Chapter 23: Preparations
Malefor stood in the hangar, in the middle of two large rows of Apes that had mounted Dreadwings, he stood alongside Gaul. "Today is the end of the Dragon Resistance! The fierce warriors I see before me, will bring an end to the Senate! To the lies of peace they've spread throughout the world! But we will remember this as the last day of the Dragon Race!" Gaul finished his speech and all the Apes started cheering.
"Now go, my loyal followers and serve your master!" Malefor commanded and the Dreadwings took to the skies, hoards of them flying through the clouds. On the ground, legions of Apes marched out in the direction of Warfang, all cheering valiantly. Aerial Drop Troopers were in cages being carried by some more Dreadwings.
"You certainly know how to make an impression." Malefor said to Gaul as they stood there.
"The troops needed proper motivation to bring down Warfang, it will be a turning point in this conflict." He replied as the Dark Master didn't move.
"Show me the Apes you selected for the infiltration of the city..." The Purple Dragon ordered and they walked back into the Fortress.
"I selected only the best for this assignment, my liege, I trust you will be pleased." Gaul reassured Malefor as they entered the war room to see four Apes, clad in elite armor.
"So: You're the elite infiltration unit that's going to retrieve the Crystal?" He raised an eyebrow as one of them nodded.
"It is an honor to serve under you, Mighty Malefor." One of the Apes bowed, causing Malefor to stifle a laugh.
"I like this one. Rise." He lead the Ape to the table where he and Gaul would discuss the plan. "As you know, our object of interest lies within the vault of the Dragon Temple in Warfang. As of now, the fools are unaware of our planned attack on the city, so I'm sending you four inside to recover the object and bring to me. I shall be making a Fortress for myself outside of the city, you will bring it to me when your objective is complete and leave before the attack begins. Now that I've explained the what, Gaul will explain the how." Malefor let the General take the stage.
"Okay, each city wall is heavily guarded, with guards patrolling each wall, in terms of entry, you will each be dropping into the city using specialized Aerial Drop Trooper equipment in different sectors." Gaul marked the four spots on the map of Warfang. "You will all converge to the Dragon Temple and make your way inside. Once inside, you will head for the vault and acquire the Crystal. We'll get you out with a dropship, but we need you to clear a landing zone for the craft so we can make sure to pick you up with ease. Any questions?" Gaul asked the Apes as they all stood there in silence.
"Good, then prepare yourselves for departure. An elite Dreadwing should be waiting for you in the Hangar." He sent them off while he and Malefor walked to the top of the tower, where Gaul's personal Dreadwing waited for him.
"I'll meet you outside the city, Gaul, make sure the Crystal is brought directly to me." The Dark Master instructed the General, who nodded and took off on his Dreadwing, leaving Malefor by himself as he reentered the now deserted Fortress, devoid of all life except for him. "The fools know not what await them, soon, this world will fall under my singular vision...and will be remade." He smirked while walking down into a small chamber, it was the power core to the entire Fortress.
"This place has served me well, but it will ultimately never matter. But without the Crystal in my quarters, nothing will be able to interfere with my plans." The Dark Master pulled down a lever which had the purple energy core drain itself into his body, once that was done, he pressed the bright red button, and quickly left the tower, flying out of the hangar and watching as the tower collapsed to the ground in pieces of rubble. Once it was over, Malefor flew in the direction of his armies, intent on completing his Endgame.
"Sparx, stop staring at the butterflies!" Spyro scolded the Dragonfly, who was admiring his future dish.
"Come on, Spyro, you gotta try one of these, they're delicious." He grabbed one.
"I think something went wrong when he was a kid." Cynder commented while Spyro shook his head.
"A lot of things went wrong when he was a kid." He replied, causing the two to snicker while Sparx crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked the Dragons as they simply coiled tails when Cynder turn face Spyro.
"Hey, how're you holding up?" She asked him as he looked at the sky.
"I'll be fine..." He trailed off, trying to avoid eye contact with Cynder, but she gently turned his head to face her with her paw.
"You're still thinking about Rose?" She said rather bluntly, causing the Purple Drake to nod. "Spyro, you need to stop blaming yourself for every little thing that happens to others, first Incendia and now Rose. You need to accept some things aren't preventable." Cynder comforted Spyro and she nuzzled him.
"I know...it just feels like every good thing I try to do, I only end up hurting people. I caused Incendia's first death, and I caused Rose to die as well." He responded.
"But did you kill them?" Cynder asked as he shook his head. "Then it's not your fault, both Dragons would've wanted you to carry on for them, we'll make Malefor pay for all the destruction he's caused, then we can finally be together, and you won't have to fight another war, I promise you this...and if I'm wrong? Then we'll just fight harder to secure a more permanent peace." Cynder eased Spyro's guilt as they took a moment to sit together while Sparx frolicked among the butterflies.
"Thanks...I'm definitely feeling much better now." Spyro weakly smiled as they resumed walking, just then they heard thumping coming from nearby, Spyro had turned around in time to see Apes. "Quick, hide!" He shoved Cynder and himself into a nearby shrub while Sparx was seemingly ignored, considering he was a Dragonfly.
"Spyro, what's going on?" Cynder whispered to Spyro, who peered out of the bushes.
"Apes...looks like their entire army." He described the situation to Cynder, who also was able to find a way to see through the bush, but Spyro held her in a protective manner as the Apes marched by.
"They must be going to Warfang...we've got to reach it before they do." She stated to Spyro while they watched.
"Yeah, we'll have to take a different path." He replied when they noticed a glow in the bush with them.
"Or we could, ya know, fly?" He suggested, causing Spyro to facepalm, and for Cynder to giggle.
"All right, but we have to wait for these Apes to leave." Spyro remarked as they proceeded to wait for at least 30 minutes, once the last of the Apes had passed, the three of them left the bush and took to the skies. "Hopefully we can get to Warfang soon, it should be closer than it seems." Spyro thought to himself as they flew towards the city, making sure to stay out of sight of the Apes.
Time Skip: A few days later
"Alright, gentlemen, you know your task today: this will tip the scale to Malefor's favor." The elite Apes gathered 'round for their mission briefing, the Commander spoke. "As stated by Gaul, we will each be dropping in a low populous area so we can reach the Dragon Temple with ease." As the Commander spoke, one of the Apes, Theta, spoke up.
"What do we do if any of us are caught?" He asked, to which the Commander, Nemoy, responded.
"Unfortunately, you will be compromised, and we may have to wait for the actual city siege to commence before we can get you out. Leo, Falcon, are you ready?" Nemoy asked the others and they nodded. "Very good, Pilot! How far to the drop zone!?" He yelled to the pilot of the Dreadwing.
"We'll reach the zone in 22 klicks." He replied and Nemoy looked back.
"Get your Paratrooper gear ready." Nemoy instructed the other elites to ready themselves for the drop. As stated, they had reached their destination in 22 klicks. "Leo, you'll be the first to drop, ready?" Nemoy asked him as he nodded and they looked down at the city, partially covered in clouds.
"And...drop!" Leo leapt from the Dreadwing and glided down the surface, allowing for the group to move to Falcon's drop point, without a word, Falcon jumped and dived to his location.
"Here's your drop point, Theta, see you on the other side." Nemoy said to him, who nodded and jumped out, taking more enthusiasm in the prospect and landed on the ground in an alleyway. Now that he was down and undetected by any Dragons, he started to advance on the Dragon Temple, Nemoy had most definitely already landed as well, so there was no need for concern.
"I'll have to try and avoid any unwanted attention." Theta muttered as he noticed a rag and straw hat, he figured no one would question him since Warfang had a regular amount of outside visitors. He entered a more crowded area, weaving in between Dragons and Moles and other various creatures, thanks to his stealth training, he was able to hide in plain sight, all without seeming suspicious. Finally he had reached a large courtyard, where he saw the Dragon Temple. With it, he saw various markets and shops of different varieties.
"Bingo..." Theta whispered upon setting his eyes on the Dragon Temple, where he saw three other figures moving behind it. Quickly and decisively, he moved around back to see the other elite Apes waiting.
"Okay, let's get inside..." Nemoy started scaling the wall, and crawled in through a rotating window, next came Leo, than Falcon, and finally Theta. Once they had entered, they immediately set to work on finding the vault, but were almost caught when Ignitus entered the room they'd snuck into, which was the library.
"Can't you find them anywhere? Ignitus?"
"I can't Shard, I can't detect their elemental signatures anywhere, and they're too far out anyways." The Fire Guardian replied when Terrador entered with Cyril and Volteer.
"Gaia and the others are getting restless, Cynder still hasn't returned." Terrador's deep voice echoed through the library.
"Yes yes, Glacia too is starting to worry." Cyril added.
"Voltea herself is becoming more and more eccentric as well, Ignitus, she's making me nervous, unsure, panicky, and let us not forget worried." Volteer also pointed out while Ignitus sighed.
"Yes, I'm aware, I can only assume none of the Cadets are faring any better." He figured, as this happened, they failed to notice Nemoy's Apes as they sneakily left the library. "We need a proper counterattack if we're going to push back Malefor." Ignitus had them gather around the table.
"That was close..." Leo sighed in relief as Nemoy had them move further into the Temple. Eventually they had managed to find the Vault.
"Quick, get it open." Nemoy had Falcon come up to the door and pick the lock while the others stood by and kept guard.
"And...got it!" Falcon said calmly and watched the vault door open to reveal all kinds of treasures and riches, as well as other artifacts that the Ancestors preserved, but their main focus was the Pink crystal encased in a gunmetal frame and glass in the center of the Vault.
"The Time Crystal..." Theta trailed off while Nemoy grabbed it and put it into his bag, as they turned around, they were nearly caught when two guards came by.
"What the-!? The Temple's been breached! Get Ignitus!" One of the guards alerted the other, but they were swiftly knocked out by Leo and Falcon, allowing the two to leave through the front door.
"Looks like we're just in time to witness the main event." Nemoy looked to see a giant boulder fling itself into the city, causing mass panic.
"Stop those Apes!" They turned to see multiple guards rushing out to stop them, but then their ticket out of the city appeared: the Dropship.
"Quick, get on!" Nemoy ordered them and they all managed to climb aboard, and they used the Dropship's weaponry to prevent the guards from pursuing them by flight.
"Package secured, returning to base." Nemoy looked to see that a massive Volcano had formed behind the legions of Apes, Malefor seemed to have used his Dark Magic to form Siege towers for them to use. Above the Volcano was a flying Temple, which Nemoy could only assume that the Dark Master had made to oversee the battle as it commenced. Once they landed, the four Apes entered the Temple to see Malefor sitting in his throne with Gaul by his side.
"Ah, my loyal soldiers, you've returned with my prize." Malefor levitated himself off his throne and walked up to them.
"Of course, my master." Nemoy took out the Time Crystal and handed it to the Dark Master.
"Now the power of the universe lies in my hands." He grinned, causing Gaul some confusion.
"Then what was the point of all our armies coming here?" The General questioned, causing Malefor to turn and face him.
"You've no idea what my motives are? I thought you were smarter than that...with this Crystal, I shall use it's energy to destroy all of time itself...and remake a new timeline, with me as the supreme ruler of the Universe. Of course, none of you will survive, except for me, or anyone I choose to survive with me. But your contributions will be remembered in my new paradise..." Malefor explained, causing Gaul to become horrified.
"You're insane! You'll kill us all with that thing! You used us!" He roared in anger at being deceived while the Dark Master cackled.
"Of course I used you! You fool! You, Rose, all of you were my pawns. Though, I might consider having these four survive as my elite guard in the new world." He considered while Gaul brandished his blades.
"No one makes a fool of the mighty Gaul and gets away with it..." He growled, bringing more laughter from Malefor.
"In this case...you're wrong, and you shall be sorely missed." He smirked and fired pure Aether on the General, hearing his screams of pain, soon enough, he had been reduced to a pile of ash. "Will anyone attempt to fill his shoes?" He asked the four elite Apes, they all backed up in fear, but Nemoy stepped forward and bowed.
"We will serve you in this life, and in the next, my liege." He pledged his allegiance to the Dark Master, who grinned and watched the others bow.
"Good, unfortunately, I cannot use the Crystal's power directly, it must be charged up and connected to a device of extreme power, that's where the battle comes in, we must stall the Dragons while the Crystal is implanted, if the other Purple Dragon or Cynder appear...I will deal with them myself." He explained as he handed the Time Crystal to Nemoy, and lead him to the device that would activate the Crystal.
"Now get to work on making it functional, I will oversee the battle for entertainment." He ordered the Apes and walked off to sit on his throne, where he used his Dark Magic to show a projection of the already gruesome battle of Warfang, nothing could stop his dominance from coming to fruition...all but one: The Dragon of Destiny.
Well, that's a wrap, and oh boy, a lot of stuff happened in this chapter man, so, to clear things up: Yes, the Time Crystal Malefor has is the same one Moonwalker used in the beginning of the Ultimate Crossover to destroy the FNaF Universe. So here's a little backstory: after Moonwalker originally used the Gems to wipe out half of all life in every universe and merge them together, he went to Arkus, where he proceeded to send the Time Crystal into a portal with an unknown destination. That location: The ancient past of the universe Dawn of Amnesty is set in, where it crashes on Eclasia, and the Ancestors discover it, only for it to be locked away for safe keeping...until now, dun Dun DUNNNNN! Anyways, that's all folks, Peace.