Spyro Bridge Across Worlds Remake
by
Bolt Greywing
Walk Like A Dragon
As Zach sat by the lake he began to ponder his whereabouts in respect to the strange landscape that he found himself in. There was no way that he could return through the fire portal he had once came through as it was too far up to get to, so his only option was to continue to move forward. Yet the problem was which way should he go?
He could try to back away from the lake to head off in a southernly direction through the tall grasses, or he could travel west through the clearing, or he could try to follow the large lake as far as it goes east, or he could try to forge through the lake to get to the opposite side by heading north. He didn't like the two ways that headed away from the lake, because he was kind of concerned that he would not find another one and wind up in some strange desert. He knew that as a human he would be dead without water after five days, but he didn't know the limits that a dragon's body could take.
The lake itself didn't really appear to be too deep to cross so he decided to wade through the lake. As he took his first step into the lake his body started to tremble as though some unknown force was trying to warn him off. Zach was kind of puzzled as to why his body was kind of trembling even though he couldn't see any clear danger ahead of him. He shook it off as though his nerves were just playing tricks on him.
As he took another step he lost his balance and landed in the water causing a small splash. As he came up, he spit out a small mouthful of water and let out a sigh.
Stupid legs not working right! He muttered to himself. I really need to learn how to control my body otherwise I am not going to be able to get anywhere at this rate.
Zach decided to back away from the lake just slightly so he would have some room to practice.
As a child he remembered his parents talking about how difficult it was for him to get to a standing position where he could stand on his own. It had taken him at least five extra months compared to other children of the same age and even longer to learn how to just walk. Sure he had his parents support and encouragement to keep learning as well as time itself. In the environment that he was in he didn't have five extra months to spare let alone his parents to guide him.
He would need to learn fast otherwise he would wind up being someone else's lunch. He decided to start off with learning how to crawl first before he ever thought of attempting to stand. He laid down on his tummy and attempted to pull himself forward with his front paws. The movement came naturally to him and he was able to get crawling down in under two minutes. He decided to take another three minutes of crawling time to get himself ready to stand on all four legs. While he could get himself able to move in any direction reasonably well, it still took a lot of energy to drag himself across the ground.
From Zach's current position he attempted to stand on all four legs all at once only to wind up collapsing in a heap on the ground. He tried three more attempts, but all of them wound up with the same result. As he cleaned off the dirt from his face he muttered. "There has got to be an easier way to do this. You are thinking like a human would Zach. You need to think like a dragon. Ask yourself how a dragon would do it."
Zach tried to ponder what a dragon would do, but couldn't really see it in his mind. It was not until a small mouse came by that he learned the special technique of standing on all four legs. He watched as the mouse gently pushed her front legs partially up before she pushed them slightly backwards. When it did so its back legs effortlessly got into position by arching its back as its butt suck in the air. With a slight lean forward the mouse was on all fours, its movements were quite fluid as it proceeded to walk off.
Now filled with this new knowledge that he had obtained he attempted to copy what the little mouse had shown him. He had many spectacular failures as he tried to get the movement just right and fell in pretty much every direction. The movement as easy as it seemed presented great difficulties as it felt very unnatural to his once human body. It was not until an hour had passed that he finally felt like he had got a handle on it.
His movement into the position felt very uncomfortable and not smooth like the mouse's, but at least he was standing now. The mouse though unknowingly had saved Zach's life by providing the one key ingredient that he so desperately needed. If I ever met with that mouse again, I would have to thank her for saving my life. He thought to himself.
With standing in place now under his belt he decided to take the next step of learning how to walk.
Zach attempted to put one foot in front of the other only to wind up tripping himself and getting covered in dirt. He had came this far already and decided that he couldn't give up now and so he decided to give it another go. It wasn't until after thirty attempts that Zach finally managed his very first walk as a dragon and felt quite proud of his accomplishment. It had taken him only two hours of the day to learn something that normally took him many months to learn as a baby.
His walk was quite clumsy and he wound up bumping into things with his wings and tail, not to mention that he was completely covered in dust and mud from his head all the way down to his tail. As he got to the lake he decided to take a nice long drink from the cool water since he was very thirsty from all the learning he had done. As he did so he noticed that his tongue was not the normal human tongue he normally had but that of a dragon tongue which was only slightly forked. The water here tasted so much sweeter than the water he normally got at home. Being a bit unused to his new form he drank more water than his body could normally take and got a really bad stomachache from it.
After he got over his stomachache he decided to try crossing the lake again. Just like the last time upon putting his feet in the water his knees began to shake. Zach continued to walk into the water until it was up to his knees and felt his body begin to quiver as if some dangerous thing was about to attack him. Against his body's warning he went further into the lake and as he stepped near the halfway point he sank beneath the water and it was at this point that he learned the harsh lesson of dragon instinct.
His body spazzed in every which direction trying to find a solid surface where there was none. He needed to find air and calm his out of control instinct otherwise it would kill him. Zach noticed what looked like a ledge below the water's surface and pushed himself towards it by using his legs to swim. As he finally reached the shore he coughed up lungful after lungful of water as he gasped for breath. He had hardly any control during the swim and he knew if he ever attempted something like this again he would need to get control over his instinct.
To his own astonishment he had crossed the lake to the other side and was still alive. He thought how cool it was to be a dragon and he wondered what his own powers would be like if he had any. He knew Spyro could breath fire and Cynder could form herself into a shadow. Yet his own thoughts were interrupted as he heard the perilous cries of someone in trouble. Though he didn't have much control over his new form he set off after the cries. As he got closer the cries got louder until they finally stopped all of a sudden.
He reasoned that the sound had sounded closer towards the bushes and so he decided to jump through them in desperation to find the troubled creature. As he peeked through the bushes his eyes saw a horrible scene unfold before him. There in front of his eyes was ten wolves surrounding a small mouse. The mouse was lying in a pool of blood and was barely awake from her many injuries. He realized that this was the same mouse from earlier who had helped him. He looked away with slight shock to see such a small creature injured in such a way for he used to keep mice of his own in the house.
He knew that there was no way he could take them all on at once but he had to do something to get them away from the mouse. He had never learned how to fight so even if tried to take them on he would get cut up anyway, still he had the element of surprise at least on his side. Zach walked as quietly as he possibly could and wound up getting closer then he expected to and noticed that they hadn't even noticed him yet. Using his powerful jaws he bit into the tail of one of the closest wolves causing it to yelp in pain. As the others turned their heads toward him, he quickly began to turn tail and began to run, slipping and collapsing every which way he went.
He needed just a bit more leeway for the mouse but the wolves were catching up. He crashed into several tress on his way of trying to escape only to be brought down by the very wolves he sought to distract. The wolves tore into his wings, his tail, his body and pretty much all over causing Zach to feel a massive amount of pain shoot through his body. His once beautiful wings were now being torn to shreds and blood began to leak out of his body. He screamed in pain at each bite and tried his best to fight back but he could not get any damage on them. As more of his lifeblood began to pore out he started to lose consciousness.
As time past his entire body was soon surrounded by a thick pool of blood and it would be only a miracle if he was able to pull through but it seemed like Zach's time was just about over. Somewhere in that very same forest a green dragon decided to pass by on his way to collect a set of herbs for his medicine back north by the mountains. It was only when he turned his head that he noticed the young dragon nearly passed out in a pool of blood surrounded by a pack of wolves.
Upon noticing this newcomer the wolves began to attack him not wanting to give up their catch and were certainly in no mood to let another dragon cross. Yet this stranger was quite good and fought the wolves tooth and nail taking on three at a time. As the battle drew to a close only three wolves were left and they ran off into the woods.
The green dragon quickly began to examine the dragon and knew that he had to help him quickly or else he would risk bleeding out. Using his knowledge of the plants that he had with him and the ones that were available in the ground he set out to work. He quickly mixed up some medicine in his mouth and gently pored the gauze on the parts that were bleeding causing it to sting Zach but only slightly. He then used some vines to staunch the blood by wrapping it around the wounds tightly sealing the remaining blood inside.
He then set out to fix up the wings by poring more gauze on to them to heal the wounds. As he finished up he heard the dragon began to whisper something and got closer to hear what it said.
"Please save the mouse…" Zach whimpered before passing out.
"I promise young one now get some rest." the green dragon whispered.
The green dragon then began to search high and low until he found the mouse in the meadow.
The dragon quickly set out to work again and did all that he could for the mouse but she had lost so much blood. The two were so badly broken that he felt it was unlikely they both would survive but he decided the best spot for them would be in a forest cave. He picked up the mouse and went back to the dragon and carried both on his back until he found a cave made of roots and deposited the two in there.
His dragonfly companion Ray would be kind of worried about his late arrival but knew that he would understand his delay upon seeing these two creatures.
So the legend of the white dragon is true. I thought that he would have been stronger than this. The green dragon thought as he shook his head in disappointment. I guess the ancient stories that I heard weren't all true. I just hope that for all our sakes that is enough to save us all!
(Author's notes: Looks like things are not going to well for Zach how will he get out of this mess? Who is this green dragon and who is Ray that is so mentioned? Quite the thrill stopper wouldn't you say? Also this special chapter is dedicated to two very special people Robin Williams and TheBattyCrow who is a very big fan of Robin Williams. I hope my friend will like this chapter for it is written in part for him and his OCs.
So guy and gals please tell me how you liked the story so far. Also please feel free to leave a comment or review to this story if you like. Bolt)