Spyro Bridge Across Worlds Remake
by
Bolt Greywing
Aquina's Cave
"How is he, will he be alright?" Aquina asked worriedly.
"Not good I am afraid. He has been unconscious for several hours." The Kobold replied.
"Do you think he will make it?" Aquina asked.
"Hard to say at this point, he has lost quite a lot of blood, but we managed to pull most of the arrows out. It is lucky you found him when you did." The Kobold replied.
"I was out hunting fish in the ocean when I found him along with many sunken ships. I always wanted to meet up with Cyril again, just not like this." Aquina continued.
"I know you care quite deeply for him Aquina. After all you are the mother of all ice dragons. Us kobolds will do all in our power to heal him." The Kobold replied.
"Thanks Merry I know you will, in the meantime I have some apes to go after." Aquina replied as she was determined to make them pay for what they did to Cyril. She knew that he must have fought really hard to stand up to so many.
"Do you think that is wise Mistress, you saw what they did to Cyril." Merry warned.
"Wise or not I must take them on, though I won't be going alone. I will be taking the porpoise and narwhal squadrons with me." Aquina replied.
"I know Aquina that I can't talk you out of this, but I wish you good luck out there." Merry replied.
"Thanks Merry, I will return when the battle is won. I will finish what Cyril had started." Aquina replied.
"May the stars shine on you Aquina." Merry replied.
"Thanks Merry if I do not return after a few days, look after the hatchling for me and keep him safe. I have lost him nearly once before, I do not want to lose him again. He has done enough." Aquina replied.
"I will do my best to watch over him while you are gone." Merry replied.
After Aquina had left, Merry and the other kobolds worked to heal him with their magic. Each passing hour or so they changed his bandages and checked to see if he woke up yet, but so far he remained unconscious.
"No change yet Merry, but he is stable. His wings are heavily damaged as a lot of his wing-skin is missing, but it is still possible to save them." A Kobold spoke up.
"Alright what is the plan Wazzlebrush?" Merry asked.
"Well I can't do anything in his current dragon form, but as a smaller water animal like an otter or a beaver would allow his dragon form to recover. However there is still the question about the wings." Wazzlebrush suggested.
"That does sound like a good plan. Do you think his body could handle it?" Merry asked.
"I believe so as long as we slowly transform him so that he doesn't receive any additional damage from the process. His body is still quite fragile. I believe it is the only way to do so." Wazzlebrush replied.
"Something tells me he most certainly not like that very much, dragon pride is something quite important to a dragon. For him to be such a smaller creature might put quite a strain on him." Merry replied.
"I have to say his pride should be the least of his concerns we need to ensure that he is well. Do you think we still have some leftover bat-wings Merry?" Wazzlebrush asked.
"I am sure I have seen some laying around the storage cave. Why do you ask?" Merry asked.
"Well with the bat-wings we could potentially graft the skin to the dragon-skin so that the wing is repaired and he will be flight ready again." Wazzlebrush replied. "Still I am kind of worried about him? There is something off about him." Wazzlebrush replied.
"What you mean?" Merry asked.
"Well I can sense that there is a kind of dark energy surrounding him, I am not sure if it is from the battle or if it is something from long ago. It might be dangerous." Wazzlebrush replied.
"I am not detecting anything at the moment. I thought I sensed something, earlier but it was very faint. Still I promised Aquina that I would look after him." Merry acknowledged.
"Well if we are going to do this, we should go through with this now." Wazzlebrush replied.
"I agree." Merry replied and then turned to Cyril. "I don't know if you can hear me Cyril, but you will need to pull through. I believe you will be strong for this."
As time steadily past Cyril's body gradually began to adjust to its new form. The Kobolds had decided that the sleek otter style body would be the best one to use on the dragon. The Kobolds were being very careful in manipulating the dragon's body as it shifted into the new otter form. They wanted to be sure that it didn't cause any extra damage to his already fragile body. It was a pretty slow process that took six days to complete the transformation. While they were changing the body, the Kobolds steadily picked away at the remaining arrows until there were none left. Now that the transformation was complete his body would need lots of rest as it added quite a bit of stress on his body.
"Where am I? What is this place?" Cyril groaned as he tried to make sense of the place he was in. He tried to move but felt a quite sharp stab of pain, so laid still on his back as he began to examine the many bandages that were on him, turning to look at his wing he saw there was still a lot of damage on it, but someone had tried to graft some new skin on to his wing.
"No, no, no, no, no. This is all wrong! You are not supposed to be awake yet dragon, this is too early. Merry get in here quick!" Wazzlebrush shouted.
"What have you done to me!" Cyril shrieked in alarm when he finally noticed his otter arms and body.
"It was the only way to save you dragon, we had to give you a new body." Wazzlebrush spoke up.
"By changing me into a worthless water animal? How am I supposed to hunt now?" Cyril whined. "How am I going to stand up to the apes now in this form?"
Merry knew something had gone horribly wrong as she could hear that Wazzlebrush was talking to someone, but she couldn't be sure who it was. She at first assumed it could be the dragon, but she thought that was silly since the dragon was still unconscious. She decided to check to confirm her suspicions.
"Your still too weak to fight them dragon, you need your rest." Wazzlebrush replied.
"I have no time for rest I have to protect my village, I need to get up and teach the villagers how to fight before the apes arrive." Cyril replied.
"What is all the hubbub about? Oh eggshells he is awake!" Merry squeaked in alarm as she entered into the room where Wazzlebrush was.
"Okay can someone please tell me what is going on here? Who are you and what type of creatures are you?" Cyril demanded.
"Well young otter, um I mean young dragon." Merry replied. "We are Kobolds and we have been looking over your care for the past eight days."
"WHAT! ARE YOU SAYING THAT I HAVE UNCONSCIOUS FOR THE PAST EIGHT DAYS?" Cyril growled.
"What she says is true, all of us Kobolds attended to healing you with our magic and we turned you into an otter so your body has a chance to heal. You lost quite a lot of blood." Wazzlebrush spoke up next.
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! THE APES ARE PROBABLY AT THE VILLAGE BY NOW!" Cyril shrieked as he got up from the bed and tried to move forward though he still felt pain as he got up.
"You aren't going anywhere in that condition Cyril. You must stay here and rest." Merry replied as the two pushed him back down.
"Aquina found you at the bottom of the ocean floor along with many ape ships, you are lucky to be alive." Wazzlebrush replied.
"Aquina's Cave? Is she here? I have to talk with her now." Cyril replied as he paused for a moment.
"She is gone Cyril. She left thirty minutes after you were first brought in here." Merry replied.
"WHAT?!" Cyril shouted.
"She left to fight the apes and has been gone ever since." Wazzlebrush continued.
"Grrrrr…. She doesn't even know what the apes are capable of. I have to find her, right now." Cyril growled.
"I am under orders from Aquina to keep you safe from harm." Merry replied.
"Great just great, of all the servants Aquina could have chosen, she hired a bunch of filthy, money grubbing, micro dragons to babysit me while she fights on her own! OUT OF MY WAY FILTH!" Cyril shouted as he stands up again pushing the two out of his way. Darkness steadily begins to shroud Cyril.
Wazzlebrush cowers to the ground as Cyril slowly moves about trying to find his way out of here. Merry on the other hand moved in front of Cyril as she was not going to put up with this.
"Filth? Filth? Micro dragons? Now listen here Cyril, us Kobolds did our best to save your scaly hide and I will not tolerate you calling us that. Yes we are smaller than most other dragons, but that doesn't give you reason to insult us. We are not filth, we are very grateful for Aquina giving us a home rather than others keeping us in a cage for entertainment." Merry replied as she stood her ground. "If you don't stop this madness now the darkness will consume you, I see how it surrounds you now."
"YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME YOU WORTHLESS LIZARD!" Cyril shouted as he began to grow more dark.
"Yes I do, and I won't stand here as you try to harm us. You are a monster Cyril just like your father." Merry shouted as she pulled out her own blade but she could feel the fear go down her neck. "You care nothing for the weak."
"SO BE IT YOU SIGNED YOUR DOOM WORTHLESS LIZARD! I AM GOING TO ENJOY RIPPING YOU APART WITH MY CLAWS!" Cyril shouted as the darkness completely took him over as he lashed out at her.
Merry parried his claws with her own blade as the two fought each other.
Wazzlebrush watched from his position as the two battled each other as he still cowered to the ground. He was afraid of the darkness that Cyril exhibited and was worried that this sort of thing would happen.
"You have a lot to learn about fighting Cyril." Merry replied as the two traded blows. Though she was holding back a bit as she didn't want to hurt him really badly. Yet she hoped if she could do enough cuts his body would do the rest.
"I WILL NOT TAKE LESSONS FROM FILTH LIKE YOU! GRRRR…." Cyril shouted as he continued to make slashes wildly and began to use his frost breath against her.
"Ahhh…." Merry squeaks as one of her paws is now frozen. However she managed to make several more cuts to his body, though she had quite a few cuts of her own.
"Arrggghhh, curses… I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY FILTH LIKE YOU!" Cyril cried out from the pain as he makes one more mad dash to attack her.
She makes a dodge move and cuts him on the back and chest. "All you fight with is darkness and hate Cyril, you will never win."
Cyril then groans a bit as the wounds are steadily beginning to take effect on him as he holds one paw to his chest. "Rawwr."
Cyril managed to cut into the Kobold's chest drawing blood.
"Arrgh, that hurts." Merry shrieked as she went on the attack again and managed to make a couple more cuts.
The ongoing battle was enough to bring Kora the guard out to see what was going on. He came into the room and watched Merry battling against the otter and knew that this had to stop. The darkness needed to be contained here.
"Take that lizard." Cyril swiped at her again this time causing her to collapse to the floor. "NOW YOU DIE!"
Kora then rushed onto the scene and stabbed the otter in the chest causing Cyril to fall over as he passed out. The darkness then disappeared.
"Merry will need lots of healing, as for this mess I will clean it up." Kora replied.
"He is Cyril, I feared that this would happen. We need to get the darkness out of him, but how?" Wazzlebrush asked as he got off the ground.
"I don't know but I will keep him in chains, he is a danger to everyone here." Kora replied. "I am sorry I didn't come sooner to stop this madness."
"I will see to Merry. Thanks for your help Kora. I am sorry that I am a coward." Wazzlebrush replied as she walked Merry out.
"No worry, it takes courage to stand up to a larger beast especially one of darkness." Kora replied as he dragged Cyril out of the room and into a large prison like room.
Several hours later Cyril woke up again only to find himself chained up to a stone slab. He tried to pull himself free, but he couldn't. He had a lot more bandages now then he had before. Kora entered in first followed by a female seal second.
"Do you know why you are kept here otter?" Kora asked.
"No I don't, I can't remember." Cyril replied. "I am not an otter, I am a dragon."
"You were overcome by darkness that took hold of you and you lashed out at one of the other Kobolds. I stepped in to put an end to this madness." Kora replied.
"I… I…." Cyril replied looking down at shame. "I remember talking a little bit then my mind went blank. I just felt an anger inside me."
"You nearly killed Merry in your rage. You slashed at her ruthlessly and cut her many times. Your a monster Cyril." Kora replied.
"I… am… sorry…" Cyril replied with a sigh. "How do I fix this?"
"I can't tell you Cyril, that you will have to find out on your own. You are not ready for battle, the darkness that you have is a danger to everyone around you." Kora replied. "I will leave you here to think about what happened."
When Kora had finally left Cyril began to shed tears, he hoped that destroying those ships would fix not helping out his friends in the past when his father went after them and killed them. Yet he now knew it hadn't made a big enough difference to matter, he was always going to be a monster and there was nothing he could do to change that. As he thought about the damage he did to Merry the Kobold from what Kora described he began to weep. Even the training he put Spyro through was still not enough to undo the damage. He just felt miserable.
The large seal pushed itself towards Cyril.
"Please go away leave me in peace." Cyril cried. "I am a monster."
The seal came closer and began to nuzzle him. "No child you are not. You had a painful childhood is all."
"How did you know this?" Cyril asked curiously.
"I can tell by the way you carry yourself, you are always looking over your shoulder as if a dark shadow is following you all the time." The seal replied.
"It is true. My father he killed all my friends, he thought lower animals were worthless." Cyril replied.
"Do you think so child?" The seal asked.
"No, maybe… I am not sure anymore what to think." Cyril sniffled.
The seal inched a bit closer. "Maybe it is just because you haven't had anything to eat in a while. After all you been out for many days."
"I guess I am kind of hungry, but it is not like can go anywhere to eat food." Cyril replied.
The seal nuzzled him again. "You can have my milk little otter. Drink it. It will help you feel better."
"But what about Kora and the others? Won't they be mad at you for feeding me?" Cyril asked.
The seal giggled as she licked his face. "No they won't mind, besides I have enough milk for all my pups."
"If you say so, then yes please." Cyril replied.
The seal pulled herself right up to him so that Cyril could suckle the warm milk from her body.
Cyril blushed bashfully as the seal cooed at him. The warm milk felt like he was a hatchling again, and that all the bad things of the past were simply gone. The seal licked him once more causing him to blush again as he continued to suckle the warm milk. The seal sighed contently to have another child nursing from her, as she liked being a mother to all the other animals, including the Kobolds.
Kora decided to come back in to check in on the prisoner and noticed the seal was near him and chuckled to himself. He knew how much she liked being a mother and as she noticed him enter in she waved a paw to him causing Kora to blush a little. He knew that he was one of her favorites and he remembered that she put him in diapers a couple of times in the past. Her milk was really delicious and a treat to all, the Kobolds did all they could to ensure she was comfy in her own sleeping chamber. They enjoyed her company as she tended to bring a bit of peace and comfort to all around her. At times the Kobolds used her as a boat, as she could hold many on her back. Kora decided to get the other Kobolds together to help build a small nest for the seal so it could be in there with the prisoner. Cyril's eyes were gradually starting to droop as the warm milk being pumped into him, was making him sleepy. Nothing else mattered at the moment but him and the kind mother seal who cooed at him.
After some amount of time Cyril was fast asleep making little otter sleep noises. The Kobolds had finally finished making a nice nest for the seal, made of lots of sea weed and other soft materials. The seal smiled contently noticing that Cyril was fast asleep and gave a happy wave to the Kobolds for making a nest for her. She quietly asked for the prisoner to be released and Kora knew with her nearby there was nothing that would happen under her watch. Kora released the prisoner from his chains and set him in the nest. The seal smiled happily and giving a wave to tell them that she was going to sleep, the Kobolds wished her a goodnight as they locked up the place behind them. When they were finally gone she covered the cute otter with her body to keep him warm as she drifted off to sleep.
(Author's notes: I just thought it would be a nice change of pace to introduce a more motherly creature to this story, as someone who looks over all the different animals who come into Aquina's Cave. I figured that the Kobolds would add a bit to Aquina's choice of character as she found them either locked up in cages or used in forms of entertainment for other dragons to basically torture or live more miserable lives. She essentially freed them and has them as her servants but treated them well. The seal is kind of like their mother in a way.)