It has been nine days since Spyro and Ember escaped from the clutches of Ripto, and they were overjoyed knowing that they would be reaching Warfang with in a days' time. Or at least they hoped they would. Ember's leg was still badly hurt, and with the lack of actual medical items it wasn't going to heal it anytime soon. Because of this, Ember tired out a lot quicker then she used to, cutting their time of flying or walking short.
But Spyro's hopes for such a thing grew even larger as they came closer and closer to the Dam he and Cynder destroyed not too long ago while trying to stop the Destroyer. From there he knew that Warfang was close.
"Spyro can we take another break, I don't know how much longer I can fly," Ember said tired.
"Just a little more Ember, once we reach the Dam, we can rest," Spyro replied.
Ember nodded her head and tried her best to bear with the pain in her wings. Much to her own relief, it wasn't too long before they landed upon the Dam. Just as they did, Ember collapsed onto her belly, lying down to rest her body.
"How's your leg doing Ember?" Spyro asked. Though he knew that it wasn't in anything remotely all right, he still hoped that it would be well enough to at least walk on.
"I don't know, let me try," Ember slowly stood up, making sure not to put any pressure on her broken leg. Once she stood up, she carefully set her foot down. When it touches the ground, she put a little bit of pressure on it, and pain quickly jolted through her body. She yelped and almost fell over, if it wasn't for Spyro catching her.
Spyro held her, and when he didn't he couldn't help but realized just how soft she was as he held her tightly against him. A blush formed on both of their faces as they quickly noticed how Spyro held her, and he quickly and gently set her down.
"Sorry about that," Spyro said looking away from her, the blush still clear as day on his face.
"It's alright," Ember said also looking away from him as well, her blush was as clear as Spyro's.
Feeling a little brave, Spyro quickly peeked back at Ember for a moment and noticed that she wasn't looking in his direction. Taking the moment, he noticed a couple of things about Ember's body that he didn't really notice before. For one, he never really noticed how nice her scales looked in the sunlight. Despite them being damaged and dirty, they still seemed to have this magical shine to them. And then he took a better look at her horns and despite their dull look, he couldn't help but think about how they complement the rest of her body.
Then Ember looked turned her head and looked back Spyro. It was then that Spyro noticed Ember's sparking eyes. It amazed him how after all they went through recently; her eyes could still have this sparkle in them.
"Hey Ember…" Spyro began, but paused before he could finish.
"Yes Spyro?" Ember asked curiously.
"Do you think Ember that maybe…" but some unknown force that blew both dragons off the dam, cutting off Spyro. Spyro quickly spread his wings and caught himself midair, while Ember on the other hand plummeted, and landed upon the ground on her back. When Ember landed she heard a snapping sound. She knew that at least one of her wings was broken from the searing pain she felt coming from her wings.
Spyro was just about to call out to Ember, but something tackled him out of the air.
The force tackled Spyro all the way down to the bottom of the dam where the icy cold water still flowed. Spyro kicked whatever was tackling him, and quickly landed on a large piece of ruin. He looked forward to see the Griffon, Griff land on another large piece of ruin on the other side several feet away in front of him.
"I've been looking for you, Spyro," said Griff as he perfectly landed.
"What the hell do you want from us?" called Spyro in a fit of rage, angry at both the griffon for attacking them out of the blue, and for not being able to catch a break from all the fighting.
"To finish what we started, I'm not threw with you, not by a damn long shot!" Griff snarled at Spyro.
Spyro quickly glanced towards were he last saw Ember lie. He knew that he had to see if she was ok, but if this battle was going to be like the last one, then it will be destructive. He knew that he must drive the fight as far away from her as he possibly could. "Alright then, if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you will get," Spyro called back to the griffon before taking flight and flying away from the dam.
"Oh no you don't, I'm in no mood to play your fucking games," roared Griff as he charged at Spyro and tackled him back down to the ground, preventing him from going anywhere.
"You think I'm deaf, dumb, blind, and stupid? I know you would try to bring other dragons again. But not this time!"
Spyro merely kicked Griff off of him again and the two landed on another separate set of ruins. Spyro kept on quickly glancing back and forth at Ember and at Griff, still very worried about if Ember is ok.
"What the hell are you looking at?" roared Griff.
Spyro knew that he couldn't let Griff near Ember so he called out to the Griffon "Hey bird beak, I thought you wanted to fight me, not this wimpy game of push and shove,"
Griff growled at Spyro and got in his fighting stance. Spyro did the same, ready to start round two with the griffin. Spyro started the fight off by blowing an electric orb at Griff who merely took flight to dodge it. Spyro leaped in the air, twirling at the same time, and from there, he unleashes a series of razor sharp ice shards to Griff. Griff dodged most of them while slashing the ones he couldn't, aside with his talons. Once Spyro landed back on the ruined ground he uses his wind element to push himself forward towards Griff at high speeds. Spyro spun rapidly and engulfs himself in fire to start a comet dash. Griff merely activates a shield of energy and blocked Spyro's attack. While still in the air, Spyro did a rapid spinning tail slash while adding poison acid to the tip of his tail. The attack knocked Griff backwards a little. Griff merely sent a powerful shockwave of energy to Spyro, which knocked Spyro back to the ground. From there, Griff opened his beak and formed a small energy orb where he shot towards Spyro.
Spyro immediately covered himself in strong earth as the small orb hits his stone shield and caused a powerful explosion. The attack was so powerful it easily shredded through Spyro's earth defense and left him defenseless. Out of the dust, Griff flew towards Spyro and punched him hard in the jaw.
"So you were saying about a wimpy game of push and shove?" Griff asked Spyro.
Spyro merely growled at Griff and countered with a jump spin kick to Griff's face. Griff just popped his neck a little and dashed towards Spyro as Spyro did the same. The two tackled each other hard to the ground, where Spyro sets up an arm bar joint lock to try and breaks Griff's arm. Griff in the meantime kept brutally punching and clawing Spyro's shoulder wound to try and force Spyro off. Spyro opened his mouth and bite down hard on Griff's hand while at the same time dislocating Griff's right arm.
Griff roared in pain but not before grabbing a sharp piece of rock and stabbing through Spyro's badly hurt shoulder. Spyro grunted as he was force to let go. Griff got up and after snapping his right arm back in place; he smashed his foot on Spyro head hard to the ground. Spyro wraps his tail around one of Griff's lower legs and shoved him to the dirt where Spyro then grabbed hold of his leg and dislocated it. Out of anger and pain, Griff shot a beam of energy from his eyes on Spyro's back to knock Spyro off him. Griff slowly stood up and snapped his leg back in place. Spyro slowly got back up but breathed heavily from all his injuries.
He grabs the piece of sharp rock still stuck on his shoulder with his jaws and quickly yanked it out. Griff in the meantime dashed towards Spyro who merely flipped out of the way and stabs the sharp rock through Griff's left paw. Griff yelled in pain but punches Spyro hard in the nose before grabbing the sharp rock out with his beak and crushing it to pieces. Griff shot another beam of energy from his eyes. Spyro blocked them with his wing guard.
He continues to fire multiple beams of energy from his eyes at Spyro as Spyro tried blocking each strike. Thinking quickly, Spyro disappeared in shadows, leaving Griff stunned and mad.
"This aga..?" Griff tried to say before Spyro appeared from the shadows and does a shadow strike upper-cut which sends them both in the air slightly. The attack takes both Griff by Surprise and knocks him back a few feet. Spyro lands perfectly on the ground back in his fighting stance. Griff got up and after rubbing his jaw from the attack he got back in his fighting stance as well.
The two circled around each other waiting for the other to make another move.
"Look I don't know what you're after but we've talked with Temor from Skyclaw and he's already assured us that there won't be another Dragon-Griffin War," Spyro replied, thinking this is why Griff is doing this.
"You think I give a shit about my people, or yours, or this whole Dragon-Griffin conflict. This is between me and you, it has nothing to do with them, so Temor can shove it up his ass for all I care," Griff answered before dashing towards Spyro and delivering a series of fast slashes with his talons. Spyro dodged the slashes and delivered his own slashes with his claws, which Griff also dodged.
"Then what the hell is this all about?! Why are you doing this?! Spyro roared at Griff as the two exchanged powerful blows and dodged them with equal speed. Griff saw an opening and gave Spyro an uppercut in the stomach.
"I told you, I don't have to tell you anything," Griff snarled at Spyro. Spyro looked up at Griff in anger. Spitting blood out of his mouth, Spyro shot a fireball towards Griff. Griff hopped back and blasts an energy ball from his beak that goes right through Spyro's fireball, making Spyro jump out of the way and into the water. When Spyro resurfaced and climbed back on another set of ruins, after taking a very small breath, he looked up to see Griff in the air powering up another small energy ball in his beak. When Griff fired it towards Spyro tried unleashed three shots of different element breaths to see if any of them could do anything. When the neither ice, electric, nor earth breaths worked, Spyro took flight in the air to move out of the way from the explosive impact.
Griff took the opportunity and charged towards Spyro engulfing his whole body in energy and ramming Spyro hard into the ground. Upon impact Griff's body stopped glowing. Before even giving Spyro a chance, Griff's eyes glowed blue and so does his talons. From there, he proceeds to slash Spyro with his energy glowing talons that did twice the damage. Spyro tried to block the attacks but even blocking the attacks did nothing.
Griff finished his assault with a front flip ax kick to Spyro's head to send him to the ground. Despite this, Spyro landed back on his feet, dashes right back in the air. Griff prepared for another element attack from Spyro. To his surprise, Spyro took a deep breath and unleashed his convexity beam breath at Griff. The attack took Griff surprise and knocked him back down to the ground where Spyro flew towards him and rammed him to the ground.
On the ground, Griff kicks Spyro off him. Spyro flew back a few feet on another set of ruins. Growing tired of the fight; both Spyro and Griff opened their mouths and began charging convexity and energy respectively. After a minute of charging, the two unleashed their respective beam attacks towards each other, their attacks collide with each other and upon contact, the two attacks explode in a powerful explosion. The explosion was so powerful that the earth beneath was torn away.
When everything cleared, Griff had his energy shield up to withstand most of the blast. When he looked forward he saw Spyro exhausted and breathing hard as he cringed heavy from all his injuries including a few new ones from the explosion. Griff deactivated his energy shield to notice he had also received a few injuries from the explosion. He also felt himself drained from the last attack. However he still could at least move and do more damage.
Getting in his fighting stance, Griff waited for Spyro to make the next move. Spyro walked to the edge of the set of ruins. He was on but as soon as he tried to get in his fighting stance, Spyro became too exhausted and hurt and fell over the edge and into the shallow ended water.
Seeing that he had won the battle, Griff began to grin before advancing upon the downed dragon. However, just then Ember woke up after passing out from the pain before turning onto her side. She gasped as she saw Spyro laying upon the water ground while Griff hoped down walked closer to him. Ember began to beg her body to move, and with much effort, she began to stand. As quickly as she could, she stumbled towards the griffon. Griff however did not pay any attention to Ember, as his main focus was on Spyro. Thoughts of finally ending his manipulated desire to defeat a purple dragon clouded his mind and sight beyond Spyro's limp body floating in the water.
Once Griff reached Spyro, he raised a claw, ready to slice open Spyro's throat, Ember pounced on top of him, and pushed him to the ground. Griff however didn't have to put much effort of throwing Ember off of him. The pink dragoness was thrown aside quickly and before Ember could stand back up, Griff was already upon her.
"I will not let you take this victory away from me!" roared Griff with spite in his voice.
Through the cracks in his eyes, Spyro could faintly see Griff beginning to wrap his claws around Ember's throat and choke her. He tried to move, but his body wouldn't listen to him. All he could do was sit there and listen to groans of agony coming from Ember, as she was slowly choked to death. Griff however has having a joyous time, listening to her gargle, trying to breath in the tiniest bit of air. It was then however that he felt a pain in his side before being thrown aside a little by an unknown source. Ember quickly gasped as air filled her burning lungs before going into a coughing fit. Looking at Griff she noticed an arrow sticking out of his side before he broke it off. Looking in the other direction she noticed Hunter drawing another arrow.
"Who the hell are you? Griff roared at Hunter while the just glared back at him.
"I will only warn you once. Leave now, or next time I will hit something more vital," Hunter said with anger in his voice. He was more against killing other people, but he made a slight exception in this case.
"Let's see you try," Griff said in irritation that once again he has been denied of his victory.
Without a single moment later, Hunter released his arrow, which flew straight for Griff's head.
Griff quickly dodged the arrow and waved one of his wings to send a shockwave of energy towards Hunter. Seeing the wave of energy coming towards him, Hunter leapt out of the way and rolled along the ground, grabbing an arrow from his quiver. He quickly stood back up and pulled the string of his bow back before shooting off another arrow at the griffon.
Watching the arrow approaching closer to him, Griff dodged the projectile as he took flight. His eyes glowed with blue energy again as he shot a beam of energy, this time at the ground Hunter was standing on. Jumping away from the blast before it could hit him, Hunter fired off three more arrows at Griff. Being in the air, Griff easily dodged each one of them, however he suddenly felt a sudden pain in his wing. Just as he lost altitude, he noticed a small throwing knife sticking out of his wing.
"Last chance, leave now or…" before Hunter could finish, Griff ripped the knife out and threw it back at him. He saw it hurtling towards him, giving him only a spit second to react, so he quickly covered his face with his hands. The small knife pierced his hand, causing Hunter to grunt in pain. He quickly pulled the knife out, however he couldn't get his hand to curl up, which rendered him from using his bow.
Noticing this, Griff smirked. "What do you plan on doing now? You can't even use your bow," Griff gloated. However Hunter only smirked before running off towards Ember and Spyro. "Oh no you don't," said Griff as he was about to descend upon Hunter, when an arrow whizzed past his head, missing it by mere inches. Looking behind him, he saw several more cheetahs standing upon the dam, each with a bow and arrow ready to be fired. Standing in front of them all stood Chief Prowless, just about to give the command.
"And fire!" shouted Chief Prowless, once he saw Hunter was out of the way. Griff watched in slight horror as a volley of arrows came shooting towards him. Acting as quickly as possible, he created another shield of energy around him, however the fight with Spyro still left him rather drained, so his shield could only protect him from most of the arrows. Griff wheezed in pain as several arrows still pierce his flesh. He fell to the ground a bloody mess.
His body shook as he struggled to stand. He gazed upon the other cheetahs and watched as they all readied another arrow. Knowing that he would not withstand another volley, he was forced to flee. As he did, he called out "Mark my words Spyro, you have no seen the last of…" but he was cut sort as it began to rain arrows around him. He felt a stinging pain as a couple hit him in the back, but he pushed through it, and continued to run off.
Several cheetahs were about to give chance when Chief Prowless told him them to stay. "The odds of him surviving with his wounds are slim to none. Besides we have bigger problems to deal with at the moment," said Prowless before pointing to a group of cheetahs to his left. "Men I won't you to help Hunter carry the dragons below to safety, the rest of you will go find anything we can use to help heal there wounds," Prowless barked, giving his tribal men his commands.
Meanwhile, Hunter brought both the dragons to a small cave. He gently laid them down. Ember was still in a coughing fit but she was slowly calming down and regain her breath. Spyro tried to move to check on Ember but again his body failed to listen to him.
"Are you two alright?" asked Hunter.
"Em…ber," responded Spyro quietly as he tried to move over to her but was unable to.
"Don't move, both your bodies are in terrible shape,"
Ember finally regained her breath and slowly fell to sleep out of pure exhaustion.
It wasn't long before the other cheetahs returned with whatever natural remedies they could find. Spyro however paid them no attention as they began helping his wounds heal, for he was to distracted by the outcome of the fight. It was not that he lost, that bother him so greatly, it was the fact that it was because he failed that Ember nearly died herself. Slowly he felt himself fall into a slumber, and as he did he saw the cheetahs carefully pick up the pink dragoness. He even felt them pick him up as well, but before he could ask where they were taking them, he fell asleep, with the single thought in mind "I've lost,"
Back in Warfang, Flame and Cynder decided to try again with another date. They went back to the same restaurant they had previously went to, and ordered the same desert, though this time without nuts. At the current moment, Cynder was telling Flame more of her adventures.
"Waite, so you and Spyro were actually captured by Pirates?" Flame asked in excitement.
Cynder only nodded her head. "Yep, and if it wasn't for me, Spyro would have never made it out of there," she said with a smirk, not telling Flame the full truth.
"Wow that's really amazing Cynder, what else exciting did you do in your adventures?"
"Well… there is not much else really. Or not much that isn't already known that is," said Cynder halfheartedly.
"Is everything alright Cynder?" Flame asked in concern noticing a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Oh it's just that… you know what just forget about it, I shouldn't have brought it up," Cynder said as she looked away a sad looked clear on her face.
"Cynder just know you can tell me anything you want anytime you want. I'm always here for you and if you want to drop the subject we will. As long as you understand I'm always going to be here for you," Flame answered as he smiled at Cynder.
Turning to face Flame once more, Cynder smiled at his comment. She couldn't help but let a single tear drop from her eyes. "Thanks Flame. It's just that… I don't know what I'm doing really,"
"On what?" Flame asked gently.
"Well with my life. I mean all my life I have been fighting, so what is there for me to do? Am I destined to just roam the realms, never finding a true home?"
"What do you mean, just look around you, you've found a home right here at Warfang. You can finally settle down and rest from everything you've done, you know, I know, and the ancestors themselves know you've earned it. As for what there is for you to do, it is whatever you want to do, you are free to make your choices and nobody can every control your fate ever again. I won't let anyone take that freedom away from you, we all deserve to live free as we wish," Flame answered kindly as he held Cynder's paw with his.
Cynder was slightly shocked to hear this. "I… I don't know, no one has ever really asked me what I want to do," she said unsure how else to answer.
"Just give it time and it'll come to you, you have all the time in the world," Flame replied as he patted her paw before taking another bite of their desert.
"Thanks Flame," Cynder said with a faint smile on her face. "So, what adventures have you done Flame?" Cynder asked in curiosity.
Flame thought it over for a moment before saying slightly embarrassed "Well I haven't really been on any adventures,"
"Really, what do you mean?" Cynder asked confused.
"Well I have lived in Warfang all my life and for the most part, we didn't run into any problems until the war," Flame confessed.
"Oh, well, did anything exciting happen in Warfang for you?" Flame shrugged.
"Honestly nothing really during normal days, I admit, they were dull sometimes, but most days were very peaceful. Well days when I'm not training because when I was being trained on how to use fire, it can get intense trust me,"
"Well go on, tell me more," Cynder asked wanting to hear more about Flames past.
"Well other then what you already know, I had multiple teachers compared to just one. Because when the guardians went to war and never returned, we had to learn our elements from other experienced dragons of those elements. However each of them were different and didn't have the full knowledge set that the guardians have. So I ended up being trained by, I guess five teachers, one of them being my mother,"
"Ha, sounds like you had a fun time growing up," Cynder asked jokingly.
"Yeah, yeah keep joking Cyn," Flame responded jokingly as the two finished their desert.
After they finished, they paid for their meal and exited out the restaurant. Flame wanted to walk Cynder home again only this time not rush it. So the two took their time and enjoyed each other's company as they headed towards Cynder's apartment. Cynder even laid her head on Flame's shoulder a little on the way, which made Flame blush a little. Eventually what felt like hours for them but was only a matter of minutes, the two soon arrived at Cynder's apartment.
"Well, I hope you had fun Cynder," Flame said with a friendly smile on his face.
"I did, thank you again for your time Flame," Cynder said returning the smile before kissing him. Flame was taken aback by the kiss at first, but he didn't mind it too much. When she stopped kissing him, Flame was left with a goofy smile, showing Cynder that he enjoyed the kiss.
The two said their goodbyes and Flame flew off while Cynder entered her home. Unlike the first date she had a lot of fun this time so she felt her body was exhausted and tired. She quickly went to her bedroom and laid right down on her bed. She couldn't help but blush and smile. Did she just give Flame his and her's first kiss. It was, amazing; she can't remember ever experiencing something so wonderful before in her entire life. She laid on her soft pillows and smiled happily as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Soon morning came, though Cynder would have rather stayed asleep. Instead she got Sparx shouting her name trying to wake her up. Cynder groaned. "Go away Sparx, let me sleep,"
"Come on Cynder, just wake up already miss tall dark and spooky,"
Cynder groaned again before cracking open her eyes a little. She glared at Sparx through her barley open eyes, but before she made another comment, she noticed a slight worried look on the dragonfly's face. Cynder sighed once more before asking "What do you want Sparx," she said clearly annoyed.
"Look Cynder I need your help, Spyro has been gone for two or three weeks, he went to go talk to some Royal Griffin dude with his crush and they haven't come back,"
"Hu? Waite a minute how did you get in my house?" Cynder asked.
"I picked locked your door lock," Sparx answered.
"What?"
"Never mind that, Cynder please; have you by chance seen Spyro at all in the past two or three weeks?"
Making a mental note to speak to Sparx later about breaking into her home Cynder said "No Sparx I have not, maybe he is just busy in the temple," Cynder then laid her head back down onto her pillow and tried to get more sleep, figuring that what she said was enough to send the pest away.
Sparx instead just flew up to her tail and try to somewhat drag her out. Of course he was unable to move Cynder at all; instead all it did was annoy her. "Come on Cynder, get up from your lazy butt already, I checked at the Temple first and the Guardians say they haven't seen him in two or three weeks,"
Fed up with the golden pest in her room, Cynder quickly sat up and glared at Sparx. "And what do you want me to do about it?"
"Help me find him dammit!"
"And if I do, will you let me sleep in peace from now on?!"
"Yes!"
"Fine, then why don't you start by leaving and search for him. Let me get ready and I will join you when I am," Cynder said annoyed.
Sparx did as he was told and flew off as Cynder slowly got up and got ready. An hour later the two were searching through the city of Warfang not getting much results.
"What has Spyro been doing all this time?" asked Cynder.
"I thought you knew?" answered Sparx.
"No, I've been basically been busy all this time,"
"Well I don't know either. All I know is that he and some pink dragoness went to the griffon kingdom,"
"Griffon kingdom?"
"It's a long ass story which I like to personally call please don't ask,"
The two continued searching more before realizing they're not getting much progress.
"Ok this isn't working, Sparx we need to split up, I'll cover the south and west side of Warfang, you cover the north and east. We'll meet back up here in one hour,"
"Got it,"
And so Cynder and Sparx went in their own directions. As Cynder was walking around, she let her mind wonder a little. 'Well this morning could have been better, but I suppose I would be worried to if my brother had disappeared for a while,' Cynder though clearly bored and tired. "I think Sparx need to remember that this is Spyro here. He is a tough fella, and can take care of himself," she couldn't help but smile as she thought back to some of the time the two spent together. Sure they were fighting all the time, but when they weren't, she would gladly say that she enjoyed their time in peace. But then something accrued to her. "But what if something did happen? Even Spyro would have some weaknesses. I mean he is by far not a perfect person," But Cynder quickly shook her head to remove such thoughts.
"No, he is fine. He is very strong and wouldn't be taken down easily. Besides what is the worst that could have happen? It would be like saying that Malefor came back to life for no reason and attacked him," Cynder couldn't help but chuckle a little at the thought of her dead master coming back to life, though she was more laughing at the part of him being dead. Then Cynder was brought out of her thoughts, as she bumped into someone, who also wasn't paying much attention. Cynder was about to apologies to the other person, but when she looked to see who she bumped into she noticed it was Flame.
"Flame?" Cynder asked.
"Oh sorry Cynder, I wasn't paying much attention were I was going," said Flame with a smile. "So what brings you here?"
"I'm just looking for Spyro," Cynder said but then a devilish smile formed on her face. "However I should be asking you the same thing. You weren't following me were you? I mean I know your fond of me Flame, but I didn't think your that very fond of me, are you?" she answered as she rubbed her tail on his arm a little.
"Um well, we just happened to run into each other is all," Flame said with a blush clear on his face, making Cynder only chuckle at his embarrassment. Wanting to change the subject Flame asked. "So why are you looking for Spyro, I thought you had to try and avoid him, are you ok?"
"Yeah, that is what I have been told, but I have also been told by his brother that he has gone missing, so me and him have split up to see if he might be here in the city,"
"I didn't know he had a brother, but ok I'll help you guys,"
"Really? You don't have to. I mean you seem so busy with what you're doing," said Cynder sarcastically.
"Hey I don't mind I didn't have anything better to do. Besides, anything for friend, especially the cute girl I'm very fond of," Flame answered with a sweet smile on his face.
"Oh how sweet, of you. Remind me to give you a reward for your help later," she said before kissing him on the cheek.
Flame's smile grew wider as his blush grew even more; it almost matched his red scales.
"Yes ma'am,"
"Now then, I was told that he was last seen with a pink dragoness, might you know of any in the city?" Cynder asked enjoying the fact that she can make Flame blush so easily.
"Hu? A pink dragoness? Flame asked making sure he heard her correctly.
"Yes,"
"Well the only one that I know of off the top of my head would be the princess. I think her name was Ember?" Flame said not completely sure.
"Ember? How much do you know about her?' asked Cynder.
"Well other than that she is our Princess, not much really. I have only seen her from a great distance, but never managed to speak with her in person,"
"Was there anything going on that would require Spyro, Sparx said something about an issue and a Griffin kingdom or something, what's that about?"
"Well we have a treaty with the Griffon kingdom, stating that we will have no fighting between neither dragon nor Griffon, so my best guess would be that someone broke the treaty, and they sent Spyro and Ember to investigate or something like that," replied Flame.
"And you think something may have happened to them?" asked Cynder now getting a little worried.
"Hard to say, but I would say unlikely. I highly doubt the king and queen would send their only child, to a place they thought might be dangerous,"
"Hey Cynder!" called out Sparx as he flew in high speed to Cynder. He soon stopped himself before he ran into anyone.
"You've got to come with me quick, Spy...He shook his head a little before noticing Flame.
"Who the hell are you?" Sparx asked Flame.
"Wha?" Flame asked in confusion.
"Never mind, Cynder you have to come with me quickly," said Sparx in a slight panic.
"Why, what's wrong?" asked Cynder worried.
"I found Spyro,"
"Well where is he, is he alright?"
"He's at the hospital knocked out!"
"What?" said both Flame and Cynder.
"I need you to come with me Cynder, please,"
Cynder did not need to respond and simply did as she was asked and followed him. Knowing that something is wrong, Flame decided to join them.
By the time they reached the hospital, Cynder couldn't help but feel worried about her purple friend. But nothing could prepare her for when she saw him lying in bed, covered in a few bandages, and barely moving. She had seen him hurt several time during the war, but something about watching him in bed in the shaded room made him seem in worst shape. Even when a nurse walked past them to open the curtains to let in more light into the room, it did little to help the scene before them.
"What happened to him?" asked Cynder to the nurse, unable to take her eyes off of Spyro.
"I'm not sure, all I know is that several cheetahs brought him and lady Ember here earlier this morning," said the nurse calmly before walking out of the room.
Flame felt out of place in the room. He had never even spoken with Spyro before and yet here he was standing there with a dragonfly and Cynder, both of whom care for Spyro far more than he did. But as he watched Cynder he noticed that she look worried if not scared for the purple savoir in front of him. Flame wasn't sure if he should stay, but he brushed off the awkward feeling inside of him, and draped a wing over Cynder hoping to comfort her a little.
Looking back at Flame for a moment, Cynder quickly clung onto him. She wasn't sure why she did but, at the moment she wasn't sure what to think. Spyro, one of the most powerful dragons she knew, was merely lying in bed, his breathing shallow, and body hardly moving. All she wanted was to hold someone thinking that it might make her worries go away.
"It's going to be ok," whispered Flame. "I know he is going to make it,"
Upon hearing these words, Cynder seemed to have calmed down a little. While Flame's words did ease her pains, it did not remove her worries. "Thanks Flame," Cynder whispered back. Flame didn't reply back, and instead continued to hold Cynder tightly.
Slowly Spyro began to carefully open his eyes. Feeling his whole body heavy from the many wounds on him, but he did his best to ignore the pain as they were nothing he hasn't been through before. However as soon as Spyro closed his eyes again, he shot them open and jumped from his bed yelling, "EMBER!"
Seeing this, Cynder quickly moved out of Flame's gentle hold and ran over to Spyro. "Spyro, oh thank that ancestors you're alright," Cynder said in slight panic. "What happened to you?"
Spyro didn't respond, he was surprised to even see Cynder, come to think of it, how did he get here. Just precisely where was he. His head hurt and his body ached a little so he gently sat.
"Ah my head, where, where am I?" Spyro asked.
"Your back in Warfang Spyro," said Sparx making his presence known to Spyro. "What happened back there, you leave for nearly a month and come back nearly dead? I swear if those Griffons did anything to you, I will personally make them pay,"
"They didn't do this Sparx," Spyro answered quietly.
"Then tell us what happened," Cynder nearly demanded growing slightly annoyed from a lack on an answer to her question that has been ailing her since she found him in bed.
"We were dragged through hell and back thanks to Ripto, and just as we escaped we were attacked by that psycho Griff," Spyro answered calmly.
"You mean that nut job we met when I brought reinforcements a couple weeks back?" asked Sparx.
"Wait a moment, what are you guys talking about?" asked Cynder still confused. "Who is Griff?"
"Some asshole who has some kind of personal issues with purple wonder here," Sparx answered as he pointed to Spyro.
"How can he do this to Spyro?"
"Did I forget to mention he's got super powers as well?"
Cynder was left with more questions than answers but decided to ask Spyro more about it later. "Can you stand Spyro?"
Spyro carefully got up from bed. Slowly he got on his feet, he was a little wobbly at first but it didn't take him long to get used to walking.
"Yeah, I'm ok,"
"Well at least that is good," said Flame with a shrug as he continued to sit away from everyone, letting the others enjoy their time.
"Where's Ember, is she ok?"
Before anyone could answer, a Dragon Soldier entered the room and walked up to Spyro.
"Greetings Spyro, how're you feeling?"
"I'm fine, nothing I can't take care of," replied Spyro.
"I see, Lady Ember was extremely worried about you, she's the one that sent me," answered the dragon soldier.
"She did? Then that means she's alright then right?" Spyro asked hoping for a yes. "May I see her?"
"Sure just follow me, I'll take you to her,"
Spyro was just about to leave without a word, when he remembered that he had guests still in his hospital room. "I'm sorry but I have to go see her, it's my fault if something happened to her. I'm sorry," said Spyro.
"Don't worry about it, pal. We are just glad that you're alright," said Sparx. "Now go on before we tell you otherwise,"
Spyro nodded before leaving with the soldier. It wasn't too long before Spyro found himself back in the palace. After walking down several hallways, the solder stopped and told Spyro that Ember was in the room at the end of the hallway. Spyro nodded before the solder turned and left. Spyro then started to walk down the hallway towards Ember room, but as he did, Ember's parents, Drake and Lexie, leave her room.
"Oh, hello Spyro," said Lexie. "I'm glad to see that you're alright,"
"Thank you, I was told that Ember was also doing better?" asked Spyro, wanting to know what the solder told him was true.
"Yes Ember will be fine, she has been bandaged up and is resting in bed as we speak," replied Drake in a calm manner. His expression however quickly turned into a sterner one as he asked. "What happen to you both? You have been gone for far too long and all our daughter has told us is that it was too scary to talk about. Will you please tell us?"
"Has Ember told you two anything," asked Spyro.
"Well she has told us that the treaty has not been broken and that the Griffins only want peace," Lexie answered.
"And that this Griff character is doing things on his own," Drake answered.
"Yeah, shortly after we left Skyclaw, we were ambushed by Ripto's men who took us to his fortress and forced us to fight in brutal gladiator fights for nine to ten days, putting us both through hell and back literally. One of his men tried to rape Ember but I stopped them and we got out of there by mere luck. We traveled for another week trying to get back to Warfang until Griff attacked us at the Dam. We wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for Hunter and his Cheetah tribe,"
Lexie and Drake were not sure how to respond to this news. To hear such a thing happening to their daughter, Lexie herself wanted to run back into Ember's room and cradle her child. Drake on the other hand felt an undying rage build up inside of him. "If you two will excuse me for a moment," Drake said calmly though it was clear to both Lexie and Spyro that he was holding back his rage. Spyro stepped aside, and watched the king walk away. He figured that he left to relief himself of his anger before he hurt someone.
Lexie wasn't sure who needed her more at the moment, her daughter or her husband. She bit her lip trying to figure an answer. In the end she figured that since Spyro was with Ember through the entire ordeal, he would probably be able to help her more. "Excuse me Spyro, I must go check on Drake before he does something stupid. Feel free to enter her room if you wish," Then Lexie ran after her mate.
Taking her up on her offer, Spyro calmly walked over to the door and opened it. Upon entering the room, Spyro noticed that it was only slightly bigger than his room in the temple. There was a large bookcase filled top to bottom with books, and next to it was a desk with papers covering the top of it. Across from it was a doorway, which Spyro guessed, led to the washroom. On the other side of the room was a large window, which would let in the beautiful sun light into the room if it weren't a cloudy day. Then he noticed Ember's bed, which was where Ember laid.
Spyro quietly walked over to Ember's bed, just in case she was asleep. However she wasn't and Ember quickly noticed him. "Spyro!" she said in joy. "Thank the ancestors you're alright,"
"I'm glad to see that your alright was well," answered Spyro. When he reached her bed, he noticed that both her broken leg and wing was wrapped up in a cast. But what surprised him more was the fact that she didn't have the red chain around her neck. Looking down, he noticed that he wasn't wearing one either. Seeing this Ember said "Hunter had a friend of his remove them,"
"But wait," asked Spyro confused. "If this person could remove the chains why didn't he or she remove the ones the green ones me and Cynder have?"
Ember only shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I am thankful either way,"
"Yea I guess I should be to. Anyway, how are you feeling?"
"I am alright, I feel a lot better than I have in a while,"
"Good, I'm glad to hear," said Spyro with a smile. Spyro however noticed that Ember seemed to have a nervous look on her face. "Is everything alright Ember, you seem tense,"
"Oh, I'm fine it's just…"
"Just what?" he asked growing more curious.
A slight blush formed on Ember muzzle as she said "Well you see, when we were captured by Ripto, I thought we were going to die, and I never got to tell you that…" she said, as she mumbled the last part.
"I'm sorry I didn't hear that. What did you want to tell me?"
"Well you see Spyro I… kind of like you a lot…" Ember said growing more nervous.
"I like you to Ember, you're a good friend,"
"No I mean I really like you," Ember said slightly saddened by what Spyro said.
Spyro took a moment to think about what Ember was talking about but when it finally clicked in his head he said "Oh…" He wasn't sure what else to say. He didn't expect her to grow feelings for him. "Ember, I honestly don't know what to say. I mean it's not that I'm already taken or anything, it's just that I never really was looking for someone like that," he said nervously.
Ember had a sad look on her face, but Spyro could tell that she was trying to hide it. "No it's alright; I know that this is rather sudden. I just wanted you to know,"
Feeling like he was hurting Ember with his words he said, "It's not that I don't care for you Ember. You're very important to me, and I really enjoy being around you. It's just that I don't think I'm ready for such a thing. Right now, I would rather just be friends with you. You're still really special to me, and I am glad to have met you. I'm sorry," Spyro said still feeling a little guilty.
Ember was stunned to hear this. She was afraid that Spyro would find her creepy and never see her again, but she couldn't help but smile afterwards. "Really?"
"Yeah, I really do," Spyro replied.
Ember couldn't help but blush, and using her good wing, she covered her face with it. Spyro couldn't help but lightly smile at this. He also couldn't help but think that Ember was kind of cute when she blushed. The two quickly became quiet, unsure of what to say.
"Well I guess I should let you rest Ember," Spyro said figuring it was time for him to leave.
But Ember had other plans as she asked "Actually Spyro could you stay a little longer? After the past few weeks, I just want a friend to talk to if you don't mind," she said with a blush.
"Um sure I guess," said Spyro as he pulled up a seat next to her bed.
Far away, in the depths that were once Malefor's lair, were shadow apes that crept along the shadows deep within the domain. A small group of them were walking around when they came across a room, a room that they never entered before when they were there real self's. As they entered they found a body lying upon the ground surrounded by shards of a time crystal. They could feel an immense energy surging from this creature, and wanted its power. Walking up to it, they first checked to see if it was awake. From what they examined the being seemed to be asleep.
Acting quickly before the creature could awaken the shadow apes began to feast upon its energy draining it of such. Little did they know that by doing so, they woken the man. The monster grabbed a shadow ape's leg and quickly threw it aside as if it were mere paper in the wind. The being then grabbed a sword that lay beside it and swung its large blade at an ape at a break neck speed, easily slicing the ape in two. The rest of the apes were mortified by this, but gave up on their fears and attacked the man before them.
Hooting and hollering they charged it, but they stood little chance against him. The creature stood up on its two legs and quickly stabbed the first ape with his sword before wrenching it out of the now dying primate and chopped the following ape in half. A few managed to get past the sword and jumped upon the man hoping to bring the towering creature down so they could kill it quickly. But the man instead dropped his sword and grabbed an ape and threw it off of him, causing the ape to crash into the wall and leaving a faint outline of him before he slumped to the floor dead.
The man felt several more apes leap upon him, but still he did not budge from his standing position as he felt them trying to thrust him to the ground. Then he noticed more of the apes come into the room. Seeing their comrades fighting they drew there weapons and descended into the fray along with their alleys. Watching this, the creature grabbed one of the apes on him, and used him as a club to beat the closest shadow ape.
Dropping the ape the man ran straight towards the rest of the apes and collided with them, easily throwing them about from sheer force. Using one hand he quickly began to throw away the rest of the apes that held tightly onto him. Grabbing his sword and gripping it with both hands, now the creature quickly dashed forwards and in a blink of an eye sliced, stabbed, and just all around slaughtered the remaining shadow apes, before letting out a primal, defining roar in triumph. He then let his sword sink into the ground before dragging it behind him as he left his prison.