Hope your ready for another big battle scene, because this one took a while, starting with where our heroes last left off...


Ch33: The Metalhead Swarm

With a flash of dark light, the hero party emerged out of the air and fell down. They had landed on the bridge of the War Factory, right outside the door from which they had entered. Fortunately, they were also right by their H-cat fighter.

"Haha! We made it!" Daxter cheered, breaking the silence.

"That was too close for me!" added Sparx, still fluttering in the air.

"How did we end up out here?" asked Spyro.

"Who knows? Their portals are as unpredictable as their originals," Jak commented on the Dark Maker portals.

"Well I'm sure not going to question our good fortune, let's board up and finish disabling this place," said Calidan.

WHIIIIRRRR...HUUUmmmm

A loud power down noise was emitting from their entire surroundings. At the same time, they looked below their balcony to see the remaining tanks stop in their tracks and their cannons slump in activity. Also the KG fighters still orbiting the factory immediately shut down and started falling out of the sky toward the city ruins below.

"I'd say that's disabled enough," said Cynder upon observation.

"Let's get back," Jak smirked before speaking to everyone, and then boarded the H-cat with the rest of his friends following his lead. He ignited the engines, and the triumphant heroes took flight to return to Freedom HQ.


Having left the still airborne yet fully disabled war factory, the hero party eventually made its way back into Freedom HQ, having landed the H-cat fighter back in it's original hanger. As they exited the elevator to rejoin the Haven group, Daxter spoke in bragging rights, "We took it to that robot goon and kicked his nuts!...and bolts."

"Hehe, nice one," Sparx commented, with both sidekicks giving each other a rare thumbs up.

"Errol got away, but we shut down his robot factory," said Jak as he and the rest of the group reached the holograph.

"That's good, but it is troubling to see what Errol is doing. I fear he and Malefor may be trying to awaken that terrible Dark ship before we can destroy it!" stated Samos. He and everyone at the base had heard through the communicator how Spyro and Cynder's greatest enemy had now joined forces with Jak's.

"I wouldn't expect anything less. If there's any knowledge of weapons of mass destruction in existence, Malefor will always seek to exploit them, if not create them himself," Spyro added while scowling.

"Your own brand of global terrorist right? And with him joining with our own in the form of Errol, more than just our planet is at stake," Ashelin put in.

"That is if one doesn't end up betraying the other first," added Cynder.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," followed Calidan.

"True, but we can't count on that happening within the timeframe open to us, and either one of them alone is a great threat to anyone, as long as they're within that Dark ship," said Ashelin.

Calidan turned to Onin and saw she was speaking through her hands again and asked Packer, "what's she saying?"

Packer translated, "Onin says the Precursors and Dark Makers have fought over worlds for as long as time has turned. It wouldn't be the first time a planet was lost to those monsters."

"Well it's not going to be this planet! Or Spyro and Cynder's! We've held them back so far, we just need a way to destroy that thing, and those two monsters with them. The truth lies at the bottom of the catacombs, that's where I need to go," Jak stated.

"You mean all of us need to go," Spyro said, with Jak smirking back in gratitude.

"Well, now that the robots are out of the way, does that mean the catacombs are finally open for us to reach now?" asked Calidan.

"No, not until the metalheads are dealt with as well, and with the KG disabled, they will make greater advances to cover the area their fallen 'allies' have lost," said Ashelin, causing Calidan to huff in frustration.

"We will make our way to the entrance soon enough, just have patience young one," said Samos.

"Yeah, not my strongest suit right now," commented Calidan, causing Samos and the dragons to glare at him to his left, not to mention Jak and Ashelin to his right.

"Ahem, but you learn something new every day right? I'll put it at the top of my list," Calidan said with a bit of sweat.

"Wise recovery," Jak reprimanded before addressing everyone again, "question is where do we go from here?"

"We will need some time to make a new battle plan regarding these new events, Jak, you and your team will have to act elsewhere until we have something concrete for you," said Ashelin.

"We should probably head back to the wasteland, we have allies there that need to be updated too," said Spyro.

"Good idea, just keep your communicator on, we will be in touch," said Samos.

"You hear that Rob? Time to go back home," said Calidan to his buddy who still was sitting next to Onin.

"Mrowr," cried the wildcat. As the hero party turned toward the door to exit, Calidan walked up to retrieve his lifelong companion from the blind soothsayer.

"Thank you for looking after him," he said to Onin. She responded with a smiling nod and one last pat on Robin's head. As the two newfound friends finished their goodbyes, the wasteland duo turned to walk to the elevator with the rest of the team. Onin seemed quite tense watching them leave, for through her visions, she knew the real battle had yet to come.


As the hero party zoomed through Haven City, Jak and Cal flew separate fliers this time around. Having seen Jak do it plenty of times, and from his quick study of the controls, he found piloting these airborne craft a walk in the park now. As for why they were flying separate, Calidan had to make a detour back to the Power Room, following the deal he had made with Vin. The rest of the team followed him in suit.

He knew he would need the extra space for the power supply box he went to retrieve. They all greeted Vin upon arrival, who was thrilled to hear the KG had been dealt with, but even more terrified at the real villains behind the city's turmoil. Vin was familiar with how ruthless Errol had always been, but to hear that he was still alive and now allied with the greatest enemy of Spyro and Cynder? As if he couldn't be anymore scared! In addition, the metalheads now sounded like a minor nuisance in comparison with these Dark Makers! After consoling Vin as best they could, they departed his new virtual homestead with Calidan hauling the power supply box gifted to him. He told Vin he was grateful for it and wouldn't forget this.

After loading his cargo onto his flyer, the hero party flew through the former KG city area and into the port. With the factory now disabled, it had now been overrun by the Freedom League eliminating any remaining deathbots that were still in the newly retaken Industrial section. They let the FL do what they had to, and continued toward the wasteland transport. Jak and Calidan landed their zoomers by the port pillar, with Spyro and Cynder landing right next to them. The humans dismounted their zoomers and with Calidan hauling his cargo onto the transport, the hero party climbed aboard and sat down as the transport took off for the wasteland once again.


In the wasteland, a majestic desert eagle was overlooking the sea from its perch in the trees just outside of Spargus. With its keen vision, it picked up the transport approaching the isle from miles out above the water. The eagle then spread its wings and took off as the Haven City transport once again arrived at its predetermined wasteland isle coordinates. Upon setting down on the dune again, its passengers exited, with Calidan moving a little slower than usual trying to push both the crate with his feet and keeping a hold of Robin at the same time. With the passengers vacated, the transport took off again returning to the city across the sea. Calidan was struggling to keep up with the group returning to Spargus while hauling everything he was carrying. Turning around, Jak gave a sigh of pity and walked back to him and picked up the power supply crate.

"Here, I'll carry this, while you keep a hold of your buddy, this way we keep the same pace," Jak said to him.

"Alright, thanks a lot Jak," replied Calidan nodding.

"Yeah, well consider this two you owe me for," he said smirking back to the rogue wastelander.

"Keeping count now? Great, at this rate the next box I'll be handling is one of IOU's," Calidan remarked with a joking grin.

"Better hope it doesn't come to that, because we charge interest desert boy!" said Daxter.

"If you boys are done taking jabs at each other, can we get to Spargus now?" Cynder asked. They all chuckled, including Spyro before continuing their walk to the Spargus gate. Cynder could only roll her eyes before continuing herself alongside Spyro. Out of the corner of his eye, Calidan saw the desert eagle flying off into the distance, and watched it with admiration. The wasteland maybe home to many perilous creatures, but the desert eagles were a personal favorite of his. They symbolized what he always believed in, freedom, truth and honor, and he hoped to keep a hold of that the rest of his life. The party soon reached the gate, which opened with Jak's gate pass. Upon entering the pen, Calidan looked over to the right side to see his Dune Striker right where he had parked it. Jak followed him over to it to load up the crate in the small luggage space behind the driver seat. Robin in turn jumped right on top of it claiming his territory with a "Mrowr."

Jak could only raise an eye, not knowing how to respond to an animal he couldn't really talk to, until Calidan spoke up, "I'm going to take all this, including Mr. 'Way With Words' here back to my home and unload. Once everything is situated I'll return."

"How are you going to get in? You still don't have a gate pass yet, and Damas has yet to test you to be allowed one yet," replied Jak.

"I'll just contact you, can I see your communicator real quick?" Calidan asked.

Jak handed him his communicator, and Calidan took a quick look at the frequency specs molded onto the bottom. Opening the middle arm rest on the Dune Striker, the built in radio he installed was now visible. He punched in the frequency to match the communicator. He then handed the communicator back to Jak.

"Alright, I'm tuned in, I can call directly when I'm ready," said Calidan.

"I'd ask why you don't have a communicator of your own, but I'm pretty sure I'd get the same answer as before," said Jak.

"Yup, I was fortunate enough to find the right parts for this to install in the Striker, I'd love to give you and everyone a full recap of what's done, but a discussion for another time," Calidan said before climbing into the driver's seat.

"See you later Cal, be safe," said Spyro.

"You got it," he said nodding to all of his new friends.

"Make sure to keep him out of trouble, ok Rob?" Cynder smirked.

"Mrowr" everyone could only laugh at his expense as Calidan rolled his eyes. He started the engines to bring the Dune Striker to life. Everyone backed toward the front wall as Calidan turned his vehicle around and drove out of the pen back into the wasteland. As the Striker grew small in the distance upon their return to his home in the wasteland, Jak gave a gesture to the dragons to follow him into Spargus. The wasteland gate closed behind them as the Spargus one opened, and they proceeded forward to locate Damas and Terrador.


Jak, Daxter, and the dragon duo plus one found the two leaders in the city marketplace. They had apparently just finished the preparations for the new Spargus invasion protocol, and were busy with rotating watch shifts. In addition, Cynder was reunited with her best friend who greeted her warmly. Unfortunately as much as Cynder and Saphira would have liked to chat, the news to be addressed was anything but cheerful.

"So Malefor truly is free and now here? And he has now allied himself not only with the Dark Makers, but your own enemy you once thought dead? This Errol?" Terrador asked Jak.

"Unfortunately yes," Jak replied dismally.

"We can confirm, we saw them both," added Spyro.

"It seems I must retract my previous statement," began Damas, "we've never once had a traitor mad enough to threaten our planet, until now. Makes sense though he would come from Haven of all places."

"Regardless of where he comes from Lord Damas, the fact that he is now threatening the well being of both our worlds makes him an enemy of us as much as yours," said Terrador.

"I made that clear, believe me," said Cynder.

"With both our enemies now confirmed, what is our next course of action Master Terrador?" asked Saphira standing off to his left.

"Normally I would take point in answering that young one, but seeing how that we are not on our homestead, it is our hosts that must decide first," said Terrador while turning back to Damas.

Damas respectfully nodded before saying, "in spite of further advances from our enemies, maintaining protocol is the best means of preparation for anything. Sig, Chloro, have you finished verifying a swift rotation between our warriors?"

"Yes lord, and a quick log is helping keep track of them," answered Sig who stood to his kings right with the earth acolyte sitting beside him.

"They also know when any aerial enemies are sighted to immediately signal me, and Lord Damas, I in turn will relay it to you and Master Terrador," added Chloro.

"Very good," said Damas, "anything you wish to add Guardian Terrador?"

"Not yet as of this moment, though our allies at the temple will need to be updated," said Terrador.

"Perhaps the newcomer in the wasteland can inform them, Jak can you contact him?" Damas asked.

"Right away, he in fact just gave us the means to…"...BEEP...He was interrupted before he could continue, as the communicator sprung to life from his side bag and from it to their surprise, was Calidan.

"Jak! Spyro! This is Cal! Can you hear me? It's urgent!"

"What do you know he beat us to it," Sparx said aloud to himself.

"We read you Cal, what is it?" answered Jak, confused why he sounded anxious.

"I had just gotten situated in my home when I heard some familiar roars coming from outside. I look out my tower, and there they were…metalheads! A whole legion of them and it looks like they want to swarm the temple! I'm heading out right now, but all of you get over here immediately!"

Everyone wore looks of shock from his warning, dragon and human alike. Jak replied, "We'll be there!"

"HURRY!" Cal shouted one last time before the communicator returned to the bag. Jak looked up to meet everyone's gaze. Dragon and human they all said the same thing without words, it was time to go metalhead hunting!


The Spargus gate opened once again in its usual fashion. Though this time emerged a different party than before. In the lead was Sig driving the Gila Stomper, with Jak and Daxter mounted atop the machine gun platform with the human hero ready to aim. Behind them flew the entire dragon team minus Terrador. Spyro and Cynder took to the skies in the lead with Chloro and Saphira flanking them both. As the Stomper led the whole group toward the south end of the wasteland, they mentally prepared themselves for the inevitable fight. For Jak and Sig, it would be another metalhead hunt for them, but for the dragons, it was personal. Particularly for Chloro and Saphira who had yet to face any of the monsters descended from the ones who had ravaged their ancestors' original planet.

Terrador would have loved nothing more than to join the acolytes in this battle, but knew he was better served defending Spargus with King Damas and his people. This split up would help in case any metalheads decided to attack Spargus as well. On another note, Kleiver was peeved that he was left out of a metalhead hunt, like anyone else cared.

The Gila Stomper eventually passed through the leaper lizard habitat, and the back entrance to Cal's hideout. The dragons kept an eye on the horizon for any of the monsters. Until their attention was directed skyward by an unusual SCREECCHH.

"Up there!" Sig yelled for all to hear.

The whole party looked up toward the nearest mountain, and couldn't believe their eyes. A flying creature with an uncanny resemblance to certain flying reptiles was approaching them from the range. Two more appeared beside it as they approached their prey.

"Are those?!…" Saphira gasped seeing the unfortunate resemblance.

"Those are Metal-Flyers!" Sig explained, "the aerial menaces known to appear here in hoards."

"Why didn't you say they look like dragons?!" shouted Chloro.

"Because they're not Chloro!" Spyro replied, knowing how versatile the breeds of the metalheads were by experience, "they may fly like us, but they are no dragons, we've even encountered ones resembling humans, but regardless of whatever form they may come in, metalheads are all the same, parasites!"

"Spyro's right, now let's put them in their place!" Cynder added.

Saphira nodded to her and said for all to hear, "for our ancestors!"

The dragons flew up to intercept the Metal-flyers, with Spyro and Cynder teaming up on one and Saphira and Chloro targeting one each. Another roar was heard from in front as Jak turned in Sig's driving direction, having arrived at the rocky coast which led to the temple. A pair of Metalsaurs had appeared from the southwest end, just like the ones Jak had eliminated in the wasteland before Spyro arrived.

"Oh great! More of those monsters!" yelled Daxter.

"Take em out Jak! I'll keep within range!" shouted Sig.

One of the Metalsaurs fired a missile from the cannon mounted on its back, which Jak shot down before firing at the real target. The Metalsaur groaned in pain as the bullet fire from the Gila Stomper's machine gun pierced its flesh. Soon it toppled dead from the attack with a heavy thud. Jak turned his attention to the other one running right behind it as Sig pulled up to drive with it.

As the Gila Stomper engaged in ground assault, the dragons had begun their one in the air. Saphira and Chloro had each engaged one of the Metal-flyers each, while Spyro and Cynder together attacked the last one. Chloro hit and grappled with his metalhead target with it trying to bite the dragon back. The Earth acolyte gave it no room as he pulled into a spinning dive, throwing it against the mountainside where it impacted with a heavy BOOM. Saphira evaded the first attack from her Metal-flyer and headbutted it from below, causing the metalhead to cry in pain as it righted itself. The ice acolyte alley-opped to redirect her aim back toward it and fired an ice projectile at one of its wings. It pierced it clean off making the Metal-flyer SCREECCH in agonizing pain as it fell to the ground and bled to death. Spyro and Cynder attacked their flyer simultaneously, each one of their elemental fire and poison breaths making the first hit. The Metal-flyer let out painful cries as they passed it on both sides, giving the young dragons great satisfaction. Although they quickly turned around in their flight to re-engage, and after giving each other a quick nod, they grasped their paws together and combined their elements into a combination blast of ice and wind. The miniature tornado directed at the Metal-flyer engulfed it, and sent it spinning around mercilessly like clothes in a dryer, before releasing the beast and driving it toward the ground where its whole body was crushed from the weight of the impact.

The Gila Stomper team had continued firing at the next Metalsaur until it fell like the last. However, the full force of the legion they had been warned about was making itself known. As Sig drove near the gap connecting the southeast and southwest sides, he saw three more Metalsaurs come around the bend.

"More incoming! Take em out!" Sig yelled to Jak before he took aim. As he pressed the trigger however, he released upon hearing the sound of more gunfire that wasn't his own. He looked ahead in curiosity, and to his as well as Sig and Daxter's surprise, saw the Dune Striker come from around the bend in chase of the Metalsaurs. Calidan in the driver seat was firing his roof mounted automatic guns at the monsters.

"Eat lead you mongrels!" they heard him yell as he approached the Stomper while firing at one Metalsaur.

"Haha, guy truly is a wastelander!" cheered Sig.

"No doubt, let's help him out before he gets too rash!" Jak agreed before aiming at another Metalsaur. Jak was firing at the one in the middle while Calidan was shooting at the one at the back of the pack of three. They dodged the missiles both monsters had fired at them before they finally succumbed to the gunfire and dropped dead. That left their party leader, which Calidan immediately drove after once he evaded the corpses.


As the dragons in the air regathered together, they saw out among the horizon more approaching trouble. Though the first wave had been dealt with, an even greater one was following it, as five more Metal-Flyers appeared from near the volcano and flew toward them. In addition, the dragon couple together saw a pair of Metalsaurs stomping through the leaper lizard habitat heading for their clearing. Seeing the engagement from both land and air, Spyro gave an order.

"Split off to engage them both, Chloro take care of those monsters on the ground, the rest of us will attack those flyers. Let's move!"

Chloro nodded as he headed for the ground while Spyro and the girls flew for the incoming flyers. Upon seeing their airbourne prey approach them, the Metal-flyers fired their own weapon against the dragons. Red heat seeking missiles were fired from compartments embedded in their torsos, showing their biomechanical nature to the new outlanders for the first time. Saphira and even her two companions were stunned for a moment upon their release, before firing their elemental ice and poison breaths at the missiles, disabling them before they could reach them. The dragons then reached the metalheads and the brawl began, Saphira had flown in between two of them before activating her ice twister attack, pelting the monsters with hard shards of ice while knocking them out of the sky. Cynder fired a sonic screech at the one approaching her, disorienting it before flying up near its face and slashing at it with her tail, leaving a nasty cut making the metalhead hiss. Spyro engaged the other two with an electric stream breath which enveloped both of them, stunning them momentarily allowing him to attack again with an Earth shot aimed at each of them. The metalheads both fell back from the force of the attack, struggling to stay airborne as their attack continued.

On the ground, Chloro went straight for the Metalsaur duo with an Earth boulder smash. The acolyte ended up crushing one of them under its shear force, and forced the other one to halt in surprise as its present kin was squashed to its death. A dust cloud of sand kicked up from the impact shielding the dragon from the sight of the Metalsaur. It didn't last long, as an Earth shot erupted from the cloud hitting the metalhead in its face, forcing it to fall to the ground on it's back in pain. As the metalhead groaned trying to regain its orientation, his dragon opponent slowly emerged from the cloud and walked up to it. Chloro looked the metalhead right in its yellow eyes with a heated glare before giving the monster a final word…

"Not so tough and hungry now, are you?" He pulled his head up to release an Earth flail from his mouth, and slammed it right down on top of its head. The metalhead cried its last breath as the acolyte snorted in satisfaction from the oversized parasite's death.

Calidan continued chasing down the Metalsaur that had escaped him earlier. He finally had it within range as the monster approached the rocky outcrop where his hideout was hidden away. He kept a tight grip on the trigger to bombard the Metalsaur with machine gun fire. The monster groaned in pain from the bullet fire as it retaliated by firing a missile from its back to hit the Striker. Calidan evaded and kept firing until the monster finally dropped dead, close to where his garage door was. As he made his way around it, he saw a further unwelcome sight, more Metalsaurs were incoming, seven of them were stomping across the main desert area littered with cacti heading for the temple. Even with his armaments, Calidan knew he couldn't handle them all alone.

"Ok, I'm a bit outnumbered here," he said to himself before turning to his radio. Pushing the button he called his fellow wastelanders on the Stomper, "Jak, Sig, I could use some backup over here."

"Look behind you rogue."

Calidan turned around in response to see the Gila Stomper was right behind him, and driving off to his right as they drove both vehicles toward the main wasteland area to meet them head on. The Metalsaurs roared upon approach and each fired a missile at the pair of vehicles. Jak fired at the missiles from the Stomper, shooting three of them down before turning to the closest metalhead as Sig drove around it.

"Blow him away!" Sig cried as Jak fired back.

"Get some! Get some!" cheered Daxter as the bullet fire pelted the Metalsaur.

Calidan managed to dodge the last two missiles before firing back himself. The first Metalsaur in front of him nearly hit his Striker with its head. He evaded at the last moment before he found himself behind the monster, and skidded his Striker back around to continue the attack. He let loose more gunfire to hear the metalsaur roar in pain like all the others. Unfortunately, the other five were converging on their attackers, and fired a volley of missiles at the Striker and Stomper simultaneously, forcing them to cease fire and evade. Suddenly, a green blur of energy shot through the air, knocking one of the firing metalsaurs off its feet. Calidan looked up to see Chloro engaging from the sky ready to attack and defend.

He nodded as Chloro passed overhead unaware, and the earth acolyte finished off his first target with another boulder SMASH. Jak, Sig, and Daxter, had just eliminated their Metalsaur and was looking at the dust cloud kicked up by the dragon's attack. He soon re-emerged from it with a look of satisfaction.

"Kid's got a warrior's spirit for sure!" complimented Sig, whom Jak and Daxter nodded to.

"Guys, if we are fighting the metalheads out here...whose defending the temple?!" Calidan asked over the radio, drawing apprehensive looks from them.


Three more Metalsaurs had approached the temple from the south end of the wasteland. In addition, five more Metal-Flyers had arrived and were approaching by air. Their recent orders from their new leader Errol told them to demolish the temple, and to eliminate the possibility of any more opposition from the Dragon Realms. The request had originally been recommended by Malefor to his new partner, and now their lackeys were about to accomplish this mission. However, what the metalheads didn't know about was that the temple still housed some new protectors. From within the open silo of the temple, arose Cyril, Volteer, and Zaxto, whom all flew out to meet the Metal-flyers head on.

"It appears the monstrosities have finally revealed themselves from the foulest depths of this sandy terrain and set out to annihilate any opposition, including…"

"ENOUGH VOLTEER!" yelled Cyril, "I suggest less talk and more action, as Terrador would likely tell us. Now we have enemies on both ground and air, and we can't let even one slip past us."

"I'll take those ground beasts sir! One attack from me and it will overload their anatomical systems indefinitely!" said Zaxto, adopting Volteer's rambling.

"Very well, do it!" ordered Cyril.

"Remember your training young one!" added Volteer.

"Yes master!" said Zaxto before diving at the Metalsaurs. As the acolyte headed for his target, the guardians turned their attention back to Metal-flyers approaching them.

"Let's extinguish these planet parasites!" seethed Volteer.

"Indeed," Cyril in rare occurrence agreed with his electric counterpart completely. As they neared the Metal-flyers, they retaliated with missiles fired at them. The weapons stunned the dragons momentarily as they appeared to come out of the sides of their torsos, but dodged immediately before engaging in their own attack. Volteer enveloped three of them with an electric stream, paralyzing them in midair. Cyril covered the other two with an ice stream which froze their wings and caused them to fall to the ground.

The Metalsaurs had noticed the young electric dragon approaching them and fired one missile each from their cannons. Seeing the three missiles heading for him, Zaxto pulled an evasive maneuver to the left and dodged each one. He then engaged them from the side and fired an electric stream of his own, stunning all of them in their tracks. Yet the beasts were still standing as Zaxto passed over them for another attack.


Near the epicenter of the wasteland, Chloro had engaged another Metalsaur in the pack that tried to approach from the northern end. The dragon succeeded in knocking it to the ground with close combat and approached it to finish the beast off. Jak had finally killed their target with gunfire and Sig was chasing another one for Jak to engage. Calidan was pelting his target with automatic fire after evading another missile shot, and was trying to bring the beast down. It finally dropped with an agonizing roar of death, leaving four in the pack.

Watching its pack mate drop dead, another Metalsaur came up from behind the Dune Striker and fired a missile. Calidan looked up and saw it at the last second, he pulled away, but it was still too close. BOOMM was heard as the missile impacted and the shockwave sent the Dune Striker into the air. Journeying several airbourne yards before tumbling across the dune and setting against a large boulder.

"CAL!" yelled Jak as he, Daxter and Sig saw the hit the new recruit took. Chloro saw it as well and was just as concerned, however his attention was soon diverted.

"ROOAARR!" The Metalsaur he had knocked down returned the favor by swiping its tail at the acolytes legs.

"Aaagghh!" Chloro cried as he fell to the ground. The Metalsaur was immediately upon him as it positioned itself to bite the dragon's neck with its massive jaws. Chloro looked up and saw it coming and braced his front claws against the Metalsaur's jaws holding them back. The dragon and metalhead were now caught in a grapple, one that would only end in one's death.

Jak was so preoccupied with what was happening to their friends he failed to see a sneak attack on them, until Sig yelled, "JAK SHOOT UP!"

An incoming missile threatened to level them, until Jak's quick reflexes kicked in and shot the missile just in time. However it gave the metalhead responsible the time it needed to approach with a melee attack. With a swing of its head, the Metalsaur hit the Stomper on its side, causing it to topple over. Jak and Sig had braced themselves clinging to the guard bars before the vehicle toppled over, where as Daxter clung to Jak's shoulder for dear life. All their eyes were closed and felt groggy from the hit, yet still conscious. Unfortunately the Metalsaur had turned around to face the vehicle once more, ready to tear it apart.

Calidan was feeling shook up from the hit his Striker had taken and the tumble that went with it. He slowly reopened his eyes to a most unwelcome sight. The Metalsaur that had hit his Striker was now looming over him a few yards away, and was growling hungrily. The hit had shut his engine off, along with all the systems tied in, including the guns. Realizing he was completely vulnerable, Calidan felt terror, but kept a heavy glare at the wasteland monster. As the beast took a step toward its next meal, it received instead an agonizing pain in its right leg.

"RAAARRGGHH!" The Metalsaur roared in agony from the ice projectile that had been lodged into its leg, causing it to fall. Calidan looked to his left and saw the source. Saphira was flying in, and fired another ice shard at the beast hitting it in its eye. With another painful cry, it succumbed to the bleeding from both attacks, as the ice dragoness landed in front of the Dune Striker.

"Are you alright?" she asked Calidan.

"Yeah, thanks for the save," he answered, before pointing to the Metalsaur preying above the Gila Stomper, "help them or their metalhead chow instead." Saphira nodded and took off toward Jak and Sig, while Calidan worked on restarting his engine.

Chloro's struggle against the Metalsaur trying to chomp him continued for another minute before he finally deployed his own tail. He brought it up and with the scythe shaped tail attachment he was born with, jabbed the beast's left leg with it. What went around came around.

"RAARRGGH!"

"Yeah, you're not the only one with a tail," Chloro taunted the Metalsaur. He pulled his tail back out and swiped it across its face. The beast roared a last cry of pain before dropping dead, as the cut across its face and eye spilled a heavy amount of blood.

Sig was trying to engage the stabilizers to upright the Gila Stomper, but couldn't reach the button due to his constrained position. He and Jak were still feeling disoriented from the earlier hit as the Metalsaur approached. Daxter looked up and gulped at the beast ready to make a meal out of him. As the Metalsaur went to lunge, it was knocked over by Saphira, who arrived just in time with a body slam. The beast toppled to the ground before it lifted its head to see the face of its attacker. It growled at the ice acolyte who glared back at the metalhead with a scowling hiss.

"Whew...attagirl," Daxter said to himself. Jak groaned as he regained his senses and his breath. Sig finally freed his body enough to reach the controls and hit the stabilizers. The Gila Stomper jolted back up and righted itself on all four wheels, while slightly throwing Daxter off Jak's shoulder onto its roof.

"Agh, a little warning next time!" Daxter shouted at Sig. Jak finally regained full sense to see Saphira glaring at the Metalsaur who had attacked the Stomper. It tried to give out one last roar, but in the blink of an eye another ice projectile was fired through into its mouth and out of the back of its head. Jak turned to the dragoness as the beast collapsed dead, and she turned to him.

"You alright Jak?" she asked him.

"Yeah, good timing and good shot, I once saw Spyro do the same thing," he said remembering Spyro's arena battle.

"Common Ice dragon tactic, simple but deadly," she responded gesturing to the carcass before turning back to Jak again with seriousness, "We need to get back to the temple."

Before anyone could move however, the last Metalsaur approached them with a killing intent. They prepared themselves, until they saw it get hit on the side of its head by a glowing green orb. They turned to the left to see Chloro had intervened with his Earth flail, before raising it up and striking down hard on top of the beast's head, crushing it. With that, the pack was eliminated and the fight over, and Chloro turned to his stunned audience.

"Not bad for one with a thick skull huh?" he said mainly toward Saphira throwing her words back at her. She just shook her head at her fellow acolyte's retort. The humans were still stunned silent, until a nearby engine broke it as Calidan drove up in his restarted Dune Striker.

"Let's go, we're not done yet."


After eliminating the second wave of Metal-Flyers, Saphira had split off from Spyro and Cynder to aid Chloro and the humans. Spyro and Cynder on the other hand, flew back towards the temple having seen from a distance that Volteer and Cyril had now joined the battle. As they neared the temple area they saw two Metal-flyers who were now dead on the ground, and three more that were surrounded by the electric guardian's voltage cage technique. It was like a sphere of lightning containing them, but the guardian was not done, as he was about to unleash its full potential. As he ceased circling them and floated in front of them, his eyes lit up yellow, and the cage electrocuted the three Metal-flyers to death with lightning piercing their hides.

SCCRREEECCHH!

The metalheads dropped dead to join the corpses on the ground. Both Spyro and Cynder smiled in relief as they approached the electric guardian. At the same time, Volteer's fellow guardian approached him.

"For such a barbaric display, I must admit old chap that wasn't half bad," Cyril complimented in his usual manner.

"In case you've forgotten Cyril, that's one of my most advanced techniques, and one that I have personally patented, it deserves far more than just 'not half bad'" Volteer argued.

"Perhaps," the ice guardian said before noticing the approaching young dragons, "though you are more likely to hear it from them than me."

"Master Cyril! Master Volteer!" Spyro shouted happily as he and Cynder suspended themselves in front of them.

"Good to see you back again young dragons," said Cyril, "though sorry to say you're a little late, for this brawl has now ended."

Cynder breathed exhaustively, apparently the guardian was overlooking all the other metalheads they had intercepted, "Well master, we've been having our hands full elsewhere."

Spyro looked around before asking about an absent acolyte, "where's Zax…?"

Shooommm

A shining light and hum interrupted him, and they turned over to the far south section where it was illuminating from. Zaxto had turned around to re-stun the Metalsaur pack he had engaged, and now was preparing a finishing blow with them paralyzed. He charged up an electrical field around his body which was giving off the glow. Once he had reached the level he aimed for, he released it in a violent electrical display. The sphere of lightning enveloped the area within 50 yards. It wasn't as powerful as the electric fury so there wasn't any shockwaves, but it still overloaded the Metalsaur's anatomy, making them drop dead as the sphere's energy faded away. Zaxto took a breath as his attack ended before floating to himself, "heh, and Pulster thinks being a master of electricity is nothing but practical logic. Well this was pure creativity."

"Well done young one!" Volteer said flying down from the sky with Cyril, Spyro, and Cynder in tow.

"So far your record on this trip has produced nothing but passing marks," the electric guardian said to his favored pupil upon landing.

"Nothing to it master," Zaxto replied with a somewhat smug expression, "given their biomechanical nature, electricity is a given weakness for their kind as much as any organic lifeforms, all I had to do was envelop them in a wide enough field…"

The student started mimicking the teacher as Zaxto went off on his own monologue. This of course made Cyril and the young dragons present sigh exhaustively. They were silently wishing under different circumstances that Pulster had been the one to come. Being level-headed, the other electric pupil knew when to shut up. Fortunately the acolyte's speech was interrupted, though not by anything good as a rumble was echoing throughout the area and under their feet.

RRRrrrrrrRRR

The dragon party looked around to see the sand shifting, making Cyril ask aloud, "what's going on? Earthquake?"

Spyro and Cynder looked to each other adamantly, though it was possible, they believed this was no earthquake.


The shaking was felt by the other wasteland party as they drove and flew back towards the temple. They were in the leaper lizard area by the time it got really severe. Calidan was leading the Gila Stomper with Chloro and Saphira flying right above them as they drove around the right side of the ruins. Daxter yelled, "what is going on here?!"

Sig suddenly looked off to his right, with his one eye going wide he brought the Stomper to a halt as he gasped, "no…"

Jak turned his attention to what Sig was looking at, a pile of rocks that appeared to have collapsed over a cave embedded in the mountain range in the leaper area. He suddenly remembered the mission Damas had given Sig prior to them returning to the temple before journeying to Haven. He had never asked about it afterward given what was going on, but it looked like he was about to witness the results. The rocks were shuffling, and appeared to be falling away to reveal the collapsed cave which led to a former nest, a nest of….

BOOOMMM!

The rocks suddenly exploded away clearing the cave, and forcing all those who witnessed it to evade. As the rubble settled, a large and long serpentine body emerged from the hole and plowed itself into the desert sand. As the body vanished, they saw nothing was left, except a large underground hole that looked like a tunnel. Clearly what came out of the cave was a burrower.

"What was that?! Another metalhead?" Chloro asked as he and Saphira were still momentarily shocked.

"Yeah," Jak replied, but with dreaded tone, for he knew what kind they were now dealing with, and it was one he had hoped they wouldn't since believing Sig had killed them all prior, "but not just any metalhead."

Back near the temple, the dragons were still wondering what caused that eruption of tremors, until they looked over toward the mountain range again. The tremors returned, stronger than ever, and the source was soon revealed in an explosive release of sand. The dragons momentarily shielded their eyes from the sand and dust kicked up, but once it settled, they started wishing they had kept them closed.

GRRAARRGGHHH!

The massive metalpede monster led out a bone chilling roar with its gaze focused at the temple. It was unaware of the dragon party nearby that it had just shocked beyond belief with its reveal. Cyril suddenly remembered an earlier notion Daxter had mentioned, 'giant monster centipede indeed. I guess I owe the furry one an apology.'

"What in ancestors name is that thing?!" Zaxto yelled.

"A metalhead bigger than any I remember," Spyro gasped, noticing the glowing gem embedded in its forehead signifying its race, "I dare say even more than Kor."

Suddenly, the metalpede's mouth glowed with an eerie purple tone, and a laser of the same color shot out and was fired at the temple base, crumbling some rocks. Seeing the monster attack its intended target was enough to snap the dragon party out of their stupor. Volteer shouted for all to hear, "Come my friends! Let's extinguish this bug!"

With new determined looks they nodded, and Volteer, Cyril, Zaxto, Cynder and Spyro took flight to engage the metal monster. The monster took a breath before it prepared to fire another shot, until its attention was finally turned toward the incoming dragons it had sensed in the air. Seeing the approaching enemies, the metalpede redirected its aim toward the party and fired.

"SPLIT OFF!" Spyro yelled at the top of his lungs. He, Zaxto and Cynder went one way while the guardians went another. The laser passed in between them as they prepared their own attacks. Zaxto and Volteer fired electric streams while Cyril fired an ice projectile, Cynder fired a poison bomb, and Spyro finished up with a fireball. All attacks hit the monster's body, they were in non-vital areas but enough to cause significant damage as the metalpede ROARED in pain.

The dragons passed over it and were preparing to turn back around to continue, until the metalpede collected its stamina and burrowed under the sand dune again, leaving another hole. As it vanished from sight, the dragons huffed in frustration trying to scope it out. They flew higher to view the wasteland from a higher vantage point, and then caught glimpse of more sand being disturbed. In the leaper area, another sand explosion was seen and the metalpede re-emerged to take a gulp of fresh air.

"There it is! Let's get it!" shouted Zaxto. They were ready to engage until Cynder flew in front of them.

"Actually I don't think that will be necessary yet," she said with a grin having noticed that approaching the metalpede were some new opponents.


The metalpede continued to shake off the earlier pain it had endured from the first attacks. Unfortunately for it, that was only the beginning, the roar of engines caught its attention. Both the Gila Stomper and the Dune Striker were zooming towards it, ready to fire.

"Let's burn this worm!" yelled Calidan.

"Yeah!" agreed Jak before they unleashed their respective vehicle's fire on the monster. The metalpede roared in more pain from the gunfire before arcing itself to plunge back into the sand dune. It burrowed another tunnel right in front of them. Calidan drove off to the side of it while Sig was quick to hit the brakes. He halted the Stomper just in front of the hole as the metalpede vanished, he had no wish to be swallowed by one of these monsters a second time.

The metalpede re-emerged again on the other side of the leaper area, trying to regain some stamina before attacking its assailants. However its misfortunes continued, for it had revealed itself to the remaining two acolytes of the dragon party hovering just above it.

"I'll crush its body, you skewer its eye?" Chloro asked Saphira.

"Do it tough guy," she replied with a grin. The earth acolyte smirked as he activated his earth boulder attack again. The metalpede looked up to see the bombarding dragon, and at the last moment arced to plunge into the sand again. It had just started to burrow as Chloro's attack made a SMASH.

As the dust cloud kicked up, Saphira tried to see any sign of the monster, only to see Chloro emerge from it instead and turn to her, "Saphira I missed! It burrowed before I could hit its main section! Do you see anything?!"

The ice acolyte looked around from her aerial vantage point, and saw something indeed. A wave of sand was snaking its way away from the leaper area and back toward the temple monoliths. The dragoness turned back to her fellow acolyte on the ground, "its heading back to the temple!"

Engines were heard, and she saw the wastelanders drive up to Chloro and halt before Sig asked, "where did it go?"

"Back towards the temple!" Chloro answered.

"Then what are we waiting we for?" A familiar voice caught their attention. They looked up to see Spyro and the rest of the dragons hovering just above them. Spyro spoke again now that he had their attention, "let's kill it before it kills the monks and destroys our only way home!"

Everyone nodded before all dragons took flight and the vehicles turned around to drive toward the temple gap once again. During the drive, Daxter couldn't help but look around at the whole ensemble and say, "this is by far the craziest hunt we've ever been on."

Less than a minute later, the metalpede once again emerged from the sand, now even closer to the temple then it was before. As it had previously shown, it charged up another blast in its mouth, ready to unleash it against the temple base to collapse it. As it was ready to fire, it was interrupted once again by a fireball and poison bomb to the back of its head. The energy it had gathered dissipated as it turned around to see the purple dragon and black dragoness lead the team for a final assault.

"Hit it with everything you got!" he ordered as he and Cynder flew to the side. The wastelanders were first, Calidan on the lead pelting it with Striker gunfire as it drove around it, with Jak doing the same from the Gila Stomper as Sig drove around it the same way. All of them were yelling a battle cry as their shots hit and the monster screamed.

Next up were the electric dragons, with Volteer on the right and Zaxto on the left fired a dual electric stream that engulfed the metalpede and paralyzed it.

After them were the ice dragons, Saphira on the right and Cyril on the left, who covered the metalhead with their highest concentrated ice streams. The attacks turned its head and eyes icy blue and appeared to have stalled it in place.

As the ice dragons passed over it, Chloro brought up the rear to finish it and took aim for a second attempt. "If at first you don't succeed…" he said to himself before he started barrel rolling toward the monster. He activated his earth powers, and in a way that would have made his Master Terrador proud, plowed through the frozen head of the metalpede, shattering it into a million pieces. The remaining half of the metalpede body was seen barely sticking out of the sand as its head was nothing but ice bits. Chloro ceased rolling and braced himself as he landed on the sand dune and skidded to a stop. Looking back at the results, he snorted in satisfaction with a grin, "...bust it to bits."

As the earth acolyte said his last taunt, the wasteland vehicles came to a stop near Calidan's garage. After that, the dragons set themselves down next to them. Looking around the area, they observed all of the other corpses, especially the one that Calidan had killed near his home, signifying this battles' end.

"Well, I guess we can presume this battle over?" Cyril asked the wastelanders.

Calidan responded to the guardian while grinning, "just another day in paradise."

They all looked at the rogue wastelander stunned for a moment. Until Jak, Daxter and Sig couldn't help but chuckle at the new recruit's smart remark. Seeing their spirits lifted up despite the near death fight, the dragon guardians and their students, including Spyro and Cynder joined in by laughing themselves. The metalhead swarm was defeated, in a manner that would have made all their ancestors proud.


The party returned to the temple's open atrium triumphant over their recent victory. All the monks expressed their gratitude with wishes and prayers of blessings for the noble creatures that defended their home. The dragons normally would have argued, but felt it was best to let them do what they felt obliged to do, for they knew if the roles were reversed, they would do the same. The same thanks were also given to the natives, who humbly accepted them, save for Daxter who was milking in the monk's prayer chants.

"Thank you, thank you, your all too much," he droned on while standing near Jak, "those metalheads have felt the wrath of orange lightning, and now know that any, AND I MEAN ANY, who mess with our planet will be struck down all the same!"

Spyro whispered to Cynder, "it's like Sparx and Tall Plains all over again."

Cynder remembered the story he once told her about his and Sparx's journey there and shook her head in exhaustion. She was grateful the dragonfly stayed behind in Spargus with Terrador and wasn't joining Daxter in feeding both their egos. Sparx was the last thing Daxter was thinking about as he continued showboating.

"The mighty Daxter accepts your gratitude, and hopes that in time we can provide each other with even greater...SMACK"

Daxter was silenced as Jak smacked him in the back of the head. Rubbing his rear temple, Daxter shot his partner a sour look who just shook his head with an unimpressed scowl. Seeing the whole thing, Calidan told Sig, "I would have just said enough is enough, but that works too."

Sig nodded as Seem approached with her usual blank face, and yet was also carrying a shoulder bag across her body. Her presence silenced the monks chanting, and all eyes turned to her. She broke her blank face with a warm smile toward the group.

"As we've no doubt shown, we are eternally grateful for your selfless defense of our home, and the extermination of those desert abominations," she said.

"It was our pleasure, believe me" Saphira replied grinning, while receiving a nod from the lady monk in response.

"While a moment to rejoice in this victory is welcomed," Cyril cut in, "it still arouses concerns on why these beasts chose to attack your temple now of all times. My guess is now since his unveiling, Malefor would seek to undo any advantage the dragons would offer your people during this dire time prior to invasion."

"That is a possibility, but unfortunately not the only reason. Errol is currently the only one able to communicate with all the hostile forces against this planet and no doubt ordered all this. Normally I would wonder why he would seek to destroy the one place on this planet that housed the greatest knowledge of the Precursors and the Dark Makers. But given these recent events, I can think of only one logical conclusion."

"Which is?" Jak asked, with Spyro, Cynder, Calidan, and Sig matching his suspenseful look. Daxter merely climbed back on his shoulder to listen.

"Errol has learned on his own how to connect with the Dark Maker ship," she said while turning to the sky where the Day Star shone more brightly and eerily than before. The rest of the group turned to it as well, with a foreboding feeling, especially with what Seem said next.

"If he can awaken its terrible cargo, he and Malefor will together unleash horrors beyond our deepest nightmares."

"Please tell me you're being over dramatic," Chloro said, while feeling heavy dread from her statement.

"I may sound so at times," Seem answered, "but I do not speak falsehoods young acolyte."

Cyril noticing everyone's concerns growing, decided to gain some clarity, "what is this cargo?"

"Its true nature is unknown even to us, but from the earliest records we have, we know that once it is unleashed upon any planet, its final hours are at hand," Seem answered.

'Thank you for freaking us out cryptically once again,' thought Daxter.

"Not all is lost, I hid the most important artifact away, the one that will activate our planet's last means of defense," Seem said before reaching into her shoulder bag. Out of it she unveiled a new artifact, it was shaped like an oblong sphere. It was similar to the Beta-sphere, but it had eight egg like protrusions instead of four all over its body. Seem touched the sides of the artifact and revealed what they contained. To their surprise, there were 8 fully charged eco crystals, four of dark, and four of light. Jak once heard from Seem how the two types light and dark combined form great energies, he himself was living proof, and now this Beam Generator as Seem explained was the only power source on the planet capable of powering the planet defense system.

"I was wrong about you the first time we met young warrior. The fact that you have reignited the alliance with the dragons proves that you have the power that's needed to save our own world," Seem spoke to Jak.

"whew, no pressure," whispered Zaxto, only to be nudged by Saphira who heard him.

On the other hand, Daxter replied for everyone to hear, "As rubber wearing, completely freaky, beyond bizarre paint faced super weird monks go, your alright." His statement made the humans and dragons slightly glare at him, but seeing that Seem was unaffected by his comment, just let out light chuckles.

"Having witnessed history proven and remade before me, I am now at peace," Seem stated before closing the eco crystals within the Beam Generator and handing it off to Jak, who took it in his hands. "The greatest gift is being given the chance to be part of it and receiving it, thank you all."

She bowed, along with the monks behind her. The wastelanders and especially the dragons took in the heart warming moment. It seemed old Ignitus's words held true even beyond their own realms...

'even when all seems lost, a light shines through the darkness, and even the smallest amount of courage can turn the tides of war.'


This chapter was a lot longer than I anticipated, but considering the whole dragons vs metalheads brawl that was inevitable, I should have seen it coming...hehe...I really hope you all enjoyed it, the metalheads may be beaten now but not indefinitely, we are close, but the story is not over yet.