Once Spyro finished getting rid of the nasty taste in his mouth, Hunter asked, "So Spyro, when do you want to start your training?" Spyro had forgotten that he wanted Hunter to train him. He thought about letting his wing heal a little for another day before training but decided against it.
"I guess we can start now, but where are we going to go? Your home is too small to be used as a training field?"
"Follow me and I will show you." Hunter went back down to the main floor and pulled back a rug that lay on the floor, to reveal a trap door. He opened the door and walked down the stairs while the two dragons followed. When they reached the bottom Spyro and Cynder found themselves in a medium sized room
"Why is this place under your home?" asked Cynder.
"Well this is only a guess but I believe that an earth dragon or a mole build this place to be used a bunker. There used to be several shelves lined along the walls packed with supplies. When I moved in, I emptied this place out and used it as a training field to hone my skills. Now before we begin the training, Spyro show me what you can do."
Spyro took a deep breath, and started to focus as hard as he could. He dug as deep down as he could, and let loose a tiny puff of fire. Spyro started to blush in embarrassment as he felt the eyes of his two friends bare down on him.
"Is that all you can do?" asked Cynder. Spyro's face turned a bright red. He rubbed the back of his neck as he said;
"I was never taught how to use any of my elemental abilities other than that. I was only taught how to do that because my mother wanted me to make a fire when I cooked them food."
"Then it looks like we have a lot of work to do. Cynder is it possible for you to teach Spyro how to use his elemental abilities?"
"No not really. Each element is different from the other, so I can only teach him the basics. Seeing as I don't share any common abilities with Spyro, it would take a while to teach him."
"What elemental abilities do you have anyway Cynder?" Spyro asked.
"Well like you I have four different elements at my disposal. I can use wind, poison, shadow, and finally fear."
"I never heard of a dragon with those kinds of abilities. How did you get them?" asked Hunter. Cynder hat to think about telling them or not as it was a little personal. She figured she should.
"From what my mother told me, I was given these powers when I was a hatchling. Soon after I hatched a friend of my father Malefor, took me to a different room. My mother never told me what happened in there. However, I do sometimes get these nightmares, where all these strange machines start to do all kinds of things to me. I can only guess that I went through similar things when I was young. The only thing my mother did tell me was that I was very lucky to survive because the 24 other hatchlings he tried this on didn't make it. All I know was that after they finish experimenting on me I was able to use these abilities."
"Do you know who that man was?" asked Hunter.
"No I don't. This all happened a few weeks before Malefor attacked Warfang. When Malefor dead he just disappeared."
"Ok, well Cynder could you teach Spyro how to use his other elements the best you can while I go think of a way to train Spyro?"
"Yeah sure thing, now Spyro before you learn how to use your breath attacks, you must be able to clear you mind. This is crucial for beginners like yourself, but over time if you keep on practicing you will be able to use your elements at a moment's notice. Now to use your elements, like I said, clear your mind, then think about something that corresponds with that element. For example, if you want to use your fire element, think of something that made you feel anger. Then when you feel some kind of energy, channel that energy up your throat, until you can feel it in the back of your mouth. Then release it." Now you give it a try.
Spyro gave it a try. He closed his eyes and cleared his head of all thoughts and began to focus on his mother and father. Like Cynder had said he felt something deep inside him. It took him a second to do so, but he began to move this feeling around and up his throat. Once it was in the back of his mouth he took a deep breath and released a large torrent of flame from his maw. It extended only a foot in front of him but he was still proud about it.
"Good now for electricity do the same thing but think about something that made you feel exited."
Once again Spyro did as he was told and repeated his actions only this time he thought about the first time he met Cynder. Once the energy was in the back of his throat he released it had fired a short stream of electricity out. It hit a wall and dispersed.
"Fantastic job Spyro! Now lastly we will work on earth. This time you want to think about something that made you feel brave."
This time Spyro thought of the time when he stood up to Blast and his gang. Sure it ended with Spyro being hurt, but he didn't focus on that. When he released the energy a shard of earth rocketed out of his mouth and smashed into the wall, leaving a small crack in it.
"Now finally we have ice. Think about a something that made you lonely or sad."
This time he thought about all the nights he was left wishing upon a star for something in his life to change. When he released the energy, a small shard of ice shot out of his maw and shattered on the wall.
"Way to go Spyro. Now this is all I can teach you. You will have to find someone who mastered each of those elements if you want to get better at mastering them yourself."
"Ok, thank you Cynder. Hey Hunter any ideas come to mind yet?" Spyro asked quickly, getting rather excited about his training. For once in his life he felt like a true dragon. Well for the most part at least. But it was that small feeling he felt inside that compelled him to continue further with his training.
Hunter remained quiet for a few seconds, but when an idea came to mind he said "Spyro I know what to teach you. So since you can no longer fly, that rules out any aerial combat. You can barely use your elemental abilities and we don't know anyone to teach you so that is out as well. Finally, you are very scrawny and have little muscle mass, so it will be very difficult to teach you have to fight like other dragons. So they only thing I know to teach you would be to fight dirty."
"What that?" asked Spyro.
"Dirty fighting is a non-honorable form of fighting and is frowned upon if a dragon were to use such a form of fighting." Cynder said not sure about this idea.
"In this form of fighting you will be targeting any and all weak point that your opponent has. These would be the eyes, throat, noise, joints and wounds on their body. The point of this form of fighting is not to knock out your opponent, but to inflict as much pain as possible. That is the main reason why others call it dirty fighting." said Hunter. "I do hope you don't mind, but Cynder will you please be a test dummy here?"
"What, no I'm not going to hurt Cynder!" said Spyro.
"You're not going to hurt her; I am just using her to show you what and where to target when fighting."
"Don't worry Spyro, I will be fine." said Cynder.
"Alright, if you say so."
"Now then it is pretty obvious what you are going to target if you are going for the eyes or any wounds, so we will start with the throat. See this small lump in the throat?"
Cynder lifted her head up so Spyro could get a better look.
"This is the Adam's apple, if you were to strike here, your opponent will have troubles breathing for a short period of time. Next we will talk about the nose." said Hunter as Cynder lowered he head back down. "Now the nose not a recommended target because it's right above the mouth, but the nose is very weak and flimsy. If you were to break it, it will definite hurt. Now on to the joins. There are several joints in the dragon body so it all depends on which angle you strike them at. The most common are the knee, the elbow and the wing joints. For the elbow and the knee joint you would want to try to bend it in the opposite direction that it is supposed to go. Now for this one I will need you to lay down Cynder".
After doing what she was told Hunter grabbed the side of her wing and pulled it towards him slightly. "Now for this joint the only way to break it is to dislocate there wing from the base. Doing this will render the wing useless and become a burden to them. To do this all you have to do is to get a firm hold of it and pull as hard as you can, until you hear a popping sound. Thank you Cynder that will be all."
"So that is all there is to this form of fighting?" asked Spyro.
"No there are still two more things you need to remember. The first being that you must fight as if your life depends on it because at some point in your life it will matter. The second being that you must use everything around you to your advantage. For example, if I were to knock you down then grab a hand full of dirt to throw into my eyes, or if there is a sharp object nearby use it to stab your enemy. Do you think you can remember all of that?"
"It seems simple enough." said Spyro.
"Good because we are going to test that out right now, come with me" said Hunter. Hunter lead them out of the house and into an empty ally way with trash littering the ground. "Now then Spyro I am going to start attacking you. I want you to use anything I taught you against me."
"Are you sure about this, this doesn't seem all that safe?" said Spyro.
"Of course it's not safe Spyro, what better way to train someone then to fight them?" Said Hunter before picking up Spyro and throwing him across the ally. Spyro landed on his feet and felt them slide across the hard ground. He saw Hunter begin to run towards him, so acting quickly he began to find something to use as a weapon. Seeing a small plank of wood Spyro waited for Hunter to approach him, before grabbing the plank of wood in his paws, and while standing on his Hind paws he swung it at him. Hunter ducked under is attack and gave Spyro an upper cut to his lower jaw sending him falling back words onto his back, where he was then pinned by hunter.
"I thought I told you to fight like your life depended on it?" said Hunter as he got off of Spyro.
"I was; I just don't want to hurt you that badly is all."
"That is your problem then Spyro. Don't see Hunter as a friend, but as someone trying to kill you. How about trying to imagine someone you really hate, like your parents or Blast." suggested Cynder.
"Now we are going to try this again, and be ready this time." said Hunter as he moved away from Spyro. Once he was a few feet away Hunter turned around and began to run back at Spyro.
Spyro took a deep breath, and started to imagine Hunter as his father. Spyro felt anger start to rise up inside him again. When Hunter was close to Spyro, Spyro lunged at his head. Hunter saw this and used his quick reflexes to try and duck under the attack. He managed to move out of the way of most of his attack as he felt Spyro's tail blade slice at his head, just barely over his eye. When Spyro landed on his feet he quickly turned around and jumped onto Hunters back and sunk his teeth into his neck. Spyro felt the cheetah's blood run down into his mouth, and to his surprise he liked the flavor. With the new weight added to him Hunter fell backwards and landed on top of Spyro as the both hit the ground with a thud. Spyro took most of the blow and released Hunter from his hold when he hit the ground. Hunter then stood up, picked up Spyro and threw him again at a nearby wall. Spyro let out a grunt as he bounced off the wall and slide to the ground.
"Ok that is enough Spyro, I think you understand the basic idea." said Hunter as he stood up while he began to treat his wounds, however his words fell onto deaf ears as Spyro stood back up baring his now bloody teeth at the cheetah and began to charge at the injured cheetah. Waiting until the last moment Hunter quickly grabbed Spyro's horns, and pushed downwards, making Spyro's bottom jaw slam into the ground. Hunter then pinned him to the ground as he began to thrash around.
"Spyro calm down its over!" Cynder shouted, shocked and confused by Spyro's sudden aggressive behavior.
Spyro shook his head as he came back to his senses. "I'm sorry Hunter, I don't know what came over me."
"It's fine Spyro." Hunter said as he got off of him.
"That injury looks bad Hunter, are you going to be fine?" asked Cynder.
"Yeah I will be fine, this will heal quickly."
The three of them walked back inside Hunters home to treat their wounds. "I'm sorry Hunter for doing that." Spyro said, feeling a little ashamed for letting things get this far. He hoped that he didn't hurt Hunter to badly.
Hunter let out a small chuckle before saying "Hey I told you already not to worry about it. I told you to fight like your life depended on it and that is what you did. Now Spyro, I must say you did a fine job back there, however you should remember that you may be acting like you're fighting for your life, unless you really are fighting for your life don't try to kill your enemy. When you sank your teeth into my neck you definitely could have killed me."
"I sorry Hunter, I didn't mean to try to kill you. I guess I just took it a little too far then."
"Hunter is there anything we can do you help those wounds heal faster?" asked Cynder.
"Yeah, could you two go into the market and get me some White Sage and some Mugwort? I got some coins in a pouch on a night stand near my bed you can use to buy them with."
"Sure we will be right back Hunter." said Spyro before both himself and Cynder left the house.