The following day Spyro was woke up by the sound of claws clacking on the wooden flooring. He left his room, and saw Cynder about to leave.
"Are you going to visit your mother?" asked Spyro.
"Oh, I'm sorry Spyro I didn't mean to wake you, but yes I was just about to go see her." said Cynder.
"If you don't mind, could I come with you?"
"Why do you want to come with me?"
"I just figured that you would like some company is all."
Cynder couldn't help but smile at Spyro's kind gesture and said "sure, if you really want to."
They left Cynder's home and walked rather slow as so that Spyro doesn't reopen any of his wounds. When they reached the grave site Cynder approached the grave, while Spyro stopped and stayed back figuring that Cynder wanted some space to herself. Like Cynder had said, the grave was under a large tree. There was a small pile of stones stacked on top of each other and the letters R.I.P. were carved into the tree. The lush grass around the grave was well taken care of. There were no weeds near it and there were even some roses planted around it. Spyro could see that Cynder was talking, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. All he knew was that she seemed happy from the smile on her face. Once Cynder finished whatever she was saying to her mother's grave they left the park and started to wonder around Warfang. Again taking it slow on Spyro's behalf.
As they walked back Cynder stopped him and asked if he could walk around Warfang with her for a bit. Spyro didn't have a reason to say no other than not wanting to reopen his wounds by walking to much, but he figured that he could manage. When they started to explore Warfang, Spyro knew the places around them as he has passed them several times. However soon they got to new places that he'd never seen before.
To Cynder this was all familiar places, but to Spyro this was all new experience. When they were at the Metropolitan area Spyro was in sheer awe, at the beauty of the fountain that sat in the middle of the area. The base of the fountain was made from marble, while on top of the base were two dragons made from bronze one male, the other female. The two dragons were lying down curled around a golden egg. Water was sliding down from the top of the egg, to give it more of a shine.
"What is the purpose of this beautiful thing?" questioned Spyro.
"It has no purpose; it's just here to be admired. My mother took me here a few times, and she said these two dragons were the first king and queen of all dragons while the egg was there son. She also told me that if you were to make a wish, the ancestors might grant it for you."
"Have you ever wished for something here?" asked Spyro.
"I did a long time ago."
"What did you wish for?"
"I wished that my mother and I had a better life."
Spyro stayed silent for a moment before saying "well at least one good thing has happened to your life."
"I know where you are getting at, and I do appreciate what you are trying to do, but at the cost of my mother and a happy childhood, you're not worth it." said Cynder in a sarcastic tone.
"I was going to say that at least you had a caring mother, to help you. Thanks for letting me know you care for me so much." said Spyro as a look of sadness fell upon his face.
"Oh I'm sorry Spyro, I didn't mean for it to sound so rude, you're a great dragon and all, and I'm glad that I met you. I just meant…" said Cynder but stopped when she heard Spyro start to laugh.
"I know what you meant Cynder, I was just messing around with you." Spyro declared, while still laughing.
"If you weren't covered in bruises, I would hit you so hard right now."
"Well if that is the case then I should get badly hurt more often."
"If that is the case then I won't bandage you up again."
Spyro weighed his option "well both decisions do have their pros and cons."
"Oh shut up and come on, there is more of the city we haven't been to." Cynder rolled as she started to walk way. Spyro chuckled to himself and followed behind her.
By midday they were in the market place Spyro was somewhat familiar with this place, but only when his parent's sent him on food runs as they were too busy themselves. Or at least that is what he always figured.
"So what do these… um, what are they called again?" asked Spyro. While he was familiar with the market place, he didn't really know what things where. Luckily for him, Cynder was there to help.
"For the fourth time Spyro they are called Cabernet sauvignon, cabber-nay so-vin-yahwn" Cynder said a little irritated. "They are grapes that are usually used to make wine, but they taste fantastic on their own."
"Look if all you two are going to do is stare at my food, then leave." The shop owner tried shooing them away with his paws, wanting the freaks gone.
The two left the small shop without any argument. "Hey Spyro come over here." said Cynder as they walked into an ally way.
"What is it Cynder?"
Cynder moved her wings and revealed some Cabernet sauvignon that she had stolen.
"Did you steal those?" said Spyro with panic in his voice.
"Of course I did Spyro, how else do you think I get food? I have no money and no way to obtain any, so how else would I get food for use to eat?"
"Well I didn't think that you would steal from a person that's all."
"Don't think of it as stealing; just think of it as survival. Now are you going to eat this or not." Cynder said as she handed him some of the food.
Spyro looked at the food that lay before him. He wanted nothing more than to just return the grapes to the store owner, but his growling stomach told him otherwise. Letting his hunger get the best of him, he started to eat the grapes. He had to admit Cynder was right. These grapes were fantastic, but with every juicy bite he took, his heart sank a little from the guilt. When he swallowed the final bite, he hung his head in shame, with guilt swelling inside him.
Cynder took notice of this and placed a wing over him "I know it doesn't seem right, but sometimes, we have to do something that we regret and in the end we feel terrible that we did such a thing. We do these kind of things however because we need to live. When your parents throw you out of your home, they thought that you were as good as dead, because they didn't think you could take care of yourself. Well now you can prove them wrong. Show them that you can make it through this terrible world. If you let your guilt grow, then you are just proving them right." said Cynder sternly. She tried to be comforting when saying this.
"Yea I guess you are right." Spyro sighed.
"I usually am, now let's go there is still more to see."
By the time the sun started to set, Spyro and Cynder found themselves on top of the wall that surrounded Warfang. Spyro was exhausted, because since his wing was still banged up he couldn't use it. So he had to climb the stairs that lead to the top. Being ten stories high this was rather tiring.
"Hey Spyro check this out!" said Cynder.
Spyro had to take a second to catch his breath before he looked at what Cynder was looking at and saw the sun set behind the horizon. "Isn't it beautiful?" Cynder asked, her gaze fixated on the orangey glow. However, Spyro had his sites on something he thought was even more beautiful. Much like the sky, Cynder had a magnificent orange light surrounding her from the setting sun, giving her the look of a goddess in Spyro's eyes.
"Not as beautiful as you." Spyro accidently said. His eyes went wide as he realized that was thinking out loud.
"I'm sorry what did you say I wasn't listening?"
"I um said that um… hey look at that over there." Spyro said nervously as he pointed towards some hill in the distance.
"What about them?"
"Those are really nice hills aren't they?" said Spyro still nervous. Cynder looked over at the hills that Spyro was pointing and, tried her hardest to figure out what he was talking about.
"…Ok, I am just going to go get us some dinner, you can stay here and… admire those hills."
As Spyro watch Cynder fly off towards the market and thought "well that could have gone better". After a few minutes Spyro heard someone approaching from behind him. He turned around and, to his misfortune, saw that Blast was approaching him. "Oh hello Blast." said Spyro quietly.
"What the hell are you doing up here." asked Blast with anger in his voice. "I came up here to enjoy a lovely sunset after a hard day at school, but now its beauty is ruined because of your ugly ass face is up here."
"Well there are other places you could go." Spyro said trying his best to get Blast to leave.
"No, this is the best spot. *Sigh* you really know how to ruin the little things don't you?"
"Isn't there something else you could do, like have fun of your friends?"
"No there busy, but that does give me an idea. Why have fun with them, when I can have fun with you?"
"Oh, um I can't. You see I'm already hanging out with someone and…"
"Nonsense, I'm sure your imaginary friend won't mind. Now what to play? Oh I know of a game we can play." said Blast with a grin on his face. "Here is how you play, I ask you three questions and if you get one wrong, I punch you. If you get one right, you get a reward. First question, who is the current king of Warfang?"
"I don't want to play this game with you Blast, now could you please leave me alone?" Spyro begged, only for Blast to punch him in the ribs.
"Oh I'm sorry but that is not correct. Question number two how long can a dragon sustain flight?"
Seeing no way around the question, Spyro braced himself. "I don't know." he felt pain serge through his body as Blast delivered a punch to his damaged wing. Spyro's feet then collapsed out from under him as he fell to the ground
"Final question, who is the superior dragon, me or you?" asked Blast as he towered over Spyro. Spyro felt tears reach his eyes as he felt a familiar feeling of being abused.
"You are." he groaned.
"Good you got one right, here is your reward!" Blast grinned a sadistic grin as he grabbed one of Spyro's horns and slammed his head into the ground, and a cracking sound was heard.
Spyro lifted his head up slightly feeling light headed. He took one last look at Blast before he felt blood run down his muzzle as he falling unconscious.
Blast then leaded forward closer to Spyro and whispered to him "now wasn't that fun?"
"HEY! leave him alone." Cynder called out as she landed next to Spyro.
"Oh look, I guess you were right when you said you were with a friend, though I can't say I'm surprised that this friend of yours is a vile creature!"
"I said leave him alone!" Cynder said, her voice laced with venom. Blast noticed that her claws were extended, ready for a fight.
"And what are you going to do if I don't?"
Cynder lunged towards Blast with her claws raised ready to dig deep into her targets scales. Blast ducked out of the way and shot several fire balls back at Cynder. Thinking quickly Cynder dodged the attack and charged towards him, while Blast charged towards her as well. There was a loud thud as their heads collided into each other's. With both of their heads locked together, they both tried to push the other out of the way. Blast saw a wide smirk appear on Cynder's face, as if she had him right where she wanted him. He watched as Cynder melted into the ground beneath him. With the counter weight gone Blast stumbled forward, and Cynder took this opportunity and dove out of the shadows and tackled him. Blast rolled across the ground, and came to a stop a few feet away. Cynder then dove back into the ground. As Blast stood back up Cynder tackled him again before diving back into the ground. Starting to notice a pattern, Blast stood back up as quickly as he could and started to focus. Just as Cynder emerged from the ground again, Blast swung his tail into her, catching her off guard. Cynder hit the ground head first with a loud thud. As she stood back up the world around her was starting to spin. She shook her head to get rid of her dizziness, and when she did she saw large ball of fire hurtling towards her, and was thrown back when she was hit by it. Cynder was about to stand up when Blast put his tail blade against her throat. Wanting to finish the fight Blast raised his paw ready to knock Cynder out, when an arrow whizzed by Blasts head. Blast looked towards were the arrow came from and saw a cheetah, with a red hood over his head pointing his bow towards him with an arrow ready.
Knowing that it was only a warning shot, Blast backed off from Cynder. Just before he left he said "This isn't over Cynder, next time you won't get so lucky!" The cheetah fired another warning shot, this one closer than the last. Terrified, Blast booked it.
Once Blast left, the cheetah approached the two downed dragons.
"Are you two alright?" he asked.
"I will be fine. Just a few burns here and there, but I don't know about Spyro." said Cynder as she saw the small pool of blood form around his head from his wound, along with all of the other wounds that blast reopened.
The cheetah lifted Spyro up carefully and started to carry him. "Come with me I know a place where I can treat the two of you."
Unknown location
Spyro slowly opened his eyes, but then tightly shut them and let out a small groan as he felt a massive headache. As the pain faded he stood up and noticed that he was no longer on the wall surrounding Warfang but know on a small bed, but what worried him the most was that he no longer had any of his bandages on, except for the one covering his wing. In fact, now that he took a closer look all of his cuts and bruises were gone. He then heard voices coming from the other side of the door across from him. He got off of the bed and walked through the door. On the other side he saw Cynder and a cheetah talking to one another.
"And that is all that happened before you showed up." said Cynder.
"I see. Well I'm glad that I got there when I did. I don't know what that boy has against you two, but that doesn't matter now. Your friend is awake." said the cheetah when he noticed Spyro.
"Where… where are we?" asked Spyro, his voice weak as he was still trying to recover from his injuries.
"This would be my home; the name is Hunter by the way."
"Hunter here carried you here after that fire dragon left said Cynder. Who was he anyway?"
"His name is Blast; he is one of the bullies that like to pick on me."
"Why does he do those things to you?" Cynder couldn't help but ask. She was worried that this was a natural thing to happen to Spyro.
Spyro shrugged. "I don't know."
"Why didn't you fight back?" asked Hunter.
"I don't know how to fight."
"Well I could teach you if you want?" said Hunter.
"Really, I'm grateful and all but why would you want to help me?" asked Spyro. He was confused, how could there be two people who wanted to help him?
"Also why are you here and not with your own kind? I though Cheetahs hated Dragons?" said Cynder
"I helped you two because I believe that you should help anyone in need, regardless to what they have done, or will do. Because of this our leader Chief Prowles, thought of me as liability to the rest of the civilians in my village so he banished me. As for the reason why most cheetahs hate dragons is because over several generations, most cheetahs began to consider themselves as the superior race and anything else were inferior, especially dragons because you are the most different to us cheetahs".
"Well thank you for your kindness and healing my burns, but I have to ask, why didn't you heal all of Spyro wounds? What is wrong with his wing that is different to the rest of his wounds?" asked Cynder.
Before Hunter answered his question he pulled a red crystal out of his pocket. He then said "I was able to heal your wounds and your burns with this. If a dragon were to smash it they could absorb it and it would heal most injuries, however your wing is beyond repair. In fact, it needs to be removed."
"What? Why?!" asked a now terrified Spyro. His heart dropped. Why does he have to go through more suffering? He started tearing up, wishing that this was just a bad dream.
"Here let me show you." As Hunter removed the bandages Spyro and Cynder saw that his wings were pale and had large black lumps that were leaking a small amount of puss along it. "The reason why your wing is so pale is because there is no longer any blood flowing through it, and see these black lumps? These mean that your wing has been infected. If left untreated it could end up infecting the rest of your body. All it is now is dead tissue."
Spyro was in total shock. He opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't form the words.
"You can still keep this wing, but all it is now is dead weight. And again it will only lead to further problems if left unchecked."
"No… no that can't be right. You must be wrong. There is no way that is true!" said Spyro with worry in his voice.
"I know that it might be hard to come to terms with, but I'm telling you the truth." said Hunter.
"No I don't believe you. I will prove to you that there is nothing wrong with my wing!" said Spyro before running towards an open window. He stood on the ledge and pushed off. He tried to spread his wings to their full existent, but his right one only sagged as he could only lift the base of his wing as the rest of his wing remained unresponsive. He quickly started to fall and hit the ground hard. To Spyro the ground never felt so cold before.
"Spyro are you ok?" Cynder asked as both Hunter and herself gathered around him.
Spyro didn't say anything. What could he say. His body curled up into a ball and he began to cry as he came to the realization that it was hopeless.
"I'm sorry Spyro but that would be impossible right now."
Cynder began to hug him and started to whisper "shhh." into his ear trying to calm him down. She lifted his head up so that he was looking her in her eyes. She stared into his puffy red eyes and held him tighter. "Everything is going to be ok. We are going to get through this together alright? I'm not going to leave your side."
Spyro slowly nodded in response, the words failing to reach his mouth. The two dragons and the cheetah then went back in house. When they got inside Spyro let out a deep sigh and said "Ok… I'm ready, do what you have to?"
"Spyro I am going to have to knock you unconscious so you don't go into shock ok?"
Spyro nodded his head, not really liking this option, before feeling a painless jab in the back of his head. His head started to go blank and he fell to the floor as he lost conscious.
Cynder watched as Hunter left the room and came back with a hatchet in his paw. Hunter started to message the joint were Spyro's back meet his wings as he looked for the joint that connected the two. "I am going to need you to hold him still. He may be unconscious, but his body will still react once his wing is gone." Cynder approached Spyro and held him as tightly as possible and closed her eyes not wanting to watch. Hunter aimed his hatchet at the joint, raised it above his head, and with one quick movement brought it down and a loud thud was made as the blade stopped deep into the wood below.