Skylanders Academy: New Horizon
By andresponceb2002
Chapter 3) The Knights of Solitude
Kaossandra was behind Eon's desk at the Academy common room, sitting down on the large chair, running through the Academy reports for the day. The sorceress gave out a long, tired sigh. Being in charge of the Skylands' most important institution was remarkably more tiring than she had expected. She had to manage bills, review training programs and work through all sorts of paperwork, all while keeping an eye out for any threat to the Skylands. "How did Eon handle all of this?" she wandered, running through some inspector's maintenance standards.
"Well," Kaossandra heard someone say. "He did have me."
The one talking was Hugo. The small mabu walked over to the desk with a kind little smile on his face. "I always helped Eon out with the Academy management. Now, you've had a very rough couple of days, and only just started up! If you need, I can take over for a few hours." The mabu volunteered.
"That's really sweet Hugo." Kaossandra said thankfully. "But I must be on the lookout for-"
The phone on the desk suddenly started rigging, interrupting Kaossandra.
"That?" Hugo asked, pointing at the phone.
Kaossandra picked up the phone. "Hello?" She asked through the phone, then waited for a response. After a few seconds of listening to the message, the sorceress had eyes wide and mouth agape from shock. "Hold on! We'll be right there!" She said desperately as she hung up.
"What's the matter?" Hugo asked nervously.
"Get the Skylanders!" Kaossandra exclaimed. "The dark dragons have been sighted and reported to be attacking a mabu village!"
"Oh dear!" Hugo exclaimed, turning around, running out of the Academy common room shouting. "Skylanders, Skylanders! Assemble, unite, gather, quickly!"
Kaossandra put her hands on her temples, thinking frantically. "This doesn't make any sense. What do these monsters want? Why are they suddenly attacking the innocent? Weren't they after Spyro and Cynder?" The sorceress pondered all these questions deeply, not knowing what to do next.
"What do you mean I can't go?!" Spyro asked outraged as he watched Stealth Elf, Jet-Vac, Eruptor and Pop Fizz running to the Academy portal platform. "People could be in danger! As a Skylander, I can't just sit around doing nothing Master Eon!"
"Spyro, listen." Eon said as his ghostly form followed Spyro's friends. "This is extremely erratic behaviour on these dragons part. This might very well be a trap to lure you out of the Academy! And with the stakes as they are now, I simply can't let you take such a risk." Eon stated.
"But-" Spyro began.
"Thats final young dragon!" Eon said with finality. "You are not to leave the Academy grounds until we get a grip on the situation. I will accompany the Skylanders to see what these evil-doers are up to, and until then, you must stay safe." He finished, softening up on the last few words.
Spyro growled in frustration, but gave in. "Fine." He said, still upset.
"Very well." Master Eon said as he joined the Skylanders at the portals.
"Sorry Spyro." Stealth Elf said. "But this is probably for the best."
"Yeah." Eruptor agreed. "Besides, we'll be fine. How bad can a couple of crazy dragons be, right?" He asked putting his shoulders up.
"Very bad, Eruptor." Jet-Vac interjected. "The only times we've seen these things in action is when we were late for the party. Something tells me these pitch-black troublemakers still have a couple of tricks up their sleeves."
"Umm, do dragons have sleeves?" Pop Fizz asked, scratching his head.
"Guys! Can we focus?!" Stealth Elf yelled, putting everyone back into the severity of the situation.
"Right, lives at risk." Jet-Vac reminded himself. "Don't worry lad." He told Spyro. "We'll be alright, and back before you know it." He said with a confident smile as, in flash of light the portals took him and Spyro's friends away.
"I know you will." Spyro said in a down tone. "That's not what's bothering me." Of course Spyro knew that this was a trap, these dragons were after him, not some mabu. What was nagging at Spyro's conscience was who the trap was meant for, but no clear answer crossed his mind.
The Skylanders appeared at the mabu village. It was small and unimpressive, with few, poorly painted houses but it still managed to look like a nice little place to live in. However, it was a rather cloudy, and the sky looked quite gray.
Master Eon floated off the metallic portal platform to the center of the town, scouting the area. "This is suspicious." The portal master said to himself, looking around, not seeing anyone. No mabu nor evil dragons were to be found.
The Skylanders stepped off the portal and moved to meet Master Eon. "Was it just a false alarm?" Eruptor asked
"Kaossandra said the dragons had been reported attacking this place." Stealth Elf said. "And that does not sound like a very good prank call."
"Then why is nobody here?" Jet-Vac asked.
Suddenly, the wind started to blow harshly, starting the Skylanders slightly.
"Whoa, what's with the freaky weather?" Eruptor asked.
"Yeah, and what's with the freaky dragon?" Pop fizz said, pointing up.
It was one of the dark dragons, flying in the grey sky above the Skylanders, staring down on them, with familiar empty eyes.
"I guess that's the sixth one." Stealth Elf said. remembering something Spyro had talked to them about these dragons and them being related to the essential elements of the Skylands.
"Well, it does look remarkably distinct" Jet-Vac said.
The dark dragon had all the trademark features. Detailess black scales and empty round eyes. However this one looked quite different from the rest. It's eyes were a clear sky cyan, different from the deep blue eyes of the dragon Cynder had faced. It's wings and tail seemed to be covered in feathers and it had long, thin ears on the sides of its head. But the most striking feature of the new dragon was a single, smooth, pointy horn in the middle of it's head, that glowed with white energy.
"Well, it's four on one." Eruptor said, putting his fists together.
"Hey!" Master Eon complained.
"And Master Eon's ghost." Eruptor added, rolling his eyes. "I think we can beat this creep, and get back the Academy in no time!" He finished confidently.
Suddenly the Skylanders heard a loud crashing noise, electricity crackle and metal parts break. They turned around to see what the noise had been and the sight filled them with dread. The portal the Skylanders had used to get to the mabu village had been crushed by a large black ball, encrusted in the center of the platform.
"Oh no!" Pop Fizz yelled. "A large black ball destroyed the portal!"
"That's no black ball." Jet-Vac warned.
The black ball started to move and shuffle. Suddenly thick, stumpy legs and arms and a short tail, which ended in a spiked ball, sprouted from the figure's outline, followed by a large reptilian head, with a pair of glowing brown eyes.
"That would be our old acquaintance." Jet-Vac resumed, aiming his vac-gun at the new threat.
But then a large flash of light and flames came from behind the Skylanders, who turned around in alarm. In the center of a small, scorched crater a red eyed dark dragon stood motionless. Empty eyes fixated on the Skylanders.
"Okey." Stealth Elf began. "At least we were right about the trap part right?"
"Yeah, because that's something to be happy about." Eruptor growled bitterly.
"Skylanders." Eon began, rising up above the Skylanders and speaking with a powerful voice. "You must hold fast and stay together, for this will be a prodigiously difficult battle and I will not be able to assist you." The portal master said as the dark dragons began closing in on the Skylanders. "You must prevail, for your companions and even the Skylands themselves depend on you!" Eon said dramatically
The cyan eyed dragon then rushed at Eon's body, destroying the portal masters apparition. As the dragon collided with Eon body it dispersed in a burst of harmless blue energy.
The Skylanders were little shocked at this and saddened at the sight of their tutor being destroyed, but quickly composed themselves and got into battle positions.
"Alright team." Jet-Vac said, loading up his weapon. "Let's show these creeps what we're made of!"
"Right!" The team yelled in confident unison, ready for the fight to start.
Brown Eyes was the first to move. It rolled up into a ball and started spinning in place like a pinwheel. Then it's spinning body launched off at the Skylanders, attempting to roll over them. The Skylanders all jumped out of the way, causing Brown Eyes to smash against one of the village's buildings. Then the cyan eyed dragon fired a strange black and white beam from it's horn and the red eyed dragon released a stream of white an yellow flames at the dispersed Skylanders.
Stealth Elf teleported to the side, avoiding the enemy attacks. Then teleported again above the red eyed dragon, ready to land a powerful kick right between it's empty then a blast of heat and flames cast Stealth Elf back and burned her leg, causing her to exclaim in pain. "So this one can teleport too?" She thought as the red eyed dragon was gone from its original position. Then, Stealth Elf felt something hit her back, knocking the air out of her lungs as she fell to the ground face down. She tried to get up but she felt as two large claws held her down firmly against the ground. She turned her head to see the red eyed dragon above her, holding her in place and with it's mouth open, about to incinerate her.
"Hey! Let her go!" Stealth Elf heard Eruptor shout in rage. A few moments later the magma elemental tackled the red eyed dragon, knocking it off Stealth Elf and pinning it to the ground. "No one hurts my friends, Red Eyes!" Eruptor shouted. Then, the Skylander spewed a big stream of lava, right at the dark dragons face, leaving it completely covered in a hot puddle of lava in a few seconds, causing Eruptor to stand up with a satisfied smirk.
But then a stream of white and yellow flames erupted from the lava puddle and Stealth Elf watched in horror as they completely burned off Eruptor's top half, leaving only his stumpy little legs. Then a dark figure began to slowly rise from the lava. It was Red Eyes, completely unharmed as some lava continued to stream harmlessly down its scales.
"This is not good." Stealth Elf stated. "These guys are very tough."
"I would have to agree with you on that one." Stealth Elf heard Jet-Vac's muffled voice say. She turned around to see the senior skylander on the ground face down. She then paned her head to see Pop Fizz, cornered by the other two evil dragons, flinging potions desperately at his enemies. Then, the cyan eyed dragon fired it's black and white beam at Pop Fizz, who was too busy launching potions at a charging Brown Eyes to react to the attack. It hit Pop on his back and made him fall to the ground. Brown Eyes then turned around and swung it's tail at Pop Fizz, launching him into a wall. Moaning in pain, Pop Fizz slid down slowly down the wall, hitting the floor head first.
"Well," Jet-Vac started, getting up with a pained grunt. "I think I can say this is not going very well."
"Ya think?" Stealth Elf asked harshly.
The Skylanders got back-to-back, facing off against three evil dragons with two downed teammates. Brown Eyes and the cyan eyed dragon were facing Jet-Vac and Red Eyes was facing Stealth Elf. Then Red Eyes stepped forward, making Stealth Elf flinch. The dark dragon opened its mouth, ready to release its flamethrower and incinerate both Skylanders.
But then it stopped, surprising Stealth Elf. "I told you." An angry voice came from behind the dragon. "No one hurts my friends!" Eruptor shouted as he lifted Red Eyes over his head, grabbing the dragon's tail, and slammed it into the ground behind him. Then Eruptor grabbed Red Eyes' tail again, and started spinning, lifting the dark dragon's motionless body of the ground and then flung Red Eyes off the island and out of sight. Stealth Elf and Jet-Vac looked completely stunned, with their eyes wide and jaws agape.
"What?" Eruptor asked. "Regeneration powers, remember?" He said in an obvious tone.
"Good job, Eruptor!" Jet-Vac congratulated his friend, recuperating from his awe. "But we still have a couple of problems to deal with." He said, turning around to face the two remaining dark dragons.
Behind them, Pop Fizz was getting up from the ground, a little dizzy and shaken up. After shaking his head and regaining his balance, the blue gremlin got back into the swing of things. "Whoa, that did not feel good." Pop Fizz looked around and saw his friends facing off against two of the three dark dragons that had shown up.
"Um, guys?" Pop Fizz started, but before he could get his sentence in, he saw how the smaller, cyan eyed dragon stepped forward and lifted its wings. Then it's horn stated to glow a bright white and a small cloud appeared above the dragon. It was rather small, grey and crackling with electricity. The cyan eyed dragon then fired it's black and white beam at the cloud, which seemed odd at first, as even the Skylanders seemed confused. But after the attack connected, three black and white beams fired off the cloud at each of the Skylanders, who, startled by the strange magic, were all struck true by each beam.
"Guys!" Pop Fizz yelled helplessly as his friends fell to the ground,knocked out from the powerful blast. But Pop Fizz' concern soon became fear as the two dark dragons turned around and began to walk towards Pop Fizz.
Pop Fizz gulped hard as the dark dragons cornered him, panic spreading through his body. He reached for his backpack to grab one of his potions, but after his desperate frenzy he felt only one left. He pulled it out of his backpack and once in front of him, gasped at the potion's sight. It was fairly large, glowed neon green and bubbled slightly. The bottle had a small black skull and crossbones on it.
Pop Fizz looked at the potion, then at the dark dragons, then at his fallen friends. "This is the only way, huh?" He asked himself nervously as he looked down at the potion again. Pop Fizz was willing to do whatever it took to protect his friends, and it that meant doing this, then there simply was no choice. "Well then. You asked for it." He told the dark dragons as he uncorked the potion. "Bottoms up!"
Spyro was sitting on the large twisted tree beside his friend's house at the Academy, looking out at the isles and clouds nearby, floating lazily in the sky. A lot of things crossed his mind, he couldn't really focus on a single thought. Spyro thought about his family, about how close he had gotten to finding them and how now, that opportunity had been taken from him. He thought about all the dragons that had been turned into some madman's evil puppets, just as he had been turned into Strykore's evil henchman. He thought about how those same dragons wanted to kidnap him and Cynder to use them in some crazy ritual.
Each thought overlapped the other, making it difficult for Spyro to focus on any of them. Then the dragon let out a frustrated scream and slammed his fist into the tree's bark causing it to splinter from the impact. The pulsing pain in his hand slightly focused Spyro's mind, calming him down. So much had changed since this whole mess started. He remembered a time where his biggest concern was chompies eating someone's picnic dinner, or one of Kaos' plans blowing up in his face. Spyro gave out a short, nostalgic sigh of those better days as he resumed looking at the view from the twisted tree.
But when Spyro lifted his head he froze up. He noticed something sitting down at the isles farther away from the Academy. It was an ominous figure that seemed to be staring at Spyro. The purple dragon remembered that figure not being there a few seconds ago, which unnerved him slightly. Then the figure sprouted wings, dragon wings and then it began to fly away at great speeds, leaving Spyro behind.
"No, wait!" Spyro called out, as he too took flight in pursuit of the ominous dragon, who Spyro could not get a good look at. Spyro then heard someone call his name. Whoever it was sounded rather distressed, but Spyro ignored them and picked up speed, trying to catch up to the ominous dragon, leaving the Academy far behind him.
The ominous dragon was surprisingly fast and managed to stay a fair distance ahead of Spyro, taking dives, sharp turns and maneuvering around floating islands.
"Woah." Spyro said. "This guy really knows how to fly." Then Spyro had now chased the dragon fow a long time. He wondered where it was heading. Spyro thensaw the dragon head for a strange island. It was rather large and filled with tombstones and twisted dead trees. Then Spyro saw as the dragon touched down near a clearing in the center of the island.
"Hey!" Spyro called as he got closer to the island. But as he did he noticed something about the dragon. So he squinted his eyes and looked closely. Then it hit him, like a truck.
The ominous dragon had purple scales.
Pop Fizz had forgotten how it felt like.
It had been, what? Years, since he took this potion? He had forgotten the taste. Bittersweet, like lemonade, with a spicy aftertaste. He had forgotten how the world felt like after drinking it. Everything seemed to move slower and looked a little smaller. Oh yes. Pop Fizz had forgotten the frenzied rush of Beast Mode.
The little blue Skylander had grown to almost twice his original size. His clear blue fur had darkened significantly, his teeth and claws had all sharpened wickedly and a frenzied look was on his eyes as purple tinge surrounded his face. The monstrous Skylander roared and crackled crazily as the new rush of might cursed through his body.
Then, Brow Eyes charged at Pop Fizz, trying to headbutt him. The dark dragon was still larger than the Skylander and once the impact connected, Pop Fizz was pushed back, grunting at the effort of keeping the large enemy at bay. But then Pop Fizz grabbed Brown Eyes behind the head and lifted the dark dragon over himself. After bending his knees, Pop Fizz jumped and launched Brown Eyes far above the mabu houses and watched with a crazed smile as the dragon came crashing through one of the houses.
After this, the cyan eyed dragon fired it's beam at Pop Fizz. However the crazed Skylander, puffed out his chest and tanked the attack, laughing maniacally as he readied his arm and punched the dark dragon so hard, it was sent sprawling back, breaking through a window in one of the houses in front of Pop Fizz.
Pop Fizz then flung his arms in the air and cheered in victory. Suddenly, Brown Eyes came rolling through one of the houses and smashed it's spinning body into Pop Fizz, causing the Skylander do become dizzy. Brown Eyes then spun a full circle and swung its spiky tail at Pop Fizz, causing the Skylander to stumble back.
Then Brown Eyes began to spin again, about to hit Pop Fizz once more. But just as the attack was about to land, it stopped abruptly. Pop Fizz had grabbed the dark dragon's tail, and after wildly shaking the large creature around, getting it off balance, Pop Fizz started spinning himself, lifting Brown Eyes off the ground and then flung the dark dragon through a wall. After a loud crash and the sound of stone break, there was silence. The dark dragons had been defeated.
Pop Fizz then roared triumphantly and slowly began to revert to his original form, the mighty roar becoming shrill and unimpressive as the transformation finished. After it did, Pop Fizz cooled down and scratched his head in confusion. "Woah, what did I miss?" The small blue Skylander asked, not recalling exactly what he had just done in Beast Mode.
Pop Fizz then looked around and saw his friends knocked out on the far end of the island. "Guys!" Pop Fizz called as he ran over to help his friends.
"Urgh. What happened?" Stealth Elf asked drowsily as she started to get up, the other Skylanders following soon after.
"You guys were knocked out." Pop Fizz said worriedly. "So I kind of had to take on the bad guys by myself." He said.
"What!?" All three Skylanders asked, stupefied.
"How on earth did you manage that!?" Jet-Vac asked incredulous. "Not all of us together were able to do that."
"Weeeeell." Pop Fizz began.
"Skylanders!" Someone shouted.
"Ahhhhh!" The Skylanders screamed in unison. "Master Eon! The pop-ins!"
"Oh, right, forgot about that." The portal master said apologetically. "But, are you alright? What happened?" Eon asked anxiously.
"We got into the fight," Jet-Vac started. "Got out buts handed to us, got knocked out and then Pop Fizz single handedly won the day?" The senior Skylander said as convincingly as he could, not really believing the words as they came out of his beak.
"Really?" Master Eon asked, turning his head to Pop Fizz. "That is one amazing achievement Skylander!"
"Yeaaaah." Pop Fizz said scratching his head. The blue gremlin looked around, adveting his friends' gaze and noticed something strange. "Uhhh, guys?" He asked. "Where did the bad guys go?"
The Skylanders looked around, surprised at the sudden absence of dark dragons in the area. Not Brown Eyes, Red Eyes or the cyan eyed dragon seemed to be around any more. The Skylanders didn't even hear them leave.
"These villains have a very remarkable drive" Master Eon pointed out. "It is most strange for them to give up like this."
"Maybe Pop Fizz scared them away?" Eruptor said putting his hand proudly on his little blue friend's back.
"I don't think so." Master Eon said. "Their objective, I now think, was to eliminate you, Skylanders. To get you out of the way for their future diabolical schemes." Master Eon said gravely. "They lured you out here, appeared in greater numbers than usual and were focused on you, rather than Spyro or Cynder. For them to just disappear like this. They must have been called back, commanded to shift priorities." The portal master concluded, stroking his beard in thought. "And I don't like what that implies" He said, looking at the destroyed portal gate, their only quick way back to the Academy.
"Because that means, what?" Stealth Elf asked worriedly.
"They weren't meant to eliminate you." Eon said. "They were meant to get you as far away from Spyro and Cynder as they could." Eon realized dreadfully. "And we all fell right into their trap."
"Then that means, they put all of this in motion because they have something up their sleeve." Jet-Vac concluded. "Some trick they have been keeping wrapped up, waiting to use it when Spyro and Cynder were vulnerable. And now that they got us all the way over here, I think our friends are as vulnerable as they can be." Jet-Vac said hopelessly.
Eon looked at the horizon, not knowing what to do next. "Spyro." He said to the wind. "Be careful."
Cynder was flying as fast as she could. The dragoness was flying through the sky, chasing after Spyro. "Spyro!" She called out. But the purple dragon didn't even flinch. Was he to far ahead? Did he not hear her?
A few minutes ago Cynder was on her way to Spyro's house. She had heard how he had been left behind for a mission regarding the dark dragons, and wanted to pay him a visit. Maybe talk about how things had been going recently. But as Cynder was arriving she saw as Spyro took off, full flight out of the Academy. And now, after minutes of chasing the purple dragon, trying to figure out why he would leave like that, Cynder saw as Spyro headed to a strange island. It was rather grim-looking, with gravestones and dead trees everywhere. She then saw Spyro slow down and stop before landing on the island. "Spyro!" She called again, catching up to the purple dragon. She noticed that Spyro was looking at something in the island, and didn't seem to focus on her arrival. "Spyro?" She asked tentatively. "What's going on?"
Spyro simply kept staring at the island, then said with a small smile. "I'm not the only one. I'm really not."
"What does that mean?" She asked confused as she turned around to see what Spyro was looking at. When she did, she gasped in astonishment.
At the center of the island, with it's back turned against the Skylanders, sat a dragon, with purple scales and golden horns just like Spyro's.
"Its…" Cynder started, in shock from the sight. "It's another purple dragon."
Spyro then flew down and touched down on the island, followed shortly by Cynder. Spyro then began to walk over to the mysterious dragon, curiosity and excitement overwhelming his body. As he got closer to the dragon, he noticed a couple of things. This dragon's scales were darker than his own, reminiscent in color to indigo. It also had the same horns and spikes along it's head and on it's tail, but they looked thinner and more pointy. The dragon's body was also slim, but composed and quite similarly built to Spyro's.
Spyro just couldn't keep it in anymore. For the first time in his life he was meeting another purple dragon, and the excitement spoke for itself. "Hey!" Spyro called out to the mysterious dragon, enthusiasm heightening his voice.
The mysterious dragon flinched at Spyro's call, straightening it's back and standing up. Then it turned around and faced the Skylanders.
The dragon's chest had some strange black markings. Three black strakes on each side, all looking like large, symmetrical gashes. The dragon's face was angular and slim, distinctly male and had several distinctive features. The mouth looked a little dry and chapped, as if his lips were bitten and slightly burned. The dragon also had a strange red mark over his left eye. Upon closer inspection, it looked like an "A".
But the eyes. They made Spyro stop. They eyes had black lines under them, coupled with a tired look, signified little sleep. But the eyes themselves, were disturbing. They were an intense, venomous green, like the kind of green you would see in stereotypical caroon toxic waste. The pupils were very different from Spyro's or Cynder's. They weren't round, they were thin, vertical slits, like a snake's. Spyro could almost fell a sort of pained hatred seep out of them.
And as he met eyes with the dragon, Spyro could swear he felt pain. Real, physical pain from looking into those toxic, hateful things. So Spyro stopped walking forward, unnerved at the exchange, and looked at some other part ot the dragon. His neck was pretty close to his head and didn't have those disturbing eyes on it, son Spyro focused on that.
"Hey!" Spyro started, not meeting the dragon's eyes. "You're a purple dragon!" The awkward start was the only thing the Skylander could come up with. So many thoughts and questions raced through Spyro's mind he just couldn't think of anything else to start with.
"Yes." The dragon said flatly in a quiet, slighly raspy voice. "What gave that away?"
Spyro was a little hurt by the sarcastic response, but the feeling was overshadowed by his excitement. "I'm Spyro!" The Sklander introduced himself. "And this is Cynder." He said, gesturing at his friend. "We're Skylanders!"
The mysterious drgons looked unphased at the information, almost like he alredy knew all of it. Spyro however, kept talking, enthusiasm exhalting his voice. "I just- I have so many questions! Like, where did you come from? Do you know any other purple dragons? What's your favorite color?"
The mysterious purple dragon looked a little overwhelmed by Spyro's enthusiastic barrage of questions. "Umm, look… friend." He started. "I would loooove to answer any questions you might have," He said with a sarcastic tone, which only Cynder picked up on. "But, I actually need a little help from you two."
"Wait." Cynder interjected. "You wanted both of us here?" She asked, finding the situation a little shady, after all, she had never met this dragon before, and yet he seemed to know them.
"I wanted him here." The dragon said, pointing at Spyro. "But I suppose it is easier if you both are."
Cynder was not liking this dragon. He hadn't done anything wrong, but there was just a feeling of uneasiness around him. And the eyes were not helping. Cynder could feel those venomous things stare at her, though her. They felt really cold. But, knowing what it was like to be deemed evil before being given a chance to prove otherwise, and remembering how much this meant to Spyro, she kept to herself and simply edged a little closer to Spyro for comfort.
"Well, what do you need us for?" Spyro asked energetically. "We would be happy to help!"
"Oh, that's wonderful." The mysterious dragon said with a honied voice and a plastic smile. "In that case I just need to know something about both of you before we can start."
"Sure. What do you need to know?" Spyro said, excited to be able to help another purple dragon.
"You two have Magic and Undead as your defining elements, right?" The dragon asked, retaining his fake-looking smile.
When Spyro heard those words, his heart stopped for a split second and his eyes went round from shock. Cynder's face went pale and the dragoness froze up. "Come again?" Spyro asked slowly, begging to have heard the question wrong.
"Are your defining elements, Magic and Undead?" The mysterious dragon repeated patiently, as if the question was completely normal.
"Why would you need to know that?" Cynder asked nervously.
"I have a…" The dragon paused, as if looking for the right words. "Pet. Project." He said awkwardly, scratching the side of his chest, where his black markings were and averting his eyes. "It's kind of a big deal. I have some "friends" helping me." He said. "But we've gotten a little stuck recently. I thought you two, as the great heros you are, could help me."
Spyro had his head low. He felt like was going to be sick. "All your dragon kind were heroes." Spyro could hear Master Eon's voice say in his head. Around those words, Spyro had built the image in his head of what his dragon kind were like. Every time he thought of his ancestors, he conjured images of awesome heroes who told cool jokes. That always made him feel proud of being who he was, it made him feel, great. But now, when one of his dragon kind was actually in front of him for the first time, as Spyro put two and two together, that image only filled him with a crushing disappointment
"It's you isn't it." Spyro said in a weak voice, still looking down. "You are the one behind all this mess." Spyro said, making the mysterious dragon focus on him, showing a kind of morbid interest in the Skylanders affirmation. "Who are you?" Spyro asked finally.
The mysterious dragon gave a smug little smile, unlike his previous one, it was honest yet mocking. And then spoke. "I am Cyrus." The dragon introduced himself. "Captain of the Knights of Solitude." He said with a derisive voice as he bowed exaggeratedly in a display of pure, childish spite.
"Knights of Solitude?" Cynder asked carefully, stepping away from Cyrus.
"Oh you've met them." Cyrus said. "They are quite easy to recognize, but hard to tell apart." He continued, a little bit of cruel mirth in his hoarse voice, as if he was telling a riddle. "Does that ring any bells?"
"The black dragons." Cynder thought, remembering her unpleasant encounter with them. "Spyro was right, he is the one behind this." She concluded.
Spyro on the other hand was starting to feel anger boil inside him. Purple dragon or not this guy was starting to get on his nerves. "Is this funny to you?" Spyro asked "Hurting these dragons, turning them into some twisted, color-coordinated puppet show for you to use, is funny to you?" Spyro asked, anger steadying his voice, still facing down.
Cyrus looked at Spyro, silently, assimilating what the Skylander just said. Then a small chuckle escaped his mouth, surprising Spyro. Then he chuckled again, louder and longer this time as he brought his paw to his forehead. "We are all puppets here friend." Cyrus said, scratching the red mark over his left eye. "My stage is just a little bigger." He finished in a quiet voice, not spiteful or apathetic, but sad. Cyrus then put his paw down and looked at the ground, a pained expression on his face, as if the dragon had recalled a bad memory.
Spyro didn't understand what Cyrus had meant by what he had said, and honestly, didn't care. The Skylander was too angry at the shiftly purple dragon to care about excuses. Spyro felt a mix of sadness and rage, boil up within him. He felt disappointed that the first purple dragon he met was some sarcastic, apathetic jerk. But he also thought that after only a few minutes after meeting him, he hated this dragon. He had done so much harm. He had turned innocent dragons evil, he had made them attack his friends, and was also responsible for stopping Spyro from meeting his family. "All of us were heroes, huh?" Spyro thought "Some stereotype breaker he is."
"I'm afraid I am going to need you to come with me." Cyrus said, turning his head to the Skylanders with a disturbing glare. "It's quite urgent for my pet project to be finished, you see." He said with a more insistent voice.
Spyro then finally looked up, and stared at Cyrus' eyes dead on, causing the malevolent purple dragon to flinch. Spyro's eyes were lit up with anger, their intense red color, vibrant and firey as he met Cyrus' deep, venomous green eyes.
Then Spyro stretched one of his wings, covering Cynder protectively, surprising the dragoness. "We aren't going anywhere with you." Spyro stated, neither him nor Cyrus blinking once, each dragon staying perfectly still.
Then, Cyrus closed his eyes, surprising Spyro. Cyrus then looked up, and put his paw over his face. After a long, disappointed-sounding sigh, the purple dragon spoke. "This could have been easy." He said very quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself. "This could have been painless." He finished, moving his paw over to the red mark once again, scratching it slowly. Then, the purple dragon took a long breath, put his paw down and looked at Spyro and Cynder, a disdainful look in his eyes. "Well, I think we all know what's going to happen now."
Spyro did know what was going to happen, he tensed up in anticipation. He just didn't know how he felt about it. This encounter had gone down the drain pretty quickly. Instead of the amazing heroes Spyro was expecting, he was left with an unpleasant villain, who was responsble for a lot of harm. But Spyro still felt conflicted about having to fight one of his own dragon kind, it just felt wrong, and he showed it by backing away from Cyrus, who had stayed in his place, with malevolent eyes focused on Spyro.
Spyro then felt a paw gently touch his back, it felt small and warm to the touch. Spyro turned around to see Cynder, smiling up at him. "We can take him." She said. "Together." The dragoness gave Spyro a small nod. Spyro, who was surpised at his friend's reslove to help him then nodded back. "Together." The purple dragon said, his resolve cemented. Purple dragon or not, Spyro wouldn't let the so-called Captain hurt his friends, or any other dragons anymore. He turned around and let Cyrus know as he got into battle stance, Cynder following soon after.
Cyrus had stayed put during the Skylander's exchange, picking his teeth with his claws. "Should you start, or should I?" He asked in a bored tone.
Spyro then suddenly charged at Cyrus, small flames erupted from his horns as he picked up speed. The Skylander then felt as if he struck something. Spyro looked up to see if he had hit his enemy. The Skylander was a little surprised by what he saw. Spyro was being held in place by Cyrus, who had a strained expression on his face, but had grabbed Spyro by his horns. "You are quite a lively little fella." Cyrus said mockingly. "This is going to take a while." Then the evil dragon's hands started glowing a bloody red as he grasped Spyro's horns even tighter.
At that, Spyro felt like the wind was slowly being pulled out of his lungs and the warmth was being drained from his body. Spyro started feeling weaker and light-headed as he tried to struggle and pull away from Cyrus, but the evil dragon had an iron grip and didn't let go.
Cynder watched in horror, remembering something her father had tried to teach her. It was about an obscure dark magic spell that allowed the caster to drain the vitality from their enemies, simply by touching them. She remembered it being really difficult to cast, and being very dangerous. Then Cynder composed herself and flew at the struggling purple dragons. She then turned into a black mist, phasing through both of them and resolidified behind Cyrus. Once there, the dragoness released a powerful lightning blast at the evil dragon, which not only made him grunt in pain, but distracted him long enough for Spyro to break free from his grasp and headbutt him, right in the snout. Then both SKylanders stepped back, opposite to each other around Cyrus.
Cyrus, hissed in pain as he held his wounded snout and was circled by both Skylanders. He looked around him and assessed the situation, staying still for a second. Then in a blindingly fast movement, Cyrus reached out for Cynder's neck. The violet dragoness couldn't react in time and felt as the evil dragon's paw closed around her neck, choking her. She tried to squirm free, but the evil dragon just held on tighter, not planning on letting go.
Spyro then tried to charge at Cyrus once again, but before the impact hit the evil dragon, he extended his other paw and stopped Spyro's charge midway, surprising the Skylander. "Jeez, this guy is a lot stronger than he looks" Spyro though "Or am I just weaker than before?" He asked, remembering how he had felt the life drain out of him by Cyrus' freaky magic. Either way, the evil dragon now had one Skylander held down on each side. Then, Cyrus' hands began glowing blood red and the Skylanders felt their strength being sucked out of their bodies.
Spyro seemed to be getting less affected by the attack, because while he still had some fight left in him, as he saw how Cynder began closing her eyes and stoped squirming. Then Cyrus lifted her above his head and with a grunt, tossed her away like a ragdoll, her body hit one of the dead trees nearby and she fell to the ground, motionless. Spyro looked at her in horror. She wasn't moving at all.
Then Spyro felt like a volcano erupted inside of him. He finally made up his mind. He hated this guy.
Spyro backed away from Cyrus' hand, and released a fireball at the purple dragon, It looked larger and more red than usual, but Spyro didn't pay that any mind, he was too busy shooting two more of them at Cyrus. The first one hit the dragon's arm, getting him of balance, the second one hit his chest, knocking him back a couple of steps and the third hit his face, knocking him to the ground where he groaned in pain with his eyes closed, black burns smoldering on his indigo scales.
Spyro then walked over to his fallen enemy. The Skylander loomed over the purple dragon. Then Spyro started to charge up his flames. He didn't ever want to see this dragon again. But then he stopped himself suddenly. "This isn't right" He thought. He had never felt like that before in his life. He felt like- like he wanted to- "No" Spyro told himself. "That is not how Skylanders are supposed to act." He said to himself, feeling ashamed. "You just shouldn't have done that." Spyro told his fallen enemy as the Skylander looked over at Cynder's body, and smiled mellowly. Upon a closer look, he could tell she was breathing, slowly, but regularly. It made Spyro happy to see his friend alright.
"I'll remember that next time." A weak voice said.
Spyro then felt as two hands grabbed his forelegs. He then felt cold and weak, as the life was being drained out of him. Spyro then fell limp on the ground, feeling like his bones were made of cardboard, unable to stand up. Then he saw as Cyrus began to rise, the burn marks Spyro had inflicted on the dragon, had all mysteriously disapeared. "You really are a lively pair of nuisances." Cyrus said mockingly. "This was definitely one of the harder fights I've had. But man! People these days just can't tell when someone is trying to play nice!"
Spyro looked confused. From how that fight went, he didn't feel like this guy played nice at all.
Cyrus seemed to pick up on Spyro's confusion as he looked at the Skylander. "You really didn't notice?" He asked, as if he were talking about something obvious. "My flames. I didn't even have to use my breath attack against you."
Spyro's face lit up. He really hadn't noticed that. The heat of the battle didn't give him much time to focus on the little things. Now, Spyro felt dumb and humiliated after losing to someone who wasn't even fighting at their fullest. The evil dragon's laid back atitude about it didn't help.
"I've never fought against two dragons at once." Cyrus stated. "It was a memorable match, but." He said. "It's over." The purple dragon finished as a satisfied smirk crossed his face.
"No" Spyro thought to himself, too weak to actually talk. "We aren't done yet". The Skylander then put all his remaining strength into getting up. He started slowly and shakily, but steadied himself, and stood upright, staring down at Cyrus, whose face now showed pure astonishment and a little bit of fright.
"How is that possible?" Cyrus asked, for the first time letting a tinge of fear creep into his quiet voice.
"Because." Spyro started, trying to steady his voice as much as he could. "I'm thirty flavors of awesome sauce buddy." He said boldly, raising his wings and puffing out his chest.
Cyrus stood there, completely astonished by Spyro's display. "You shouldn't be able to move." Cyrus said, dumbfounded. He suddenly took his paw to his red mark again and started scratching it slowly, like a nervous tic being triggered. Was he panicking? Cyrus looked at Spyro, who was already looking a little more composed. Then looked at Cynder who was still knocked out. And then, an idea crossed his mind. It was a particularly underhanded move, but if it mean less pain for him, Cyrus was willing to try.
"Well, friend." Cyrus began, putting on the fake smile from before and putting his paw down. "If you really are the hero you say you are. You will find a way to forgive me for this one day." He finished, turning around, facing Cynder.
Then Spyro went pale, realizing what the evil dragon was about to do. He was too weak to fly, so he ran. He ran as fast as his weakened body let him.
Then, Cyrus inhaled, and the six black markings on his chest started glowing the same poison green as his eyes. Cyrus stood on his hind legs, bent his head back then forward again, opening his mouth to release a fireball at Cynder's unmoving body. It was green and had black accents, matching Cyrus' eyes, looking remarkably distict from Spyro's fire.
The world seemed to move slower as Spyro ran towards Cynder. He could see that the dragoness was starting to wake up, she was lifting her head slowly, drowsily. Spyro could also see Cyrus' attack flying right at her. But Spyro wasn't worried about her, he had started running just in time. Nothing was going to happen to her.
Then, Spyro stood in front of Cynder, posed on his side so as to cover as much of his friend as he could. "Remember, Impenetrable scales, impenetrable scales." He thought to himself as he closed his eyes and braced for impact.
Then, Cyrus' fireball hit Spyro, making him open his eyes from the impact. The Skylander felt something strange. The flames, weren't hot like his, or like any other flames he had seen. They felt cold and lacked the comforting warmth of regular fire. But then Spyro felt something different, he felt pain. Horrible, burning pain, not like fire burns, but like really bad frostbite, as the green flames crashed against his side. Spyro had been hurt pretty bad before, but this took the cake. He felt like his scales was being torn off, like the flesh beneath them was being eaten away. It hurt so much, he couldn't even scream, he was simply overwhelmed and slumped to the ground.
Spyro could hear Cyrus speak. "Event the little ones hurt." The evil dragon said, his voice much raspier than before. Spyro then hear him cough harshly, like his throat had suddenly gotten really sore.
Spyro's vision became darkened, like he was about to blackout. He tried to tilt his head, to get one last look at Cynder, to see if she was alright. Spyro saw as Cynder looked back at him, her clear blue eyes glistening in the darkness of Spyro's view, she looked shocked, here eyes were wide and had her mouth was a little open, as if she didn't understand what had just happened, but knowing she was alright, was enough for Spyro. He smiled, as the darkness enveloped his conscious and he faded away into sleep.
Cyrus woke up suddenly. He was laying on the ground, the cold dirt pressed against his face. The dragon stood up slowly, not remembering what had happened. Then he winced. He felt pain shoot up from his side. He looked down and saw a large burn mark over the black streaks on his indigo scales. "Oh." He said simply. "I remember now." Cyrus had been knocked out by that dragoness, he didn't remember what her name was, he didn't fell it was important. She had released a massive electric blast, a lot stronger than the ones she had used before that one. He didn't know how she had managed, that.
He looked around. The other dragons were both gone, not a trace of them anywhere. Cyrus then frowned, annoyed and frustrated. "The boss is going to kill me." He said as he hissed from a stab of pain from his wound, making him put one of his paws over the wound.
Then the dragon saw a little chompy jump out from behind one of the tombstones nearby. The bright green creature jumped around and screeched wildly. Then it looked over at Cyrus, who stared back, and the the little monster started running at him, screeching and flailing before pouncing at the purple dragon. Cyrus grabbed the little green monster, still flailing in his paw, trying to bite him. Cyrus looked at the chompy and smiled. "Thank you." He said softly. Then then dragon's hand glowed red and the little chompy screeched, the sound growing weaker and weaker as the creature stopped flailing and it's bright green skin turned a greyish shade.
The wound on Cyrus' side had vanished and he let out a relieved sigh as the dragon dropped the little green monster, that droped on the ground, motionless with it's mouth open. Cyrus then turned around and looked at the horizon, his venomous green eyes shining with a malevolent glint. "I just knew this one was going to be interesting. Lets see how long you and I can keep the fun going, Friend."
Author's Notes
Hey guys! Sorry for the delay on this chapter. Dont worry, I hava a great set of excues. Firstly I had a lot of other things to sort out. Seconly I had a little bit of writer's block. And lastly, this chapter is a lot longer than the previous one. I don't think the rest of them will take this long and you can rest asured that more are on the way!
- I still don't own Skylanders Academy.
- I hope you guys like Cyrus (The OC purple dragon), cuz he's going to be arround a lot more from now own.
- To soulkiller10000: ;)