Exposition! Oh boy!

The tree branch rustled and creaked as the small dragon launched off of it. He tried to grab onto another branch not far away, but he fell short and his chest hit the branch. He dug his claws into the wood, half of his body hanging in the air. He tried to pull himself up, but unfortunately, the branch wasn't strong enough to hold him, and it snapt. "uhf!" The dragon fell to the ground with a thud, his back hitting the moist mossy ground. The branch hit his stomach and fell to the ground next to him, making a sloshing sound as it came into contact with the muddy soil.

The small purple dragon looked up into the cloud filled sky, and sighed. The small purple dragon known as Spyro, had never seen the sun before. There were always too many clouds tinted with a dull orange glow. He barely even saw the moons, but unlike the sun, there were three moons, and one of them took up half the nights sky, so they were hard to miss. Still, Spyro had always dreamed of seeing both a sunny day, and the night sky, in all there glory.

Spyro was a purple dragon, obviously, but he also had light purple spots on his back, a yellow underbelly, and yellow horns that came up, then slicked back down, and curved back up slightly at the ends. He had orangish red membranes on his crest and on his wings. The base color of his wings were yellow like his horns. He had pearly white sharp teeth and claws, along with purple eyes. Finally, at the end of his tail was a sort of roundish yellow spike, much like his horns.

Spyro pulled his back out of the muddy, mossy ground, and shook himself like a wet dog. Spyro, as you might have guest, lives in a swamp. He is also accompanied by, what you might call, his family. Two dragonflies that had adopted him after they found his egg washed up onto the riverbank outside there home, and their son, sparx. Sparx is almost exactly like a brother for Spyro. After all, they were born the same day, and were raised by the same parents. Not to mention, Sparx and Spyro behave with each other exactly the way you'd expect real brothers to. They goof around with each other, get on each others nerves, and love each other unconditionally whether they outwardly express it or not.

"Nice one Spyro! Hey, maybe lay off the frog weeds, K.? Ya now, if you didn't eat so much, you may not be so heavy." Spyro looked up to see Sparx mocking him from above the branch he'd just broken. Sparx was a yellow glowing dragonfly, but the dragonflies in this world are much different from the ones in our world. He had arms and hands, for one thing, but his face also looked slightly more humanoid. He had two distinct, noticeable eyes, and a mouth with white flat teeth. He also only had three fingers on each hand. However, he also had some of the normal characteristics of a dragonfly, like the tail, the wings, and the antennae. "ha ha, very funny…" Sparx cut Spyro off. "thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!" "all week hu? Than I guess i'll be catching you soon." Spyro gave a devious smile. "ya know, we should really work on our jokes more." Sparx seemed less than thrilled with the jokes that had just been made. "Hey! Don't blame me! Blame the writer!"

"The wha…"

"Never mind."

"… Anyway… see ya later sucker!" Sparx quickly flew away in the opposite direction. "Yeah you'd better run!" Spyro smiled and ran after Sparx.

Spyro chased Sparx over a few small hills, and across some branches for a short while, until they came to a giant snake skull that marked the entrance to a tunnel. Spyro and his family lived in a part of the swamp that was slightly separated from the rest, because the area was kind of bowl shaped. This giant snake skeleton created one of the only easy access points to the rest of the swamp, but they were never aloud to leave this slightly secluded area. "Hey were not aloud in their! That's cheating!" despite saying this, Spyro felt like he wanted to enter the tunnel. Spyro was, by nature, a very adventurous spirit. He liked exploring places he'd never seen, and he enjoyed getting into places he wasn't supposed to be. "Really? I didn't take you for the kind of guy that would be afraid to take a risk." Spyro smiled "I'm not." "well then… catch up, or give up chunky!"

Sparx flew through the teeth of the snake skull and disappeared into the tunnel. Spyro squeezed through the gap behind him and followed. It was fairly dark, but Spyro could still see where he was going, and he could see that the rib cage of the snake was what was keeping the tunnel from caving in on itself. There were drops of water falling from the ceiling, creating ripples in the water that filled about an inch of the ground. This amount of humidity probably explained why there was so much moss covering the walls and tree roots. Remember, their currently under ground, so the roots of nearby trees are crossing through the tunnel.

Spyro began moving his paws forward, creating a splashing sound in the water. "Where's that little nat gone now?" Spyro mumbled to himself. "Hey have you seen a giant purple thing around here? I seem to have lost mine." Sparx's voice broke the steady sound of water droplets. Spyro tried to creep forward, but obviously, the water on the ground made that impossible, so Spyro just ran forward instead. The tunnel was twisty and curvy, so Spyro didn't realize it until it was right in front of him, but there was a frog weed in the tunnel. "Was Sparx talking to you?" In response to Spyro's question, the frog weed shot it's tongue out at Spyro. Spyro ducked out of the way, and then jumped over the small animal. "Thanks anyway!"

Spyro exited the tunnel and saw Sparx fly right by his nose. He quickly moved his paws to try and catch Sparx, but when he opened his paws again, he found that he'd missed. Spyro looked up again and saw his friend flying around in front of him. He continued chasing Sparx around, leaping from spot to spot, wagging his tail furiously like a little puppy. Unfortunately, this moment was not going to last. There was a reason there parents didn't want them straying this far from home. Suddenly, a large figure jumped out of the trees above and grabbed the startled Sparx. The figure then turned and ran. Once Spyro's brain actually comprehended what just happened, he realized that Sparx's capturer was an ape.

"Hey! No one messes with Sparx except me! And it's hilarious when I do it!" Spyro chased the ape around a corner and skidded to a halt. In front of him was a steep cliff that was just too tall for him to climb. Atop this cliff was a much larger ape standing next to two smaller apes. In his hands he held a lantern with a burnt out candle that served as a prison for Sparx. The funny thing about this scenario, was that Sparx glowed brightly enough to serve as a real light source for the lantern. "Ha ha ha! Nice lamp!" Spyro laughed hysterically at Sparx's situation. "Hey Spyro! When you're done laughing, could you help me out?" "Oh! R-right… sure." Spyro finished laughing and was interrupted by the large ape holding onto Sparx. "I don't think so… Don't let him get away!" In response to this, the apes standing next to the large one, jumped down, and a couple more apes jumped out from the tree tops. All of them were slowly creeping towards Spyro menacingly. Upon closer examination, it was apparent that, these apes wore clothes. Most of their clothes were just made of ragged cloth, but they also only wore pants. The front of their chests were bare, but their backs, arms, and their heads, were completely covered in thick fur.

"Oh! You wanna go? I could take on all of you in my sleep!" Spyro grinned and narrowed his eyes. He then proceeded to enter his hunting stance. He lowered the front part of his body to the ground, and pulled his elbows back to his hips. He picked out one of the apes and began wiggling his haunches. Without warning, Spyro sprung forward and knocked over one of the apes. The ape he had slammed into, banged its head on the ground and fell unconscious. Realizing he had knocked out his enemy, Spyro quickly turned around and charged at two other apes with his horns pointed forward. Once he reached them, he flicked his head upward with a great amount of force, and because he was now in between the two apes, they were flung through the air in opposite directions away from Spyro. The one that was flung to Spyro's left, slammed into two other apes, and the one flung to Spyro's right, slammed into a tree, being knocked unconscious.

Suddenly, there was a hissing sound next to Spyro. He looked around frantically, and spotted a stick of dynamite right next to him. Spyro didn't know what dynamite was, but he figured it must be bad, so he smacked it away with his tail. Unfortunately, it wasn't tossed far enough, and when it blew up, Spyro was launched through the air and slammed into a tree. Thankfully, Spyro wasn't knocked unconscious, but there were still four apes that were ready to fight. Spyro stood up, coughing up smoke. "So… red hissing sticks are bad… good to know."

Suddenly, the large ape that was still on the cliff blowed into a horn that was hooked onto a chain around his neck, and a loud distinct sound came out of it. He dropped the horn, and pulled out a stick of dynamite. Spyro instantly realized that he was the one throwing the 'red hissing sticks'. "Seriously!" Spyro yelled at the large ape, and attracted its attention along with the other apes. "You're the biggest guy here, and you're too cowardly to actually enter the fight!?" The other apes paused and looked at their leader. "Shut up! I'm not a coward!" The other apes looked back at Spyro. "Attack!" The leader said this as he threw his now lit stick of dynamite at Spyro. Spyro timed it just right, and smacked the dynamite away with his horns. The dynamite was flung into the group of four apes, and when it blew up, all four apes were launched through the air in different directions.

Just then, more apes appeared from the treetops. Spyro figured that this was just a delayed response from the sound of the horn. These apes were much quicker. They leaped at Spyro, and he was only able to knock away one of them, before they pinned him down. The apes were obviously struggling, but Spyro remained grounded. The large ape picked up a blade that had been stuck into the ground blade first next to him, and he jumped down in front of Spyro. He set down the lantern that Sparx was in, and addressed Spyro. "You want to call me a coward? Well how's this for cowardice!?" The ape lifted his blade above the lantern Sparx was in, and Sparx started freaking out. "Uh!… Spyro! Could you help!? Please!? Do something!"

Spyro instantly realized he was in between a rock and a hard place. Without thinking, Spyro closed his eyes, clenched his jaw… and released a ball of fire! It slammed into the large ape's chest, and it's back smashed into the side of the cliff, letting out a high pitched scream of agony. This sudden burst of fire startled the apes holding Spyro down, making them loosen, if not, let go of their grip. Spyro took this opportunity to leap up into the air, and landed back on the ground a few feet away from the apes. He didn't stick the landing, so he was laying down on the ground with his head held up, when he looked at the bits of fire still on the ground. "That! Was AWESOME!" Spyro had a stupid grin on his face. The large ape had just finished putting out the fire that had collected on its fur. "Take care of him! I gotta report to Cynder!" The ape said this and ran away.

"Bye, Felicia!" Spyro still had a smile on his face, but it went away when he tried to breath more fire. He opened his mouth and a tiny little flame was coughed up. "Aaaw! Seriously!?" Spyro noticed that the other apes were still coming towards him, so he took his stance again, but the ape he had selected was ready this time. Spyro launched forward, and the ape rolled forward, so Spyro overshot his target. Thankfully, Spyro was able to land on his feet and skid to a halt. He was now facing his enemies again, and he charged forward. Spyro slammed his horns into one of the apes, and it was knocked into three of the others.

Now, all of the apes were out cold. Spyro walked over to Sparx, and smashed the lantern open with his horns. "You K. Bro?" Spyro asked Sparx. "You almost touched me dude… wait… what!?"

Spyro and Sparx had returned home after that, and were trying to explain what had happened, to their parents. "So, right when Sparx was about to be crushed, I let out a blast of fire! Isn't that awesome!? To bad I don't know how I did it…" Spyro's parents looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces. "… Is something wrong? I mean… besides the fact that I can, apparently, breath fire." "It's just…" Spyro's dad began. "We new this day would come… the day we would have to tell you the truth." Spyro narrowed his eyes. "You see…" his mom seemed to be having a difficult time trying to explain something. "You… you're… kind of…" Spyro's dad interjected with, "You're adopted."

"No! Really!?" Spyro said this in the most sarcastic way physically possible, and his foster parents noticed he wasn't being serious. "You new? But… how?" Spyro looks at you, the reader, then looks back at his foster parents. "I'm not even gonna answer that question." "Well… I guess it wasn't to surprising… but if you knew, why didn't you ask us about it before?" Spyro's dad looked legitimately confused. "Well… I guess I figured you'd tell me about it eventually, so I just decided to enjoy my life as it unfolded. I had no doubt you would tell me when you were ready." "That's surprisingly mature, especially coming from someone like you." "Really?" "Ya, it is."

"Hey, I think we're getting a little off topic here, O.K.?" "Sparx is right. Spyro, we don't know a lot about your species, other than the fact that you're a dragon, and I think the dragons are currently in some sort of dispute with the apes, but we don't know much more than that." Spyro looked a little disappointed. "Honey, can a talk to you for a moment?" Spyro's mom asked his dad. "Sure." Spyro's foster parents flew a few feet away and started speaking quietly with each other. They came back and Spyro's dad addressed him again. "I think you should live your life to the fullest. You should be aloud to make your own decisions, but your mother, feels differently." Spyro's mom began speaking. "Your dad thinks you should go out on your own, but you're only twelve! I don't think you should go!" Spyro looked from his mom, to his dad, to Sparx, then back to his mom again.

"I know you want what you think is best for me, but…" Spyro looked into the sky, and above the trees. "… but i've always wanted to explore the world! I've always wanted to see what else is out there!" Spyro looked back at his parents. "And know… I can do just that!" Spyro's mom looked sad, but his dad's expression was hard to read. "Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" Sparx seemed worried he might never see his foster brother again. "Well… I wouldn't mind you coming with me…" Spyro looked back at his parents. "No! I'm not losing more than one son." Spyro's mom was tearing up now. "I can except that you may not be comfortable with the lifestyle you have here, because you're a dragon, but… but not Sparx." Spyro looked back at Sparx. "Sorry." Spyro seemed legitimately sad. He looked back at his whole family as he walked away. "I love all of you, and I'll never forget you." Spyro's mom and dad embraced him, and he pulled his wings around them.

"I'll miss you!" "I'll miss you to, mom." Spyro turned around, and began walking away. Suddenly, Sparx flew into his way. "So that's it hu? Leaving Sparx behind at the old homestead? Not a care in the world."

"Come on Sparx, your be over dramatic. I would have let you come, but mom doesn't want to lose you, and I can understand that. Besides, I'm not leaving you behind, I'm just leaving you where you belong."

"Well I thought I belonged with you… cause I'm always with you… but I guess I was wrong… you know, you're right… you're right, I'm wrong." Sparx flew away, and Spyro's parents came back to talk to him again. "Don't worried about him Spyro. You know how he can be sometimes."

"I'll miss you." "We'll miss you to, son." Spyro smiled and started walking away again. Spyro left through the snake skull again, but once he was on the other side, Sparx showed up out of nowhere. "Sparx!? What are you doing here?" "Well… me and the old man were, chat'n, and we decided that… best friends should stick together. Even if one of them's purple and does have some weight issues." "Weight issues hu? Well, at least I've never been turned into a lantern before." Spyro gave a smirk. "Oh please, lantern shmantern! Let's see what's out there!" "Wait…" Spyro just realized something. "So mom doesn't know?"

"No… not exactly… dad said he'd talk to her." Spyro shrugged his shoulders. "O.K." He seemed satisfied… glad, even.

"So… where we headed?" Sparx asked Spyro. "I figured we could check out that building over there." Spyro gestured to a large dome like structure on top of a cliff that was only visible because it was high enough to be seen from above the treetops. "Why there?" "I don't now, it just… the only place I can see from here… also, that building probably has a very good view." "That's good enough for me, now let's go." Sparx started flying in the direction of the building, and Spyro followed close behind.

They didn't get too terribly far before coming to a small clearing. Spyro and Sparx were on top of a small cliff like structure overlooking the clearing, but they were only about five and a half feet above it. Spyro crouched down and observed the activity in the area. There were several pale green and grey tents as well as a couple of bonfires, one of which had a black pot of soup boiling over it. There were several barrels full of dynamite and TNT, as well as wooden racks with blades and other weapons on it. There were also several apes roaming around. Very close to where Spyro and Sparx were crouching, there were a few apes sitting around one of the bonfires.

"They say he can burst through solid rock, and create both eruptions and blizzards from his vicious jaws!" One of them apes had been talking to the rest about something. "I wonder what their talking about?" Spyro whispered to Sparx. "There's no way that's true! That's just some propaganda Cynder made up to make him seem like more of a threat." One of the other apes retorted. "That may be…" another ape began. "But either way, we still need to keep a look out. Even if he's not as big a threat as he's made out to be, he's still a threat. Otherwise we wouldn't need to worry about it."

"Relax! Were keep'n an eye out! There's no way that little demon'll get by us without me noticing."

"Hey Spyro." Sparx whispered. "Maybe we should go around." "Or…" Spyro smirked. "We could mess with'em." Sparx face palmed. "See those barrels?" Spyro gestured to the barrels of dynamite. "Those red sticks blow up when they're ignited, so I was thinking I could set them on fire and cause a chain reaction." "Two problems." Sparx began. "One, if you do that, you might blow us up as well. Two, you don't know how to breath fire." Spyro frowned.

Suddenly, a ball of fire shot out of the trees opposite of where Spyro was, and it was headed straight for a barrel of dynamite in the center of the camp sight. Seeing this, Spyro tuck and rolled behind a nearby tree, and several explosion sounds went off one right after the other, and sometimes even simultaneously. After that, there was a ringing in Spyro's ears that was very annoying. Spyro shook his head back and forth and smacked the sides of his head with his paws. Eventually, the ringing in his ears dimmed down to a slight buzzing sound.

"Did I just create a fireball with my mind!?" Spyro seemed a little too excited. "Guess again slick." Sparx pointed towards the clearing. The place was absolutely decimated. None of the apes remains could even be seen. There was charred everything. The cooking pot and some of the blades still retained their structure, but nothing else was even recognizable. It all just looked like charred wood, but Sparx was gesturing to a figure that had walked out into the open. It was a red dragon, much much bigger than Spyro. It's horns looked a lot like Spyro's but they were a very light brown, and pointed up rather than back. His underbelly and wing membrane were the same color as his horns. His crest looked like fire, not moving fire of course, but he also had quite a few red spikes on his chin, where the lower jaw meets the neck, and his shoulders. The base color of his body was an orange or bright red color, and his, neck, shoulders, back, and thighs, were covered in darker red spots. He had orange eyes and some weird star like formation on his wing where almost all of the joints came together.

"Come on out, young one. I know you're their. I won't hurt you." The red dragon's voice sounded like it hadn't been used in a while, but it was somehow comforting, despite it being hoarse and old. It was almost like you were talking to your grandfather. It was that kind of comfort. It took a few seconds before Spyro came out from behind the tree, but when he did, the red dragon spotted him. "Come on down." Spyro unfolded his wings, and glided down to the figure. Sparx followed close behind.