It has been two weeks since Spyro made the promise to work harder to protect others he cares for, and to this day he kept true to his promise. Almost day in and day out he has been training so that he could become stronger, which caused a lot of concern for him from the Guardians, and Ember as well.
At the moment Spyro was once again in the training room, while Volteer kept an eye on him just to make sure he didn't over work himself to the point of collapsing. Though from what he could tell from Spyro's body language that could happen at any moment.
Spyro was currently fighting against another set of training dummies, similar to the ones that he fought against when Ignitus first took him under his wing. Crushing the final dummy with his earth element, Spyro stood still panting heavily, his legs visibly shaking from exhaustion. Spyro looked over at Volteer and asked him how long it took him to finish off the targets.
Volteer let out a sigh and said "It took you a minuet and a half to destroy them all 13 of them,"
Spyro didn't say anything. He just looked at the training dummies he destroyed before looking back at Volteer.
"Reset it," Spyro said with a tired breath.
Volteer hesitated. He remained silent for a small short moment before saying, "Spyro, that was your seventh time at the session,"
"And?" The purple dragon asked irritated and tired. Volteer was a little taken back.
"I mean, I understand you want to keep your abilities sharp and homed but Spyro, don't you think you've parctice enough on your elements?"
Spyro groaned in irritation. "Just reset it please Volteer,"
Volteer paused. He turned to the switch beside him and activated it for the moving training dummies to appear. As they entered and surrounded Spyro, images of the past events flashed in his mind. Most of them were flashes of many failed moments in his life but the most bothering to him was the one where Griff strangled Ember in front of him. The image of Ember's gasping for air while Griff smirks at her suffering struck a serious nerve in him. With a loud roar, Spyro channeled electricity all over his body before attacking the dummies with ferocious rage.
Over with Cynder, she was also planning on working out, though in another part of Warfang at a local gym near her home. This was her first time in there so she decided to look around a bit. She saw several work out equipment, meant for dragons, cheetahs, and moles. She then found herself in a more open area where two dragons were sparing in the middle.
She suddenly felt her heart rate hasten as images of the barbaric fights Gual forced her through as to train her to be as strong as she was. She tried to turn away but her body would not move, forcing herself to watch the two collide with one another each of their paws clawing and smacking one another. This reminded her of how several apes would charge at her, jumping onto her back, and club her while others stand around her feet and jab her with knifes.
Cynder shook her head, clearing her mind of this memory. Her heart was beating like a drum and her chest felt like it was about to burst. She no longer felt like being in the area so she quickly turned and left. As she walked, she figured that she should talk to someone about this. There was her therapist, but he was probably busy at the moment. Meaning Flame was the next best person for the matter. After a short walk she found herself at his front door, and knocked on it waiting for him to answer.
Flame was passed out asleep on his bed. His room was a mess which he always kept a mess for being lazy somewhat to clean. This was like his daily routine for him. Get up in the morning, work out for three to four hours a day, sleep for an hour, and then do anything else. Usually these were on weekdays for him.
When Flame heard someone knock on his door he lazily fell off his bed and slowly got up. With a loud yawn eh slowly walked over to his door and answered it. His eyes were semi shut until he saw Cynder at his door entrance.
"Cynder?" Flame asked in surprise now fully awake.
"Hey Flame," Cynder started a little nervous like something was bothering her. Flame immediately can tell something was wrong with her.
"What's wrong Cyn everything ok?' he asked in deep concern for his girlfriend.
"I'm fine, I just need someone to talk to at the moment," Cynder said clearly troubled by something. "May I come in?"
"Oh sure, sure you are always welcome to come in," Flame smiled as he opened his door for her. When he looked back inside his eyes shot up when he realized he never did get the chance to clean his home in the Temple. Luckily it wasn't too bad but Flame still felt embarrassed. "Uh, I apologize for the small mess, haven't had the chance to clean up. You know with the training and the Temple activities and etc," Flame mentioned with a slight chuckle.
Cynder giggled at his nervousness. "Its alright Flame I don't mind." she said giving him a little peck on the cheek. Moving over to a cushion, she sat down and motioned for him to join her.
"Can I get you anything, something to eat, drink, or you know?" Flame asked as he walked up to her but waited for her answer.
Cynder shook her head. "No I'm fine, thank you for asking." she said as she looked around the room. "I didn't disturb you from your sleep did I?" She asked, noticing that it was kind of early in the morning.
"Oh, no, no, no you didn't disturb me at all. I was just getting up any rate," he answered while popping his joints and stretching his large muscles to try and wake himself up some more.
"Oh well that is good." Cynder said quietly nodding her head, before falling silent.
Flame took a seat next to Cynder before asking. "So um, what did you want to talk about?" Flame said still feeling very concern.
Cynder took a deep breath before replying. "Well I was at the gym when I saw these two dragons sparing with one another, and I had another... Well I'm not sure what to call them,"
Flame looked at Cynder a little before gently placing a paw on her paw. "What did you see?"
Cynder smiled warmly, loving how much he cared for her. "Well I was back in the place they were training me, and I was surrounded by apes, who kept on attacking me, and threatening my life,"
"So it made you have a flashback," Flame asked.
"Yeah I suppose I did," Cynder said nodding her head. "I have to admit, despite it just being a memory, I was still as frightened seeing it again as I was when it actually happen."
"I cannot imagine how frightening it must have been," Flame lean down and nuzzled her gently. "I'm so sorry you had to go through what you did, no one should ever have to go through that. I don't know how or what I can do. But I promise to help you through it anyway I can however way I can,"
"Thank you Flame," Cynder said tearing up a bit as she leaned forwards and planted a small kiss on him.
Flame smiled and nuzzled Cynder lovingly. "Anytime Cynder, I'm always there for you whenever you need me for anything." Flame draped a wing over her and let her rest on his shoulder as the two found themselves asleep on his couch.
Back with Ember, Terrador had just finished explaining to her what was going on with Spyro. "I don't know what to say," Ember said shocked and worried for Spyro's safety.
Terrador nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, if he keeps this up, he will end up hurting himself. This is why, me and the other guardians were hoping that you could talk some sense into him,"
"What?" Ember said shocked and confused. "Why me?"
"It is because you seem to have a connection with him, from what we have witnessed so me and the other guardians thought this was what was best,"
Ember thought for a moment and with a sigh she agreed. "Ok, I'll go talk with him, where is he?"
"He's in the training room doing target practice," Terrador lead Ember to the entrance of the room. She almost gasped at seeing Spyro.
Spyro was hard at work doing target practice at the moving dummies coming at him. Sure he made short work of them but the look of his body looked overworked. It was clear that he was exhausted and tired. The way he kept attack the dummies with such ferocious veracity also worried her. She looked back up at Terrador who nodded his head before walking off to give the two some privacy. When she saw Spyro finish, she carefully walked up to him. She took notice of his his deep breathing and his slightly weak movements. She cleared her throat before asking, "Spyro?"
Spyro jumped at the sound of his name and turned to see Ember behind him. "Oh hey Ember I didn't see you back there, what's up?" She heard him ask in his normal voice yet she could still hew a slight tone of tiredness behind it.
Ember had to take a deep breath to calm herself down before talking. "You need to take a break Spyro, your pushing yourself to hard,"
"I don't know what your talking about," Spyro replied just as he rest the training dummies. "Both you and the guardians think that I'm over working myself, but really I'm fine," Spyro said trying to sound like he wasn't out of breath.
"Spyro please, we're all just worried about you, I mean, you've been training for a long time without much rest, you may hurt yourself," Ember stated, still wishing she could convince him the truth.
"Ember I'm fine really," Spyro pressed the switch to turn the dummies off so he could talk to Ember.
"Spyro your not fine, I can see it very clearly and so can the Guardians. You can barely even stand at the moment,"
"I thank you for your concern Ember, but I'm honestly completely fine," Spyro said to Ember before flicking the switch again. "I promise you that I'm not over working it."
Ember grunted, frustrated that she was getting no where. She then walked up to the switch and flicked it off herself.
Spyro sighed. "Come on Ember, I really need to get stronger,"
"Spyro I'm a healer and if there's one thing I know very well in that field is when a dragon overworks him or herself. Now I'm I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, you need to take a break. If you keep this up you will hurt yourself. Now please don't make me have to ask the guards to come down here and help me get you to take a break," Ember placed her tail down seriously.
Spyro was shocked at first from her reaction, he never saw that coming. Seeing with her authority status in both medical and society wise he figured she has somewhat of a final say on something's. With a sigh, Spyro gave in. "Alright,"
Ember smiled glad that she knocked some sense into Spyro. "Good, I'm glad. Now com along, we need to get you some place to rest," Ember said, waving her paw to single him to follow.
Spyro did as asked and slowly walked behind her. "So where are we going?"
"To your room," Ember replied glancing back at him.
"Oh I thought we were going someplace together?" Spyro replied, slightly disappointed as he kind of hoped that he and Ember got to spend more time together.
Not to long after, the two of them reach Spyro's room. They entered and Ember motioned him to his bed. He sat down and was surpried to see that Ember sat on his bed as well. "Can I get you anything?" she asked.
Spyro took a moment to think this over before shaking his head. "No I'm good," That was when he noticed how tired he was, but he didn't feel sleepy so he just laid down.
"Hey Spyro, why are you pushing yourself so hard anyways?" Ember asked, laying down as well.
Spyro didn't look at her. "It's one of those I don't want to talk about things,"
"Come on Spyro, you can tell me," Ember insisted. "Is something bothering you?"
Spyro didn't respond for a small moment. "You almost died Ember,"
"What do I have to do with this?" Ember asked confused.
"You almost died because I wasn't powerful enough to stop that damn Griff from hurting you," Spyro answered truthfully.
"Spyro..." Ember said mournfully. "You dont need to do this for me," Spyro didn't know what to say from here. He just kept quiet. "I mean, I can understand that you want to be stronger, but you need to take it easy on yourself," Ember informed. "You can really hurt yourself doing what your doing."
About that time Sparx flew in to grab something in his little place before he noticed Spyro and Ember laying in the bed.
"Well lookie here, you two are finally at the cuddling stage," Sparx snickered a little.
"Not now Sparx," the two heard Spyro moan.
"Wow, your really good there princess, Spyro has been tearing himself a part with his training ever since he got better from his injuries. I've been trying to say a thing or two but he won't listen. Got to teach me your trick," Sparx flew up to Ember.
"Sparx please," Spyro groaned a little.
"Dude I'm serious, you've been add it for a while now even though there's no reason for it," Sparx crossed his arms.
"But," Spyro started before Sparx interrupted him.
About that time Sparx flew in to grab something in his little place before he noticed Spyro and Ember laying in the bed.
"Well lookie here, you two are finally at the cuddling stage," Sparx snickered a little.
"Not now Sparx," the two heard Spyro moan.
"Wow, your really good there princess, Spyro has been tearing himself a part with his training ever since he got better from his injuries. I've been trying to say a thing or two but he won't listen. Got to teach me your trick," Sparx flew up to Ember.
"Sparx please," Spyro groaned a little.
"Dude I'm serious, you've been add it for a while now even though there's no reason for it," Sparx crossed his arms.
"But," Spyro started before Sparx interrupted him.
"Let me finish," Sparx requested. "You can't be the hero all your life man, they can't make you do that. No one is making you do that. I've traveled with you on almost all of your adventures and I'm a eye witness to saying you've done enough alright bro. Listen I got to get back to a clint on fixing a lock up. Just please take it easy for me man," Sparx grabbed his tools and flew off.
Spyro thought deeply about what Sparx said. He would admit that he was pushing himself pretty hard, but he needed to in order to get stronger. "what do you think Ember?" Spyro asked, wanting to hear the pink dragon's opinion on what his brother said.
Ember raised a brow when he asked this. "Spryo that is basically the exact same thing I have been telling you this entire time,"
"Oh..." Spyro replied feeling rather awkward from this situation.
"I'm sorry Ember I'm just, overwhelmed, maybe I do need to take a break," Spyro sighed as he leaned against the wall on the side of his bed.
"Then get some sleep Spyro," Ember said standing up and moving off the bed. "Just take it easy for a bit,"
"Um, Ember," Spyro looked back at Ember.
"Yes Spyro?" Ember asked, bearing her friendly smile once again.
"Can you, stay with me for a little bit please," Spyro blushed a little as he looked away slightly.
"oh, um sure Spyro," Ember said blushing as well before crawling back into bed with him.
"Thank you," Spyro sighed as he looked back at Ember.
Ember just smiled warmly again and leaned her head down onto his shoulder. "Anytime Spyro."
Spyro sighed a joyful sigh. "I really enjoy your company Ember," Spyro admitted suddenly.
"Oh, well thank you Spyro, I really like being around you as well," Ember replied growing a blush on her face.
Spyro yawned before he continued. "I hope I didn't worry you to much," he said as he leaned against a wall.
"It's fine, you have been put in the right directions, so that Is all I care for," Ember said back, still laying her head on his shoulder.
"Is..." Spyro paused yawning again as he eyes started to drift shut. "Thanks to you," Then he fell asleep, his body slowly shifting downwards. Noticing this Ember caught him and slowly laid him down onto his bed. Ember smiled as she watched him sleep and she leaded down a gave him a small peck on the check.
Alright I'm terribly sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter for this story, my co-author has had a lot of troubles for a very long time, but we are back so I'm going to try and get back on schedule.