Nearly 5 months have passed and Spyro has quickly made a full recovery thanks to Ember. During these months, there were no other attacks or even sightings from any Wyverns. Occasionally there would be a stray Giblin that would walk into the fields but would be quickly taken care of by the guards, and finally, after many months of demanding work, the city had finally been entirely repaired. Flame and Ember have learned much in their training, Ember had managed to make significant progress while dueling against Cynder and even came close to winning a few times, though Flame, much to his irritation, had seemed to make no progress at all. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even come close to beating Spyro or even get a hit on him half the time.
Spyro had not heard from Ignitus at all, because of this himself, and the guardians assumed that there were no more threats and chose to remove the added defenses. Spyro also hasn't heard much of anything in terms of Sparx. Occasionally he would get a message delivered from Hunter, but nothing more. During all of this time, Spyro and Ember grew to be close friends. Cynder despised the idea, but since then Ember has stopped with the flirting, but nevertheless, Cynder still didn't trust Ember around Spyro and would have constant vigilance when she was with her beloved Purple Dragon.
Terrador chose to move the schedule up for the duels, so now with half of the day gone the Dragonlings gather in the courtyard. The Red Dragonling, however, hoped that he would finally be able to at least come close to beating Spyro, but in the back of his mind, he knew that he didn't have a chance. It wasn't that Flame wanted to beat Spyro in a fight, it was more him wanting to prove himself to Ember, and in his mind, the only way to do that was to beat Spyro. Even because of this Spyro and Flame remain close friends.
Ember was talking to Spyro, and occasionally the Pink Dragoness would look to her left and see the cold, watchful stare of Cynder. It wasn't threatening, or hateful, but was very calm, and relaxed surprisingly. Terrador was late, and after several minutes of Cynder watching Spyro and Ember, she eventually moved to talk with Flame.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Terrador walked to the center of the courtyard, almost gleefully.
"Hello young Dragons, I do apologize for being so late, myself and the other guardians had some matters to attend to," Terrador said, with the largest of smiles, obviously trying to hide it, not very well though.
"Do you mind telling us?" Spyro asked with an expression of anticipation.
"Of course, Young Dragon. It was only a report from Hunter his eagles have been scouting across the lands and has found what we've been looking for."
"What are you looking for?" Cynder asked curiously. Terrador looked down anxiously.
"It is no matter, either way, I'm sure you all will learn of it in the coming future." Terrador's smile seemed to dissipate, now that he was focused again. "Let us begin." Terrador stepped to the back of the courtyard, to his usual spot. "Spyro, and Flame, please step up." The two young Dragons took to their fighting stance.
Flame had a playful smile. "You ready to lose, Spyro?"
The Purple Dragon chuckled. "We'll see."
"Begin!" Terrador shouted. Almost instantly Flame rolled to the left while releasing a series of fire attacks. Spyro quickly dodged one attack, then two, then three. One more blast shot at Spyro, he tried his best to get out of the way but was hit by the fireball. Spyro being slightly dazed quickly shook his head and rushed back into the action. Flame finally had finished his barrage attack and was thanking the ancestors that he actually managed to hit Spyro, in his mind. Though he didn't have much time to do so, Spyro charged at Flame, the Red Dragon didn't have enough time to dodge so instead he charged as well. Their horns clashed. They pushed and pushed, and somehow in almost exact synchronization released a blast of fire to the ground and performed a backflip to the sky.
Cynder watched in amazement. It was almost like it was a show.
They both landed, Spyro not hesitating released a stream of fire. Flame again took off to the sky, the fire only followed him, and with every passing second, the fire got closer. The Red Dragon circled around Spyro for several moments while the Purple Dragon was still releasing the fire. Once Flame was directly above Spyro he performed a dive bomb. While diving down he breathed several fireballs going directly down onto Spyro. Just in the nick of time, Spyro rolled out of the way, but Flame wasn't so lucky. He was flying straight down into the ground. He strained every muscle in his body to pull up, and only inches away from hitting the ground he straightened out and was flying just above the ground. He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief. The Red Dragon circled around, and his focus was back on Spyro. Flame landed in front of Spyro. The Purple Dragon started a barrage attack consisting of several fireballs. Flame rolled out of the way dodging most of the attacks, but another 3 was heading his way. There was nothing more to do than to simply cover himself with his wing. The first blast made impact with his wing only stinging Flame, the second hurt a lot more, Flame could barely keep his wing up, the third one blasted against his wing and burned worse than any other pain Flame ever experienced. On contact Flame dropped his wing, he couldn't even raise it back up. Though Flame didn't notice a fourth fireball heading his way.
"Look out!" Spyro called out. Flame quickly raised his head up and saw the burning ball of fire and ash flying directly at him. Flame covered himself with his other wing, to soak up the blast. The fireball hit his wing with much more force and power than any of the previous ones, and seemed to make a mini explosion on impact. Spyro saw the look of pain on Flame and cringed. The Purple Dragon quickly ran over to Flame.
"Are you ok?" Spyro asked as he helped Flame move to the side of the courtyard.
"I've done worse to myself." Flame said with a smile. Ember looked at him worriedly, she noticed his wings dragging across the ground.
"Will he be ok?" Ember asked.
"He'll be fine." Cynder said. "His wings just aren't used to getting hit like that, they'll be sore, but he should be able to use them in a few minutes." Ember breathed a sigh of relief as she walked to the center of the courtyard. Terrador though didn't seem concerned, instead he actually looked satisfied with the results. Cynder and Ember watched each other very closely, trying to predict what the first move will be
"Begin!" Terrador shouted. After what only seemed like a nanosecond Cynder released a glob of poison. Ember quickly dodged to the side and shot out a powerful fire ball. Just before Cynder was blasted she turned to the shadows. Ember kept a watchful eye, looking for the slightest movement in the shadow, but there was nothing. Several seconds passed, she couldn't even hear anything.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Flame asked, starting to regain control over his wings.
"I don't know." Spyro said worriedly. Though he didn't have to worry for long, Cynder emerged from the exact same spot she was in before, but only for a moment. The Black Dragoness charged with what seemed almost like rocket speed at Ember. The Pink Dragoness surrounded herself with fire, if Cynder was going to hit her at least the Black Dragoness would feel it. Sure enough, Cynder charged right into Ember's gut, though still trying to avoid stabbing Ember with her horns. Ember got the wind blown out of her and was sent nearly 3 feet back. She felt very dizzy, and her vision was all a blur, Cynder didn't get off easy either though, the fire Ember surrounded herself with burned the Black Dragoness, and caused her to shriek in pain. Both were unable to do anything for several seconds, Ember trying to breath, and Cynder did everything she could to get rid of the pain, to no success. Spyro's entire instinct said to go blast some ice on Cynder's face, but he was not allowed to interfere. Cynder was the first to recover, her eyes turned blood red, claws extended, teeth unsheathed. Spyro and Flame covered their ears, as well as Ember, but there was no shriek, though Cynder still seemed to be focusing to an extreme level. After a few moments, a floating red sphere appeared out of thin air. The sphere slowly made its way to Ember. The Pink Dragoness tried to move but still had some trouble breathing. She quickly realized what she needed to do. Ember herself started to focus all her power. Her necklace started to glow red, she could feel her strength returning. The orb crept closer and closer. Ember kept her distance from it, but she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. The orb wasn't doing anything, except for moving to Ember at a snail's pace.
"Is that really the best you can do Cynder?" Ember asked. Cynder gained a large smirk. The orb started to move at lightning speed, Ember had no clue what to do, she started to run but the orb already caught up to her. The orb exploded, creating a loud, higher pitched scream. Ember fell to the ground, her ears were ringing. Cynder confidently walked up to the Pink Dragoness's collapsed body and looked down.
"Got anything else to say?" The Black Dragoness said with a cocky attitude. Ember didn't move a muscle, Cynder began to worry that she did something terribly wrong. Cynder took a few steps closer, suddenly Ember's eyes shot open, she blasted Cynder with several fireballs. The Black Dragoness was more surprised than hurt. Cynder was sent several feet back from the blasts, Ember stood up, though she still seemed dazed from the red ball known as Phantom's fright. Once Cynder finally realized what happened she thought it was time to give Ember a taste of her own medicine. The Pink Dragoness charged, Cynder quickly and purposefully dodged in the direction of a shadowy area. Ember then released another fire blast, and Cynder dodged, then she released another blast, again Cynder dodged, the Black Dragoness crept closer and closer to the shadows, while also trying to get Ember In there to. The Pink Dragoness grew irritated and charged again just as she entered the center of the shadowy corner of the room Cynder disappeared. It didn't take long for Ember to figure out what was happening. She ran as fast as she could out of the shadows but before she could Cynder suddenly appeared right in front of her. The Black Dragoness released a twister of wind. Ember was sucked up into the twister while releasing a stream of fire, creating a fire tornado. Cynder quickly got out of harm's way before she was sucked into the fire twister. After a few moments it vanished into air, causing Ember to fall to the ground. She was somewhat burned by the fire, but not badly. The Black Dragoness moved closer.
"I believe that is enough." Terrador said. Cynder nodded and moved to help Ember. Cynder noticed Ember's necklace begin to glow red. Most of the burns were gone, but she still remained tired and exhausted. After a few moments, she managed to get up with Cynder's help.
Flame and Ember gathered in front of Terrador while Spyro and Cynder talked and watched from the side. "Well done, you two have both shown quite an increase of skill since our last duel." Terrador turned his head. "Flame, you are beginning to show a significant amount of improvement," Terrador smiled, "but there are other ways to defend against an attack other than using your wing." Flame rolled his eyes while Terrador turned to Ember. "Ember, you are showing excellent improvement, but you continuously become over-confident. Never under estimate your opponent, and never assume you know everything they can do." The Pink Dragoness nodded. "You are dismissed." They all started to make their way out of the courtyard, with Spyro and Cynder far behind.
Spyro chuckled. "I think you overdid it a bit." Spyro said with a grin.
"Why do you say that?"
"You used Phantom fright and a fire tornado, a little overkill." Cynder smiled.
"I guess so." The two Dragons left the courtyard, with Flame and Ember far ahead. "I'm gonna go lay down or a bit, I feel pretty tired."
"Alright Cynder, when you get up you wanna go do something?" Spyro asked.
"Sounds like a plan Spyro."
"Cyril really is taking his time isn't he." Flame said with an irritated tone.
"I guess the guardians are just busy today." Ember said calmly. They both have been waiting for several minutes in Cyril's chamber. It was shaped like a circle, though it was very difficult to tell. The room was very cluttered, and had many bookshelves. After several moments of silence, they both started to observe some of the decorations. On the walls hung pictures of Ice Dragons, and documents describing victories of the Dragons, by Ice Dragons, and conveniently most of them described Cyril's victories.
"Wow, he really is full of himself." Flame said surprisingly.
Ember chuckled. "No joke."
"Did you say something?" Of course, Cyril walked in the room.
"Uhm, no I think Ember said something, what'd you say Ember something about someone being full of them self, right?" Flame said with a wink and a smile.
Ember rolled her eyes. "No sir, we didn't say anything." The Ice Dragon eyed the Dragonlings very carefully while walking by.
"Very well, young Dragons." Cyril took a seat next to a pile of books, and breathed a sigh of exhaustion. "Anyway, I apologize for my lateness. Today we are going to go over a more advanced tactic, the comet dash. It is a common attack, yet somewhat difficult to perform. The comet dash is a flaming, ramming attack, that allows you to charge at one at beyond regular speeds with incredible force. If you've been paying attention during your duels, you would have noticed that it is an ability that Spyro frequently makes use of." Cyril turned and grabbed two books between his jaws and set them in front of Flame and Ember. "Use these to get started. I have much work to attend to, so only come to me if you have questions that you can't figure out yourself or from each other. Now, get started. You may use the training room." Ember and Flame both scrambled to grab their book. Once they managed to grab the remarkably thick book they made their way to the training room, again noticing the unusual number of documents going over ice Dragons.
Once Flame and Ember got to the training room they both dropped the book down and opened it. After a few minutes of studying the material they began to attempt the comet dash. Ember after several minutes of practice, was able to perform the dash to the point where she could create some of the fire and charge, but she wasn't able to lift up her legs and go at the speed of a bullet, like Spyro, or even relatively close to him. Flame however, couldn't do it at all. He could certainly charge, but nothing more. No fire, no speed, they didn't even feel like they were getting close. Not feeling discouraged they both continued. Ember edged closer, and closer to being able to perform the dash, but still Flame couldn't manage to do it. He tried several things, he lifted his legs while in the middle like Spyro did, all that caused was a face full of rock. He tried to create a layer of fire in front of him when he would dash, that didn't work. After a while he tried to get help from Ember, and she truly did that best that she possibly could, but again, nothing. About 2 hours passed, and Cyril (again falling behind schedule) walked into the training room. The Dragonlings noticed the Blue Dragon walking in, and stopped what they were doing immediately. The candidates quickly noticed Cyril's facial expression. He seemed to be somewhat strained or irritated. They both just assumed that Cyril has been overworked lately. Like the candidates, Cyril also noted the looks of frustration on the Young Dragons, though his attention was mostly drawn to Flame.
"Ember, how much progress have you made so far?" The Ice Dragon asked, with a brighter attitude. Ember seemed to look around for a moment, not knowing if what she's done so far is good or bad.
"I can perform it about half way, sir."
"Could you please demonstrate?" Cyril asked. Ember nodded and faced towards the opposite side of the courtyard. She emptied all other thoughts to focus. She began to charge, a moment later fire erupted surrounding her, moving much faster than most can normally. While her feet still remained on the ground, and she couldn't go as fast most should while performing the ability, Cyril was still greatly satisfied with her progress. Once she reached the other end of the courtyard she took to flight and flew back to her original standing point. Once she landed Flame rolled his eyes and smiled.
"Showoff." He whispered to Ember, jokingly.
"Well done Ember!" Cyril said with a smile. "Now, Flame-" The Red Dragon's nerves instantly kicked in. He's been given two hours to learn one attack, and he hasn't made any progress. Whereas the Dragoness that he's competing with can already almost do it. Do I even have a chance of becoming guardian? Flame thought to himself, and knowing what's happened in the past few hours, and the past few months, he comes to the same conclusion, no. "FLAME!" Cyril yelled at the top of his lungs. Flame quickly jumped up, at least 3 feet high. "Are you even paying attention?" Cyril said, sounding as if he were ready to commit a slaughter.
"I'm sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind, my apologies."
"Mhmm." Cyril eyed the Dragon very carefully. "Your apology is accepted, just know that I will not tolerate another act like that again, understood?" Flame nodded, devoting all his focus to Cyril. "As I was saying, how much progress have you made?"
"Uhm, well, not really any." Cyril looked down curiously. Surely he must have made at least some progress, thought Cyril.
"Could you demonstrate?" Cyril asked.
"I can try." He said with an unsure voice. Like Ember he turned around and faced the opposite side of the Courtyard. He took in a deep breath, and again removed all thoughts. He only had one thing in mind, the comet dash. Flame planted his feet down, ready to charge. Will I actually be able to do this? Flame thought to himself. Flame charged with all his might, speed, and will power, and sure enough, just as he thought, nothing. Flame only cut through air and no fire, and ran with the speed of only a mere Giblin. He reached the other side and sighed, disappointedly. He slowly walked back to Cyril, as if he was going down a walk of shame. He cursed himself in every way possible within his thoughts. Cyril could see the look of frustration, shame, and disappointment on Flames face, as if it were glowing with the light of the sun. Ember however looked at Flame feeling bad. She knew Flame truly did put 100%, no 200% in every day, before, during, and after training, though still he struggles. Flame after a few moments noticed them looking at him and clearly cleared up his act. He shook his head and walked very casually to Cyril.
"Flame, what's wrong?" Cyril asked.
"Nothing, I'm just trying to figure out what I did wrong." Flame said informingly.
"Say what you wish, though your face shows otherwise." Flame opened his mouth to speak but was again interrupted by Cyril. "You will have more time to practice tomorrow. You need to understand Flame, there are some things that you will not understand immediately, the Comet Dash is not a very easily performed attack, it even took Spyro quite some practice to learn it. Only after being personally trained by Ignitus, a very powerful Dragon, was he able to fully unlock the ability of fire. You however have not been given that opportunity, though you will learn sooner or later. Maybe ask Spyro for help." Somehow Flame felt better, he was no longer beating himself up over not being able to perform the task. He smiled.
"Thanks Master Cyril." Cyril felt himself grin for the first time that day.
"You two are excused, and the books are yours to keep." Flame and Ember together nodded and picked up their books within their jaws. They left the Courtyard in a rush, and said their goodbyes to Cyril for the day.
"ka ko meh rum" Ember looked to her side with wide eyes. Ember raised a brow. "E em ko mee ruhm." Ember set her book down.
"What?" Flame spat his book out of his mouth.
"I'm going to go put this book in my room." He said, exasperatedly.
"Oh." Ember said. "Was that so hard to say?" She said with a smile. Flame rolled his eyes and looked down at his book.
"Once I put this away I'm gonna try and get some help from Spyro." Flame reached down with his jaws and picked up the book.
"Ok, see you in a bit, Flame."
Flame tried to say, see you Ember but all that came out was, "phse ayh Eymer." Ember chuckled as Flame took to the skies.
Flame enjoyed his flight back to his room. The wind blowing against his scales was relaxing, he felt relieved after going through the stress of training. After a few disappointingly short minutes of flight Flame got to his room. His room looked just like Ember's, just not counting pictures, and especially the organization. It truly was a mess. There were books, and papers spread around everywhere, and the new book only added to the pile. Still, it was cozy, and comfortable. There was a lot more space to move around, the fire's nice to be near, especially with Winter coming so soon. Maybe I can just stay here for a little bit? Flame thought to himself, but quickly shook it out of his head. Even though Flame wanted to relax, he needed to get some help from Spyro. Though he still felt bad, normally Spyro and Cynder would spend training with Flame and Ember and help where they could, though today was one of the few days that they got to relax.
"I'm sure they won't mind, it should only be a few minutes anyway." He whispered to himself before jumping out his room and into the skies. A few more minutes of a relaxing flight passed until he finally got to Spyro's room. Flame flew into Spyro's room through the balcony, unannounced. Spyro was reading a book, like usual. The Purple Dragon quickly jerked his head up
"Oh, hey Flame." Spyro said calmly.
"Hey Spyro, I need your help with something."
"What is it?"
"I've been having trouble with doing the Comet Dash, could you teach me?"
"Yeah, sure. Let's go!" Spyro said excitedly, as he got up.
"Thanks a lot, Spyro, and sorry about bursting into your room like that." Flame said, sincerely.
"Don't worry about it Flame, you don't need my permission to come here, my doors, or, well my balcony, is open to you whenever you like."
"Wow, thanks Spyro."
"Don't mention it." Spyro said with a smile.
Just a few short moments later they both leaped out of the balcony and soared over the vast city of Warfang.
"So, where are we going?" Flame asked.
"Let's go outside the walls, there's a lot more open space to work with." Spyro informed. Their wings spread wide, flying over the city. Soon they both landed not too far away from the wall.
"So, what do I do?" Flame asked.
"Thing is Flame, I never had to study the directions to learn the comet dash, I learned it from Ignitus, and he mostly just showed me and that was it, so I'm gonna do the same." Spyro planted his feet firmly against the ground, his claws scratching the very earth. Facing to the opposite side of the wall, towards the open field. Flame eyed him very carefully, seeing the Purple Dragon's stance. Spyro opened his eyes and leaped, as if he were flying, but he didn't use his wings. It seemed like he was going to hit the ground, but then fire erupted around him and he reached lightning speeds going at least 30 feet out. Even Spyro was amazed, he'd never gone that far out in the past. The Purple Dragon turned around, and did the same, returning to the very spot he was in before. Flame caught every action, every movement, everything that could be noticed the naked eye.
"How do I get the fire though?" Flame asked.
"Even though it looks like it appears out of thin air, I still use my breath for it, it's just you have to do it at a same time to get the fire to surround you and move you."
About 30 minutes of time passed consisting of explanations, examples, and more. Flame believed that he understood, it all made since, and truly he had done things very similar to a comet dash back home, which is what irritated him the most. Something he would normally get the hang of within a moment, he could barely get a remote understanding now.
"Giblin spotted!" A mole shouted from the wall. Both Spyro and Flame jerked their heads back and saw a Giblin wander out from the forest. "Aim your bows!"
"Wait!" Spyro shouted.
"Halt!" The same voice shouted. "Is something wrong?" The mole asked now looking down at Spyro. It was Mason. Seems like someone's gotten quite the promotion, Spyro thought to himself.
"We'll take care of the Giblin!" Mason nodded.
"Return to your posts!" The Mole shouted.
"Thanks Mason!" Spyro quickly turned around. "Now or never Flame, go get him." The Red Dragon turned around, filled with confidence. He planted his feet deep and firmly against the ground. Focused directly on the unsuspecting Giblin. Flame got a feeling that he hadn't had before. He leaped, and waited for the exact moment, in fact, he had timed when to do it. He released a blast of fire, he was going to do it! The fire surrounded him, he was just a moment away from catching up to the Giblin, from doing the Comet Dash. Then all of a sudden, a splitting pain hit his chest, or really his entire body. He got no speed what so ever from the fire, in fact he had landed directly on the ground, like a trust fall gone wrong. Spyro sighed, he too was sure that Flame was going to do it, and honestly Spyro couldn't figure out what Flame did wrong, it was perfect, down to the last detail. Without too much time to dwell on it Spyro took flight and flew up by at least 20 feet and performed at diving attack, going straight at the Giblin, but surrounded by fire. He'd never moved so fast, it seemed like he could even catch Cynder. The Giblin got drilled into the ground on impact, and got hit hard enough to kill him. It was spectacular to watch. Spyro flew back to Flame and helped his friend up. "You ok Flame?" The Red Dragon nodded, then sighed.
"I don't know what I did wrong, do you know?" Flame desperately asked.
"Honestly Flame, I have no clue what you did wrong, it was perfect." This did not help Flame's case at all. In fact it made him feel worse, was he too weak to perform a simple attack? Again, Flame sighed.
"Well thanks anyway Spyro, sorry for wasting your time."
"Flame, don't just give up. Try back-tracking a little. You may be going a little to advanced, so in your books go back maybe a couple chapters and work your way back up." Flame nodded.
"Thanks, Spyro."
"No problem and let me know if you need any more help." Spyro said happily. Flame nodded and took off over the wall, no longer to be seen.
"I haven't seen Flame since training, have either of you seen him?" Ember asked Spyro and Cynder. Most of the day is gone and it has become dark out. The Dragonlings are eating their dinner, and are soon ending their day.
"He asked me to help him with doing the comet dash but that was a few hours ago." Spyro said.
"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Ember asked.
"Maybe he just called it a night and went to bed early." Cynder said.
"Alright, I hope everything is ok."
"What did something happen?" Cynder asked.
"No, he just seemed stressed out. Training today was tough on him."
"Oh, well, we've all been there." Cynder said with a smile. Ember and Spyro chuckled before continuing to eat their meal. In the end, they all finished their meals and said their good-nights, though Ember still had a gaping feeling, like something was wrong, though she tried to ignore this feeling, as it was rather unpleasant. She continued along and got to her room and cleaned up a little bit. Many of the paintings had been taken down and replaced with diagrams and pages from training. Once everything was cleaned up she put out her fire in the fireplace and laid down over her heavenly pile of pillows. She closed her eyes. After a few moments, there seemed to be a rather distinct noise, though very quiet, like it was far away. The Pink Dragonesses eyes shot open she knew that no matter how long she tried, if she didn't know what it was that was making the noise she would never get any sleep. So, Ember got up and peaked her head out her balcony. After a few moments of listening she heard the direction the noise was coming from. She quickly focused in that general area and waited. Bright flashes of a yellow light glew bright. They were in no pattern, in fact they seemed to be done at random. Curiosity enveloped the Young Dragoness. Ember jumped from her balcony and soared over many buildings until she found the one it was coming from. It wasn't a building, it was the courtyard. Maybe the Guardians are doing something, Ember thought, but she had to make sure. She soared closer and closer, it appeared to be flashes of fire, but not just any fire like from a torch. She carefully and silently landed behind one of the columns, whomever it was on the other side had no idea that she was there. Ember slowly and carefully peaked her head out from the column and saw the back of a Dragon, doing several different attacks. The Dragon turned, and Ember quickly flew her head back behind the column. She waited a few more moments before poking her head back out. It was Flame, he now was facing towards the side. Ember took a step out, towards the Fire Dragon. Just as Ember took a step a massive stream of fire went directly in her direction. She quickly ducked, while she didn't get burned, she could still feel the heavy heat of the fire.
"Flame, it's me!" Flame quickly realized what he's done, and stopped the stream of fire.
"I'm so sorry Ember." He said as he ran towards the Pink Dragoness. He helped her to stand back up.
"It's fine Flame." She paused. "What are you doing out here? It's already past midnight!"
"Practicing." Flame said plainly. Ember noticed a massive pile of books to the side of the courtyard. They were all books that contained attacks, defenses, stances, strategies, and much more. One pile had about 6 books, and the other about 3.
"How long have you been at this?" Ember asked.
"Since Spyro got done helping me, so like 45 minutes after training." Flame said, returning to his exercises.
"What's with all the books?" Ember also asked.
"Those are all the books we've been using since we've gotten here, the one on the right are the ones I've already gone over." Ember looked at him curiously.
"All the ones you've gone over since we've gotten, here right?" She asked concerningly. Flame shook his head. "Today?" He nodded. "Alright Flame, you need to get some sleep." The Red Dragon seemed to ignore her. "Flame!" Ember shouted.
"What Ember?!" He spun around, discontinuing his training, and looking Ember in the eye clearly on edge and irritated.
"You need to get some sleep."
"I'm not leaving until I can do the comet dash."
"Flame, you're acting like a Hatchling Flame, it's just one attack, one move that you haven't gotten, I haven't gotten, and even took Spyro some time to learn, so what's the big fuss?" Ember said, stomping her foot to the ground. Flame huffed a breath of annoyance.
"You want to know what the big fuss is Ember? I used to be able to do a comet dash like it was nothing back home, I did it all the time!"
"Maybe you just forgot." Ember pointed out.
"Maybe if this wasn't the only case, but it's has been happening to me since we first got here. I feel weak. I'm not even clumsy, not before I got here, yet that was how I first lost to Spyro, clumsiness, I don't know what it is but ever since I got here I feel like I am a hatchling, Ember." Flame sighed, as did Ember.
"Flame, I don't know what to tell you. But I know that what you're doing now isn't going to help. All you're doing is making things worse, not sleeping, not eating, only training, you're wearing yourself out." She paused for a moment, and thought what may be happening. "Maybe, in comparison to Spyro, you feel weak, because of how powerful he is. You might have tricked yourself into believing that you are weak, so things you would normally be able to do, you can't."
"You lost me." He said with a smile.
"I really don't know Flame, I don't. But please Flame, don't do this, just go to bed, if you won't do it for yourself, would you do it for me?" Flame sighed.
"Alright, Ember." Flame grabbed a few books within his claws. "See you Ember." Flame said before grabbing the last few books within his jaws and taking flight.
Ember stayed for a few moments, just thinking. She remembered several months ago while herself and Flame had still lived in their home, during the time that the competition for guardian started. It was the last trial, the duels. Where the last two competitors of the same gender would duel to determine who would be a candidate. After Ember defeated her opponent she was dismissed by the elders, and Flame, as well as his competitor, was called. The last thing Ember could remember was looking back before leaving the room, seeing Flame comet dash the other fire dragonling, without even thinking about it, as if it were basic instinct. Ember sighed as she looked back at the courtyard, scorch marks rendered across the room, and ash spread around. Then the column Ember hid behind, Flame had burned through half of it, a massive crack rendered through the middle. Ember lost for words took flight, leaving behind the courtyard with that frightful night.