Cynder again awoke early in the morning, but rather than seeing the stars, she could see the sun begin to rise. Spyro still slept, but only for a few moments longer than Cynder. Soon Spyro awoke and raised his head from the ground, and looked at Cynder, the Black Dragoness did the same. Their thoughts went to the night before, Cynder could still remember the warmth that she could feel being with Spyro. The Purple Dragon was glad that he finally opened up to Cynder. The two Dragons looked to the sunrise.
"It's beautiful." Cynder looked out in amazement to the sunrise. Spyro smiled to the Dragoness. A few minutes passed until Spyro finally spoke.
"We should probably get back to Warfang, they're probably wondering where we are."
"Yeah." Cynder shook her head, she was daydreaming. She quickly got up. "Ok, let's go." Spyro got up and stretched his body out yawning. Suddenly Spyro could feel something sharp gently making its way down the spine of the Purple Dragon. It sent a chill down the young Dragons spine, yet it felt nice as it made its way down his scales. He looked back and saw Cynder's tail blade going down his back. He looked in amazement at the Dragoness, and she simply replied with a giggle. "Spyro, one last thing."
"And what is that?" Spyro could already sense what was about to come his way.
"You're it." The Dragoness quickly took off making her way to the Dragon City. Spyro chuckled to himself before he took off into the sky after the Dragoness.
It didn't take long for the Dragons to get to the main temple, they quickly entered and walked into the dining area. They sat down to eat their meal, but before they could finish again Terrador walked into the Dining room. He made his way to the Dragons and looked down at them.
"If you could, can you two make your way to the training room as soon as you are done eating?" The young Dragons nodded their heads to Terrador. Not long after Terrador left the Dining hall the two Dragons made their way out of the Dining hall, and to the training room. Just as the two Dragons exited the Dining hall they could hear behind them.
"Do you two really think you're getting away from me that easy." A Dragonfly flew just above the shoulder of Spyro as he made his way to the training room.
"Sparx, we're going to the training room right now, and we need to get there as soon as possible, so can we talk in a few minutes." The Dragonfly nodded to his brother in understanding. Quickly they all made their way to the training hall. Inside stood the Fire candidates talking amongst one another, and Terrador sitting at the far end of the Training room.
"Good, now we can begin." All talking within the room came to a halt and they all looked at Terrador. "We are going to take another attempt to our previous plan." The Guardian turned his attention to Spyro and Cynder. "I ask you two." Terrador looked to Cynder. "Please be careful when sparring against them, while they may be experienced in Fire, they are nowhere near as experienced as you two in combat." They both nodded in understanding. Thankfully Cynder no longer had the desire to rip Ember's throat out. "The first to spar will be Flame and Spyro." The two Dragons walked to the middle of the room. They both readied themselves, Spyro thought to himself that he would only use one element, and he eventually came to choose Fire. "Begin!" Flame quickly charged at Spyro, the Purple Dragon slid to the side before Flame could ram himself into him. They both turned around, and Flame let loose a stream of Fire at Spyro. The Purple combated it with his own before flying into the air and landing just behind Flame. Just as Spyro landed Flame charged to him releasing a barrage of Fire attacks in the process. Spyro shielded himself in fire, absorbing all of the Fire attacks. The shield went down, seemingly just as this happened as Flame was charging to Spyro the Purple Dragon let loose a small bolt of Fire directly into the feet of the Red Dragon. Flame quickly lost his balance, going face first into the floor. Spyro walked by and helped the Dragon up.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. How did you do that, it looked like you didn't even put any effort into what you were doing."
"Well I didn't need to, really you kind of defeated yourself in a way."
"What?" Flame looked in confusion to Spyro.
"Well, your attacks while they are powerful and effective they are kind of pointless when you have no defense. You completely focused in putting out offensive attacks, though you didn't have any defense, or really any balance. That is why that small bolt of fire got me to beat you. You just need to balance your Defense and Offense out." Terrador looked surprised by the teaching skills of the Purple Dragon.
"This is true Flame; your offense means nothing if you cannot put up a good defense. While your attacks may be powerful, if the smallest attacks can get you to fail then all of that power means nothing." The two Dragons stepped to the side of the room. "Cynder and Ember please step up." The two Dragonesses walked to the middle of the room until they faced each other. While Cynder no longer held a deep anger to Ember, she still didn't want to make it easy what so ever for the Pink Dragoness. The only limit Cynder put on herself is to not send Ember to the healers. Ember glanced over to Spyro whom was looking attentively at what was happening. Again, Ember was filled with determination and was ready to face Cynder.
"This is for you Spyro." Ember mumbled under her breath to herself.
"Begin!" Ember quickly fired out bolts of flame that created a small explosion sending Fire in nearly all directions. Cynder quickly took to the shadows causing the flames to have no effect on her. While in her shadow state the Dragoness quickly made her way behind Ember and unleashed a barrage of shadow strikes. Ember jumped back and released more of her explosive attacks. Cynder chimneyed from one side to the other at incredible speeds preventing any of the fire from hitting her. Cynder quickly released a cyclone of wind sending Ember to the ground. The Dragoness quickly jumped back up to see Cynder less than a foot away from her. Ember released a barrage of swings at Cynder, but the Black Dragoness quickly dodged each and every one of them. Ember quickly pushed Cynder back. When Cynder got closer to the Pink Dragoness, Ember looked up and released what were seemingly sparklers into the sky, when landing to the ground created a minor explosion sending smaller versions in all directions. The Black Dragoness thought it was time to finish the fight. Cynder's eyes began to glow red. Sparx went to whisper into the ear of Flame.
"You might want to cover your ears." Flame quickly did so, suddenly Cynder released a siren scream to Ember. The Pink Dragoness stood shaking in place out of fear. She tried to move, but looked at Cynder and could feel her heart rate increase. She felt as if she was going to pass out, eventually falling to the ground. Cynder stopped her Siren Scream, and Flame quickly ran to Ember and helped her up from the ground.
"Are you alright?" Ember seemed to still be trembling.
"Yeah." The Dragoness whispered beginning to calm down. "Yeah, I'm fine." Ember shook her head. She was no longer filled with fear, but was left with a massive headache. The Dragoness cursed herself in her mind for losing the fight. Soon both Ember and Flame lined up next to each other in front of Terrador.
"Flame, you must improve upon or gain some defensive strategies. Ember, while you hold a strong defense, your offense needs improvement. You two will have the next two hours to yourselves, then you need to continue your training for the day with Volteer." Flame rolled his eyes to the idea.
"Great, more books." The Red Dragon wasn't very successful when working through books. Much of the time the Dragon relies on Ember to help him understand the concepts.
"See you all tomorrow, you are excused." The Dragons turned to make their way out of the training room. "Oh, and before I forget." They all quickly looked back to the Guardian. "Dragons will begin arriving over the next week and a half for the Choros. It will start tomorrow." All four Dragons looked at Terrador surprised that they would be arriving as early as the next day. They all nodded before leaving the room. Ember continuedly would make a glance at Spyro as the left the Temple. Sparx noticed this and began to whisper into the ear of Spyro.
"She seems tense." The Purple Dragon looked over to Ember, she responded with a smile as well as a flirtatious wave. Spyro ignored this and moved on next to Cynder. Spyro thought in his mind of how Ember continuedly made attempts to get the Dragon to love Ember. The Purple Dragon chose to be honest with himself within his mind. He was attracted to Ember, but he still thought of her as more of a friend, and he loved Cynder there was nothing in the world that could change that. Spyro and Cynder quickly left the temple to begin their morning walk that they would have every day. Still walking out of the temple were Flame and Ember. The Red Dragon walked alongside with Ember.
"Cynder is not making this easy for me."
"What isn't she making easy?" Flame looked at Ember.
"Getting to Spyro." Ember looked at the Red Dragon walking alongside her.
"Well, they do love each other."
"I love Spyro, I have to try." Ember sighed. "I think my last chance to get Spyro is about to come up." Flame clocked his head to Ember. "The Choros, remember?"
"Oh, right. Well, I'm sure that you've got it under control." The Red Dragon avoided showing his true feelings of Ember. Truly the Red Dragon had a crush on the Pink Dragoness, he always has since he first met her. "If you need anything just let me know." Ember gave a smile to the Red Dragon.
"Thanks, flame."
"Hey, Spyro over here," Sparx called out to the Purple Dragon that was walking next to Cynder.
"What do you need Sparx?" The Purple Dragon ran up to the Dragonfly whom was flying just in front of the entrance to a forest.
"We haven't really done anything in a while, so let's go check out this forest. There ought to be something in here."
"Yeah, let's go," Cynder spoke up before Spyro had the chance.
"Alright, well lead the way Purple boy." They all spent much of their day traversing through the forest. They would play games, moving farther inland. Much of the day passed by, they all eventually reached a swamp.
"It feels like we've been here before." The Purple Dragon looked around curiously.
"I don't recognize it." Cynder looked around.
"I gotta agree with the fat one. It feels like we've been here." Spyro rolled his eyes to his brother.
"Great this again," Spyro mumbled under his breath. The Dragons, as well as the Dragonfly, made their way through the swamp. "Is this what I think this is?" Spyro looked to his foster brother.
"If you think that we are in a swamp then yes." They continued on, Spyro and Sparx went passed a tree and stared in awe. In front of them flew around many Dragonflies, one familiar green and red one flew up to the two brothers.
"Is that you Spyro?"
"Mom?"
The Pink Dragoness walked in the open plains outside of the Dragon City. She continued to think of Spyro, it seemed to be one of the only things ever on her mind. While she was walking, she could he the rustling of a bush not too far from her from the nearby forest. The Dragoness walked to the bush with her claws out ready to attack. A fire began to build up from the back of her throat.
"Please don't hurt me, I mean you no harm." There was a raspy voice coming from the bush.
"Show yourself." From the bush emerged the head of a brown Dragon, it seemed scarred and hurt.
"Please, I need help." Ember relaxed, sheathing her claws.
"Come with me, there is a nearby city, we have healers."
"No, I can't." Ember looked confused to the strange Dragon.
"Why not?"
"My tribe would kill me for entering your city, or even speaking to you." The Pink Dragoness entered the forest where the stranger hid. The Dragon had no arms but relied on its wings for front support. There were cuts, bruises, and scars all over the Dragons body.
"Oh, my goodness. Is there anything that I can do?"
"I need to get home."
"Where is home, how do I get there."
"The Purple Dragon has been there, it is within the enchanted forest. Do you know the Purple Dragon?"
"Spyro? Yeah, I know him."
"Can you please bring this Spyro. He is the only one that can help." Ember nodded in understanding.
"I'll go get him right now." The Pink Dragoness turned to take off into Warfang.
"No!" Ember turned looking curiously at the Dragon. "The sunlight burns my eyes, I can barely see you now. Can you bring him at night?" Ember nodded to the stranger. "Also, please don't tell anyone that you found me here except for the Purple Dragon. I don't want my people to find me asking for help from the Dragons of Warfang." Ember nodded again and took off into the sky. The strange Dragon returned into the bush, awaiting the arrival of the Purple Dragon.
"I'm so happy to see that my boys are ok!" The Dragonfly hugged Spyro on his snout before hugging Sparx. Spyro smiled, his foster mother was still well. Cynder stared from behind the two brothers with eyes of confusion.
"Hold on, Spyro is this-"
"Home." Spyro interrupted Cynder before she could finish speaking.
"And who is this lovely Dragoness you've brought with you?" Spyros foster mother, Nina, was looking at Cynder.
"This is Cynder," Spyro exclaimed proudly.
"Well come you three." Nina looked at the two brothers. "I'm sure your father would like to see you." Spyro's and Sparx's eyes quickly widened.
She began flying away, with Spyro and Sparx following close behind. Spyro looked back to see Cynder standing still looking around shyly.
"Come-on Cynder!" Spyro was looking at the Dragoness, she quickly snapped out of her trance and ran up next to Spyro. She observed the area looking around seeing the many Dragonflies flying about. They eventually took notice to the Dragons walking through, and all stared in awe.
"Welcome back Spyro!" Many of them called out to the Purple Dragon. Cynder looked around shyly.
"So, this is where you grew up." Cynder looked to the Purple Dragon walking next to her.
"Yup, born and raised. I just don't remember there being as many Dragonflies as there are now." Spyro looked to the Dragoness, and saw how tense she was.
"Something wrong Cynder?"
"No, not at all."
"Then lighten up a bit." Cynder smiled to the Dragon. "There we go." Spyro smiled. He looked ahead and saw that his foster mother and brother were up ahead. "Come-on Cynder, I want you to meet my Dad." Spyro took off in a run with Cynder. It didn't take long to reach the place that Spyro once lived. When they got there, they saw Spyro's foster father give a hug to the Purple Dragon's brother.
"Spyro!" Flash quickly flew up to Spyro and hugged him on his snout. "It's good to see you, savior of the world." There was a smile of pride on Flash's face.
"Wait how did you know? "
"Spyro, when someone saves the world, word travels quickly. I'm just glad that you managed to do it and live." Flash looked behind The Purple Dragon and saw Cynder onto them timidly. "And who is this that you brought with you Spyro?"
"This is Cynder." The Dragonfly seemed to inspect her for a moment. It was obvious that he knew of her past when she was corrupted by Malefor.
"Well if you like her then she's good by me." The cheeks of both Dragons turned to red. The Dragonfly smiled, then flew back looking at his sons. "Welcome back you two." Sparx was obviously excited to be back in his home.
"You three must have some stories to tell with how long you've been gone. I'll get some Dinner ready, and then you can tell us all about it." Nina smiled to the Dragons. "Go show your girlfriend around." Again, their cheeks turned red, and Spyro shot a glance at his foster mother. They soon left, Sparx chose to stay with his parents for the time being. Cynder relaxed a bit and was rather observant of the area. She noticed the river just outside of the home of Spyro's foster parents.
"So that's where you were born?" Cynder was looking at the river, Spyro soon did the same.
"Yeah, they even made a small carving into the ground where I was born." Spyro walked over to the river and eventually stopped looking down at the dirt. "It was right here." Cynder walked by Spyro and looked down, in the carving it showed a baby Dragon in an egg whom was obviously Spyro. They turned around to see at least forty Dragonflies grouped up right in front of them, most of them children. The Dragonflies observed the Dragons as if they were antiques. Spyro wasn't sure what to do, he simply waved. "Hi there." All of the Dragonflies took a bow to Spyro and Cynder. The two Dragons looked around in confusion.
"Thank you for saving the world, for saving us." They all said simultaneously they quickly returned to what they were originally doing before the Dragons arrived. Spyro and Cynder looked around confused. They then moved on and Spyro showed Cynder around what was once his home. Many memories of the games that Spyro and Sparx would play when they were little when Spyro first discovered his powers, and when he found out that he wasn't even a Dragonfly, went through his mind. After some time of looking around his old home, Spyro along with Cynder returned to Flash and Nina, the foster parents of Spyro. Nina appeared to have prepared what looked like a feast. While she wasn't a Dragon herself she knew what Dragons liked to eat. They all sat and ate the meal.
"So Spyro, tell us where you and Sparx have been all these years," Spyro explained everything that happened since he left his home of the swamp. Consisting of his powers, Ignitus and the other guardians, he explained what happened to Cynder, and how she returned to her natural state, the Chronicler, and why Spyro and Sparx went unheard of for three years, the time crystal. Everything leading up to how Spyro and Cynder defeated Malefor. "My goodness, you three have been through so much." Spyro's foster mother looked at Cynder. "I'm glad that Spyro saw through the monster that corrupted you. I know we haven't known each other long, Cynder, but I think you and Spyro will be excellent together." The Dragoness smiled to Nina. Spyro's foster mother then looked to her foster son. "And thank you Spyro for holding up your promise." The Dragon gave a confused look to Nina. "Remember, before you set out to find where you came from, I told you to be yourself. It's all any of us can do." The memory surged through the mind of the Dragon. "Well, it's getting late, we should probably go to bed. I can make a bed for you two if you want." Nina was looking at the Dragons.
"We appreciate it, but we need to get back to…" Spyro interrupted the Dragoness.
"Cynder, I'm sure the guardians won't mind if we spend the night."
"Ok, Spyro." The Purple Dragon turned to his foster mother.
"It's fine, you don't need to make us a bed."
"If you're sure." Spyro nodded.
"Sparx you can go up to your room, we haven't touched it since you two left." Flash looked to his son whom yawned. Sparx flew up to his brother.
"See ya tomorrow Spyro, and don't try anything." Sparx glanced at Cynder just as he said this. Spyro looked as if he was going to kill his brother. The Purple Dragon smiled and fire began to build up in the back of his throat. "Woah, whoa! Ok, I'm going, see ya tomorrow big boy." Sparx quickly flew into his room and shut the door. The Dragons and Dragonflies left in the room laughed. Both of Spyro's foster parents told Spyro goodnight before entering their own room.
"So, where are we sleeping Spyro."
"Follow me, and I'll show you." Spyro ran out, and into the Swamp with Cynder following closely behind.
"Spyro, where are we going?" Cynder called out to the Purple Dragon.
"You'll see in just a minute." Spyro smiled and then began to run faster. Soon the two Dragons ascended what seemed like a small hill, but truly they were on top of a mountain. They could see the entire landscape. The land has healed since the attacks of Malefor, and rather than what was previously brown and barren now was green.
"Wow," Cynder exclaimed aloud. "It's beautiful."
"I thought you would like it." Both Dragons were smiling, they turned their heads and stared at the landscape, then the stars, and then the moon. Cynder cuddled up against Spyro.
"Goodnight Spyro."
"Goodnight Cynder." Both Dragons closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.