer insisted that she was a full gang all on her own, and despite how sad it was that she couldn't inspire any other dragons her age to take up her goal of purging evil from the realms, she was plenty dangerous without any help.

When the others saw her and Cynder so close together, their similar builds were easy to see. Cynder's tail was longer and Spotlight's thighs were a little thicker, but both were beautiful, clean, and in prime shape. One with rich ebony scales, the other with a shimmering, heavenly white.

"Oh come on!" High-Five shouted in aggravation. "We were almost there!"

"Almost to the lab?" Spotlight spoke in a voice that was both sonorous and accusatory, probing them for information while trying to lull them into feeling a sense of serenity. It usually worked on drakes, but Cynder was having none of it. She put herself between Spotlight and the boys, growling dangerously. "Ah. Hello, Knifetail."

"See, I may not be one anymore, but I still don't see why you insist on saying that as if it tastes terrible." Cynder snarked back as they began to circle each other, the others backing up and hovering in mild confusion. Sparx stayed with Cynder, but buzzed a passive greeting, more worried about an agent of the Elders. Noticing his distraction, Cynder huffed. "Alright, Sparx. I get it. Why don't all you boys head down to the lab. I'll handle this."

Spotlight hummed and tilted her head, the others hesitating as the full implications of the situation hit them. "Are you sure you could take me on your own, Cynder? Why not just come clean now and save us all the trouble?"

"I don't get it. Is this gonna be a fight? Why is this gonna be a fight?" Spotlight and Cynder both tittered at High-Five for his words, but didn't take their eyes off one another.

"This dark temptress," Spotlight began, "has been deployed by Slither to spy on and weaken Spyro."

"You all know that's a bunch of stupid," Cynder retorted, "because I left the Knifetails specifically because I love Spyro so much. I gave up my rank and gang to be with him."

"Love and ill intent aren't mutually exclusive, and the second doesn't have to be yours. Slither is using you. Tell me everything you know about her plans and I won't have to beat it out of you."

"You choose to start that fight," Camo seethed, positioning himself above and to Spotlight's left while Rock took position to her right. "Then it won't be a fair one." High-Five buzzed on toward the lab, and Sparx quickly followed, both eager to inform The Professor of what was happening just above his facility for different reasons. Sparx thought all the dragons were being quite silly, but that wasn't anything new.

"Do you want to know what Slither asked me to do?" Cynder returned with sarcastic sweetness. "She asked me to use the book that everyone has been freaking out about to track and destroy the shadow beast that's been rampaging throughout the realm."

"Then that is the key to her true intentions." Spotlight declared, sneering at the drakes beside her. "Can you not see something so obvious? The Knifetails do not purge evil for the good of all: they do it to assert their dominance in the ways of Dark Magic. Slither has bolstered her numbers by promising forbidden secrets and power to those who would do her bidding. This is no secret. Trusting her is folly."

Rock cringed, looking between Cynder and Camo uncertainly. "She makes a good point, actually. Perhaps we can find the beast without the book?"

"There's no safer place for the Tome of Mistress Valenar than in Spyro's Hoard, unless Spotlight would like to insinuate that the great Mage-Slayer has anything save for the purest intentions." Cynder snarked with a dangerous growl.

"Protecting Spyro is the reason I am here!" Spotlight shouted. "That evil tome is far more dangerous than one shadow beast. It must be destroyed at once!"

Cynder had several reasons to be angry, and to lash out at the dragoness in front of her. Always had Spotlight decisively won her fights, even outnumbered, but the quantity and variety of assistance that Cynder could count on could finally be enough to tip the scales, and Cynder desperately wanted to know what it would feel like to kick the self-righteous light dragon down a peg. She was also a close friend of Slither's, and disdained hearing Spotlight's accusations of her poor character. What was more, the tome was a valuable artifact and her mate had fought hard to secure it for his hoard, which was her hoard by extension while they were mated.

Yet, Cynder believed wholeheartedly that the other dragoness really was trying to help the drake she loved, and the danger she was willing to endure by challenging all of them alone was admirable.

So, Cynder compromised. "Very well. You have your way of thinking about the tome, and I have mine, but it isn't up to us. Spyro owns it now, and if you wish to ask him to destroy it then I will ensure he hears your petition. Staying with us while we finish our task here will surely only aid your investigation, so you have no reason to do anything except stay with us and wait." Everyone else blinked in surprise at Cynder's words, and she smirked back at them. "Or did you all wanna fight anyway, just for fun?"

High-Five buzzed back up to them with Drobot boosting up behind him with mechanical wings. Small engines spat out flame as they gave him lift and a surprising amount of fine control in the air for such a setup, though he couldn't match the maneuverability of dragons with natural wings and especially not his escort, who buzzed back and forth like Sparx as if it was nothing. "Yo, are you guys still just talking? I already brought reinforcements!"

Spotlight relaxed her posture and looked around, both bemused and a little embarrassed. "Yeah, okay. I'll just come with you."

"Excellent. Camo, you watch her."

Camo did a double-take and sputtered in confusion. "Wha..? But I… Why?"

"She wants to know more about the shadow beast that's running loose, and you're going to talk to the person who saw it last, remember? Besides, I refuse to put up with her directly."

"Well yeah," he responded in annoyance, flicking his claws. "But I was pretty sure Spyro wanted me to provide emotional support, not grill him for information!"

Spotlight glided around to Camo's side while he was speaking and placed a gentle hand on his back, smiling evenly at him. "We can do both. This is an art, and you may find me more a help than a hindrance." She then leaned in closer, deliberately conspicuous, and whispered into his earhole. "Besides, you'll be better company than Cynder. If she wasn't being diplomatic for your sake, she'd demand you all dogpile me for her ego."

The lot of them had started to gradually descend, but even amongst all the flapping of wings, Cynder had heard that. "My ego has gotten more than enough of a boost from putting a stop to your usual nonsense without violence for once, thank you very much." Drobot gave a slow, robotic chuckle at that, and the lot of them relaxed when they touched down, turning toward The Professor's lab.

"Basil is the man we're going to talk to," Camo informed Spotlight. "He's on his way, but until he gets here we'll be helping The Professor disassemble his machines."

"A human saw the beast?" Spotlight replied, humming her approval. "Impressive that he survived, then."

"Yeah, well, his family didn't, so let's try not to belittle that loss when he shows up." Camo stomped over to a large device set into a wall and started fiddling with it to distract himself, even though he clearly had no idea what he was doing.

"You're nervous." Spotlight said, draping a wing over his shoulders to pull his attention to her. "Tell me why."

Camo looked over to see Drobit playing a game on some handheld console in a corner, his big brother and The Professor dismantling a complex mechanism in a few seconds nearby. There were clear indications throughout the space that the pair of them had nearly finished preparing the lab equipment for transport before the rest of them had even arrived. Tapping the metal in front of him for a moment, the life dragon decided not to bother making a mess of things and turned to face Spotlight fully. "Spyro is my hero, and I'd do anything for him, but I don't know if I'm good enough to, you know? Like, I hardly know you, I don't know this Basil guy at all, but I'm supposed to… I don't know! Sooth the pain of losing an entire family, I guess. Just seems like a lot of responsibility for somebody like me."

Spotlight tilted her head, a small smile coming to light on her face. "Somebody like you?"

"Oh, you know what I mean. Most dragons our age aren't like you, flying around and amassing a hoard all on your own." The dragoness giggled at him in response, her eyes twinkling. "Oh, what's so funny about that?"

"Most of my jobs are unpaid, Camo. I decide to do what's right, regardless of the rewards." Camo was given pause by this, looking Spotlight over again. As confident and beautiful as she was, there was a weariness in her eyes.

"Even so, I have only ever worked in a group, as an extension of a gang. There was some comfort in the separation therein, as if I was never responsible for the consequences, but it feels different now." Camo looked down, nervously fiddling his claws. "Spyro isn't just a superior to follow blindly, he's more important than that. What I do for him, it feels as if it has the same weight as anything I do for myself, if that makes sense. It just hits my nerves different, ya know?"

"Do not allow a personal connection to paralyze you. Caring deeply can lead to passion, but it can also lead to inaction. Let yourself become critical of your every action and you will find that you have done nothing at the end of every long day." Camo nodded solemnly to Spotlight's wise words, banishing his anxiety to the back of his mind, forcing himself to forge on. "Besides, it's just conversation with a bereaved gentleman today. I hardly think that qualifies for this much worrying."

In spite of their antagonistic history, Cynder was glad to hear Spotlight encouraging Camo in her own forceful way. Moving equipment was lower on her list of priorities than making sure Spotlight wasn't trying to pull anything, but doing her best to inconspicuously listen in on the conversation had only confirmed that the Lightbringer had no reason to work against them.

The essential equipment was half-way out of the lab and being loaded into The Professor's transports when Basil arrived, parking his truck and stepping out with a grim expression on his weathered face. Agent 9 had returned a few minutes prior and was checking over the laser weapons while constantly muttering about the Elder Council and scrutinizing his surroundings. Basil seemed a little taken aback by the clearly intelligent monkey, his background in archaeology including several courses in species distinction, as it was very important in their diverse world: Agent 9 was not descended from the animals blessed long ago to ascend to personhood by The Giver.

The Professor was responsible for Agent 9's intelligence, and that put The Professor on the same footing as the very deity who had ensured The Professor's own intelligent birth as a mole. "Spyro sure has some of the most astounding friends, chaps." He said to Camo and Spotlight as they approached him, putting on a brave front of stability. His words were a little strained, but it seemed his tears had been shed in private. "I'm sure we'll square this business in no time at all." Giving his six-shooter another quick inspection, Basil holstered it for the moment and smiled warmly at the dragons, clapping his hands together. "So, you're the associates The Lad was talking about?"

"What a charming nickname." Spotlight said sonorously, daintily lifting a claw for Basil to shake. "Spotlight. Pleasure to meet you."

"Basil." He replied with a nod, gently giving her hand one shake.

"Camo." Said the life dragon, stiffly lifting his own hand, which Basil shook quickly and firmly. He and Spotlight had been walking around in a quadruped stance and still were standing as such, so it struck him as odd that the human didn't mind at all touching the hands they'd been walking on. He had to suppose the archaeologist was accustomed to getting his hands dirty. "So, what can you tell us about the beast?"

"Right, to business." Basil waggled his rather impressively long and full mustache, looking around to find that there was no appropriate place to sit, what with all the equipment being moved. "Standing business. Anyway, when that monster tore through my home, I swore vengeance. I knew Spyro could put it down, so I was off with him in mind. Contacted him right away, but on the way here I saw another beastie run off from a different house. It looked quite remarkably the same, but I was sure it was a second, entirely separate beast. My truck is quite a bit faster than one of those things. I checked the live feed on my security system from my phone at the same time, and the one that attacked my family was still there… sleeping." The way he spoke that last word made it clear that there were details best left unsaid.

"Okay. Two monsters instead of one. Nothing we can't handle, but already a lot more information than we had before." Camo encouraged, nodding along to push past the painful recollection.

"Could you describe them, sir?" Spotlight asked softly. "You said they looked quite alike."

"Yes, they did. Face and build like a hound with six legs and a black carapace over the back. Segmented tail with a bladed tip, and… well, it's very strange, but they had teeth like tusks on their lower jaws, only they were at the back and backwards, jutting out around the face as if to protect it rather than gore anything."

"Nothing a true Master of Dragon-kata can't put down, and Spyro is about to be a Sensei!" Camo responded with bravado. "You'll have that vengeance you're after, Basil."

"Sir Basil," Spotlight began, deep worry in her voice. "You didn't happen to discern some pattern to their movements did you?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear. I only saw each of them once, afterall. Hard to determine a pattern from that and the reports, which show that the attacks are quite random. I'm not sure how we'll track them down."

"The Professor can help with that. Right, Spotlight?" Camo brushed her wing with his own to no effect, turning to her and tilting his head in concern. "Spotlight?"

"Cynder was right." She whispered. "We can't afford to wait. We must use the Tome as quickly as safely possible."

"What are you talking about?" Camo asked, straightening and leaning back. The others had started to crowd in, pausing in their nearly finished work to hear what they were talking about.

It was obvious that Spotlight was barely containing her panic as she looked at them all in turn, before staring directly at Cynder. "Basil has described The Gatekeepers."

"The Sorcerer's original invasion..." Cynder muttered, her face hardening. "So that's how he got here. He must have detected them and used them from the other side somehow."

"This is why they weren't banished. They must be immune. The Sorcerer could have come back at any moment, but he hasn't. He's planning something big."

Agent 9 gave a manic cackle, shaking his head. "You're all forgetting how hard Spyro kicked his tail between his legs! I bet he was too weak to come back even with these Gatekeepers, and even now he'd be too embarrassed to show his face!"

"Yes." Spotlight said seriously. "That means that he will come back soon, and Spyro will be his primary target."