Chapter 2: an interesting duel

All the students were gathered around as Spyro and the Shadow Dragoness stepped on their respective ends of the arena, and a student posing as a referee of sorts, explained the rules.

"All right, you know how this works, I want a clean fight, no help from any other dragon outside of the ring, all elemental skills that you possess are legally allowed to be used, as well as physical combat, do you understand? The first dragon to forfeit or faint from extended mana drain will lose, ready?" The Dragon had them prepared for the fight, this Shadow Dragoness really hated him, so he knew she'd never accept defeat, but Spyro wasn't gonna just let her win, he'd make her work for it.

"Fight!" He allowed the battle begin as the Dragoness released a stream of Shadow Fire, which Spyro nimbly dodged and repelled with his own fire, allowing them to be at a standstill, eventually the Dragoness stopped and flanked him, turning invisible, leaving Spyro confused, but then he closed his eyes.

"What's he doing?" Sparx asked in confusion as Flame grinned, he'd seen this before.

"It's something only Purple Dragons can do, they can home in on their inner Aether energy, and dectect elemental anomalies, Spyro's learned this recently, and it can be used to sense when a Dragon is near or ready to attack, he's virtually unbeatable in this state" Flame explained as Spyro's eyes stayed closed, and the Dragoness became visible again, and lunged at him, suddenly his eyes opened and he grabbed her arm and waist and threw her across the ring, and watched as she slid across the ground, the crowd make all kinds of "oohs" at her fumble, and started cheering for Spyro, which he wasn't prone in having happen, he didn't like the excess amount of attention, but he ignored it for now, standing up to the Dragoness as she charged head on, but was blasted back by Spyro who used his Earth Stream to send her flying, but she recovered, and did something unexpected, and blasted Poison at him, in surprise, Spyro rolled out of the way as the crowd grew surprised by this, including Spyro, he looked up, he needed to be strategic with his next approach, then she blasted Wind at him, and Shadow, as these missed him, he was hit by Fear, which knocked him down onto the ground, immediately his vision warped and was replaced with destroyed landscapes and dead dragons.

"You failed us..." one of the corpses spoke in a reanimated fashion.

"No! No I didn't, I tried to-" he was cut off as another corpse reached for him.

"Your no savior!" It spat at him as he backed away.

"No!" He was in terror, he had never received a Nightmare of this magnitude, but he backed into two large Dragons, who looked down on him.

"We expected better from our own Son, your a failure, your egg should've been destroyed" one of the large dragons insulted him as Tears rolled down his face.

"No..."

"Spyro!" Shard ran onto the ring to see the Purple Dragon still standing, but he was shaking heavily, he was seeing things he shouldn't be.

"No, No! Mom! Dad! I won't fail you!" He cried as the crowd was getting confused.

"Spyro, listen to me...come back, she's messing with your head" Shard was trying to convince him that what he saw wasn't real, but he wouldn't break.

"I can't fail! I won't" immediately Spyro's form grew to a black and gold color as his eyes turned to a soulless white, and he lifted up into the air.

"No! He's going to destroy himself like this! Someone, get Ignitus!" Shard announced, at this point, the students were fleeing the ring, all except the Shadow Dragoness.

"Well? Help him!" Shard yelled at her as she landed.

"I-I can't, I didn't think my fear was so powerful..." her excuses were not helping Shard as he flew up to the corrupted Spyro, and rammed into him, causing them to tumble to the ground, immediately Spyro was thrashing and trying to get free.

"I can't fail! The world's on my shoulders!" His babbling was not helping either as Shard pinned him to the ground.

"Come on, Spyro, break out of the trance" he tried speaking to him as Flame and the others returned with Ignitus.

"Where is Spyro!?" Ignitus urgently asked as they pointed at Shard holding him down, allowing Ignitus to move in and replaced Shard.

"Rest, Young Dragon" he tapped his forehead as Spyro stopped thrashing and fell into a sleep state, his scales reverting to their purple color, soon enough, Ignitus rose up, his massive form towering over the others.

"Who is responsible for this!?" He demanded to know as the Shadow Dragoness stepped forward.

"It was my fault, Ignitus, I let my impulses get in the way" she confessed as Ignitus retained a stern expression.

"And so they did, Young Dragon, your Impluses as of late have been nothing but trouble, and they are all directed to Spyro, I expected you to be better than this, Spyro has been through more than you can imagine, I haven't the stomach to tell him his parents were murdered ruthlessly by Malefor's armies simply to get to him, it would break him to the core! And now you've given him nightmares that I fear he will never recover from" Ignitus lectured her as he placed Spyro on his back.

"Though, it still intrigues me how you can use more than one element, I shall consider this, although your Fear is out of control, same with Spyro's electricity breath when he first learned it...which is why when he recovers, he will be your tutor to help you master your elements, for know, you all have the day off" his statement shocked her.

"But, Ignitus, you can't be serious!" She replied as he kept a stern expression.

"I am being serious, and you would do well to remember that...Cynder (bet you didn't see that coming)" he spoke his piece and walked off, leaving only Spyro's friends behind.

"I hope that for your sake, Spyro forgives you for this..." Flame growled as they all walked off, leaving Cynder by herself to ponder. As she walked back to her quarters, all her friends were swarming her, obviously impressed that she'd technically won the fight, but she pushed through and entered her room to think.

"I can't believe I'm being paired with the Purple Dragon, he's just so, so..." Cynder couldn't finish the sentence as a new thought came to her head.

"Why did I decide to hate him in the first place?" She wondered, they had grown up together, and then one day, she just decided to hate him, was it all because of his scale color? Or his powers? To be honest, she'd never known what he was like, now that she thought of it, her hatred for him was a stupid thing.

"I guess I need to amend things" she thought to herself as she walked over and looked out her window, all her friends were crowding around, she wanted to avoid attention though, so she turned invisible and snuck through the window, making her way through the fields, eventually making her way to his quarters, she knocked on the door, and she heard footsteps, and to her surprise, it was the purple dragon.

Moments earlier

Spyro was in a peaceful slumber when he heard three knocks on his door, his eyes opened wearily as he lifted his head and looked around, he was in his room again, he rubbed his eyes and leaped off his bed, and walked to the door, only to see the Shadow Dragoness, she looked rather sad about something, then he remembered what had happened in the arena.

"Flame would tell me to turn her away, but I'm not Flame, I'll give her time to explain" Spyro opened the door wider.

"Come in" he said with a decently positive tone, leaving the Dragoness shocked at his behavior, as she entered and they sat down, she started explaining everything.

"Look, I don't expect to be forgiven after all these years of bullying you, but I wanted to say...I'm sorry, my actions went to far with the fight, and to be honest, I just forgot why I hate you in the first place...anyways, I don't expect to be forgiven, I'll just be going..." She was prepared to leave, when Spyro grabbed her wing gently.

"Wait! Please stay with me" he requested as she grew more baffled, and turned around to sit back down.

"I forgive you, it's not like me to hold grudges, even though you've done all these things to me, what matters to me is how people feel morally if they've done something wrong, and you, the fact that you even apologized to me is reason enough to give you a second chance" Spyro explained as she seemed to grow relieved.

"I was wondering if we could...start over?" She asked as Spyro nodded.

"Sure, you know, I never got your name" he replied.

"It's Cynder, that's my name" she told him as he smiled.

"That's a nice name" his response made Cynder thankful that she had black scales, as she blushed a little.

"I never knew he was this nice" she was a little surprised.

"Why don't we start with some personal details? I'm personally into reading lots of historical scrolls, my friends call me a bookworm for it, hmm, what else? I'm not sure, how about you tell me something about you, Cynder, while I think of something else" he suggested as Cynder thought to herself.

"Me? Oh, well, I guess I'm into combat, although that got out of hand as you saw" she replied as Spyro chuckled.

"A little? That's an understatement, sister" he joked as Cynder actually laughed at that, which surprised her further, everytime her friends told her something, she did laugh, but it felt fake and unnatural, but Spyro seemed genuinely funny.

"So, what else is there about you?" She asked him as he thought to himself.

"Well, let's see, my preferred element is Fire, speaking of which, it was really impressive how you could all four of the Secondary elements, how did you do that?" He asked as she grew uncertain.

"I don't know, I might've been born with it" Cynder replied.

"Hmm, the scrolls do say something about rare occurrences where a Dragon could be born with the ability to master four elements besides a Purple Dragon" he stated as Cynder sighed.

"You really are a bookworm" she remarked as he himself laughed.

"Good one" he responded as she felt flattered.

"Maybe he's not as bad as I thought" she thought to herself as they kept talking about various things they were interested in, eventually though, the sun was setting, and the day was ending.

"Well, I should probably go, it was nice to get to know you, Spyro" Cynder smiled as Spyro returned the smile, and she left his quarters.

"Maybe him being my tutor won't be such a bad thing" she thought to herself, meanwhile with Spyro, he sat in his bed satisfied with the talk he had.

"I could sense the regret and pain inside her, I know exactly why she was mad with me..." Spyro felt calm, and also happy that they finally moved past their differences, suddenly a glowing light appeared from the roof.

"Sparx? Were you spying on me?" He asked as the Dragonfly sighed.

"Yeah, what do you want me to do? The others were concerned, so they sent me" he answered as Spyro sighed.

"Well, What did you think of the little conversation me and Cynder had?" He wondered as a Sparx flew down to him.

"All I can say is, I don't trust her, I think she's using you, trying to get under your skin so she can hurt you" he gave an honest opinion as Spyro sighed.

"Of course you'd say that, she was honest with he apology, I felt it, I don't know how, but I can sense her feelings, she truly felt regret for what she's done" he replied as Sparx face-palmed.

"Dude, that's just what love does to you" his response shocked Spyro.

"What? Love? Don't be ridiculous, we've just met each other!" he snapped as Sparx.

"Oh sure, I don't know if your "feeling powers" were working, but I reconginzed the look in her eyes, she wants you, and vice versa, even if neither of you know it yet, just let a few weeks of tutoring go by, and you'll be all over each other" Sparx was imitating kissing sounds as Spyro grew flustered.

"Stop that!" He scowled as Sparx burst out laughing.

"Oh, no way, man, that was priceless, your friends are gonna be ridiculing you for ages, by the way, Ignitus wanted to see you when you woke up" he added as Spyro swatted him into the wall with his tail.

"That was for earlier" Spyro retorted as he left his quarters to find Ignitus, leaving Sparx against the wall.

"Ow, that's gonna leave a mark, but it was worth it..." Sparx groaned, meanwhile, Spyro went to the Guardian's quarters, and knocked on Ignitus's and Incendia's door.

"Enter" Ignitus's voice could be heard as Spyro opened the door.

"I heard you wanted to see me, Ignitus?" He asked as Ignitus regrettable left Incendia's embrace.

"Yes, Young Dragon, come and walk with me, don't worry, my dear, we won't be long" Ignitus looked at Incendia as she nodded, and the two walked outside, across the field.

"Spyro, you are a rare Purple Dragon, and a most powerful creature, however, Cynder's ability to have mastered all the Secondary elements confuses me, no dragon other than a Purple Dragon has been able to master multiple elements since a time that predates Malefor's existence, as she demonstrated today, her elemental abilities are not too well controlled, as she nearly convinced you to destroy everything out of Fear, which is another thing I wish to speak with you about" Ignitus explained as Spyro listened.

"Being a Purple Dragon means having a lot of pressure put on you, this usually means that they are more volitile than most, this is how Malefor fell to Darkness, and if you are not careful, it will be your fate, you need only control your emotions, and you will be a perfect warrior, capable of boundless feats and accomplishments, but be wary, and let your heart guide your decisions" Ignitus continued.

"Anyways, back to Cynder, she has appeared to be able to master multiple elements, although they are not fully controlled, that is why I've found it best that you work with her on this" Ignitus's statement surprised Spyro.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked as Ignitus nodded.

"Yes, I am, Cynder needs your guidance, as you are the only other dragon here capable of mastering multiple elements, and while the Secondary Elements are certainly different from the primary ones, I expect you to have little to no trouble training her" he gave a compassionate look at Spyro.

"But...my friends, they don't trust her, I don't want to drive a wedge between me and them" he replied as Ignitus calmed him.

"Never fear, Young Dragon, the situation will be explained in full depth to them tomorrow, you should be thankful it is the holiday break starting tomorrow, it will give you plenty of time to train Cynder, now you best be getting some sleep, Young Dragon" he told Spyro as he nodded and returned to his quarters, leaving Ignitus to stare at the moonlight, before returning to his own quarters.

"How'd it go?" Incendia asked as Ignitus laid beside her.

"Oh, there wasn't much trouble, overall, I'd say he took the news well" he replied as she giggled.

"I'd be proud if he was our son" she told him.

"Yes, indeed, but alas, he is not, that doesn't mean we didn't treat him like our own" he told her as she nodded, and their tails coiled.

"Well, I'd expect you to care for any Dragon in that regard, it's one of the many reasons I became your mate" Incendia pointed out as Ignitus smiled.

"Good night, my dearest" he said to her as she replied, and he blew out the candle in their room, rendering it pitch black.

(Whew, that was tense! Now it's time to release the Christmas special, and from here on out, none of the chapters are prewritten, but Spyro: Worlds of the Past will follow a similar format to all my standard Stories, anyways, Peace!)