(A/N) This chapter came out a lot quicker then I anticipated thanks in part to having the actual game so I could cross reference it so I didn't make any major mistakes. Ill keep working on pushing these out as much as I can but in the meantime, Here's the latest chapter of Rise of Hope! Oh and I don't own Spyro or anything like that, god knows if I did I would definitely change some things and have kept that movie going!
As they ran further and further into the jungle, Spyro suddenly lost focus as he felt something almost watching him, causing shivers to run down his back. As he wondered what could possibly be out there that could cause such fear to rise in him, he was suddenly brought out of his reverie by a large gap that Sparx had crossed and was now proceeding to taunt him about.
"Oh what's wrong Spyro can't fly?" Sparx teased, "Oh thats right you walk everywhere, that's too bad."
Spyro glanced at the gap for a moment before replying,"You're toast when I catch you!"
"As if big purple," retorted Sparx, "You won't even come close, better to give up now!"
Spyro let out a snort as he studied the gap. There were roots that seemed to create a bridge that he could easily walk on to reach Sparx. Letting out a sigh at his brothers apparent stupidity, Spyro began to calmly walk across the makeshift bridge. Spyro had managed to make it about fourth of the way across before he suddenly felt the bridge give way beneath him. Spyro let out a gasp as he fell towards the ground below. The ground wasn't too far from the root bridge but that didn't prevent Spyro from letting out a groan of pain once he hit the ground. As he picked himself up off the ground, he could hear Sparx laughing uncontrollably at him as he slowly climbed his way back to the beginning of the bridge. As Spyro stood there, trying to figure out how he could cross the gap and close the gap between his brother and himself before he noticed the roots that had collapsed on him begin to return to their normal positions.
As Spyro watched the roots, a grin formed on his face as an idea began to form in his mind. Spyro waited until the roots had finished moving in their respective positions to slowly and deliberately begin lowering a paw onto the first root. He kept a view on Sparx out of the corner of his eye and watched as his grin only grew as he watched Spyro seeming to hesitate to stand on the root again. A sly smile formed on Spyros face as his paw finally stood on the root and immediately pushed off giving Spyro the momentum to begin sprinting towards the other side. The smile grew to a giant grin as Sparx stopped smiling and adopted a worried expression on his face as he watched Spyro cross the bridge with ease. As Spyro neared the other side of the strange bridge he leapt, aiming to catch Spax and finish their game quickly. Spyro was only a foot away when Sparx suddenly flew back, causing Spyro to overshoot and skitter across the ground awkwardly while attempting to not land face first.
Spyro could hear Sparx laughing uncontrollably as he finally managed to steady himself and immediately began chasing after Sparx, who had flown ahead and was taunting him the whole way.
"Come on big guy, I'm not even trying. You really need to try unless you like losing all the time." Sparx taunted as he flitted just outside of Spyro's reach. Spyro never got the chance to retort as Sparx had the unfortunate luck of running into a frogweed that did not hesitate in swallowing Sparx with the intent of making him his next meal. Spyro couldn't help chuckling as Sparx exclaimed, "Alright let me outta here you overgrown fungus!"
Spyro watched as Sparx attempted to escape his plant prison before sighing and saying, "Spyro, seriously lend a hand would ya brother?"
"I don't know Sparx, a frogweed has to eat too." Spyro replied, content on letting the dragonfly stay in the creature's stomach for a little longer since he knew he wasn't in immediate danger.
"Come on Spyro whack it or something! Im your bro, plus my wings are getting moldy." Sparx argued, as he continued his futile attempts of making the frogweed spit him out. Spyro rolled his eyes and approached the frogweed. He lashed out with his claws and ripped open the creature, allowing Sparx to escape from the confines of its stomach.
"Great now I smell almost as bad as you do, and that's pretty bad! Cya later sucker!" exclaimed Sparx as he flew away, intent on continuing this game and becoming the victor.
" Geez not even a thanks for saving him." Spyro then sighed and began to race after him, a small grin forming on his face as he imagined the look on Sparx's face when he would be caught by Spyro. They continued their dash into the forest, with Sparx focusing so he could avoid another incident like that while Spro had to slice the few unfortunate frogweeds that had decided to attempt to impede his progress. Spyro nearly managed to catch the dragonfly before he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks due to the sight before him. A large skull of a snake that once thrived in this section of the mushroom forest. Sparx continued inside seemingly unaware of Spyro's hesitation until he heard him say, "Come on Sparx, you know we aren't supposed to go in there! That's cheating!"
"Pfft excuses, excuses. Catch up or give up chunky!" taunted Sparx, as he turned and proceeded further into the tunnel hidden behind the serpent's skull. Spyro sighed and was going to begin following his brother when suddenly he felt the same unease that had haunted him at the beginning return even more intense than before. He felt the need to turn back and inform Nina and Flash so they could get Sparx, but he shook it off and continued to follow his brother since he knew that the jungle was a mostly harmless place with the worst that he has seen being the frogweeds that were prevalent throughout the jungle. As he came near the skull he looked for a place he could slip through but the teeth were too closely packed so he decided to begin chipping away at the two front teeth, which had the biggest gap requiring the least amount of work. It only took a few slices before the ancient bone broke away and allowed entrance into the tunnel. As he squeezed his way inside, Spyro looked into the tunnel and couldn't see a single hint of the telltale yellow glow that signified where his brother was.
"Where did that little gnat fly off to now?" Spyro mumbled under his breath, becoming annoyed by the fact that he'll have to now also try to find his brother as well as navigating a potentially dangerous area. He didn't have to wonder for long as he soon heard Sparx expressing his own frustration in his usual manner coming from further inside the tunnel.
"Did anybody see a big purple thing around here? I seem to have lost mine." Sparx announced. At this Spyro began moving stealthily through the tunnel as he focused on scaring Sparx and winning this little competition of theirs by snatching him outta the air when he least expects it. Spyro sneaked through the tunnel and ended up nearly directly behind Sparx. The moment he emerged from the tunnel he found out that Sparx waiting for him and as Sparx opened his mouth to let off a witty remark he was suddenly snatched away by a large ape that had appeared out of nowhere and began running away from Spyro, who immediately began to give chase. Spyro didnt need to run very far as the apes seemed to back themselves into a corner. The largest of the group, who Spyro guessed was the leader, said "I thought all youz guys was gone."
This immediately stopped any thoughts that were currently running through his mind and replaced it all with a single burning question; what did he mean by that? Spyro's first idea was that he was referring to the dragonflies but that made no sense since he had heard multiple times that there were various dragonfly villages throughout the area. Then what could the leader possibly mean? As Spyro tried to voice his question, he was interrupted by Sparx who seemed determined to let them know exactly how he felt.
"Let me outta here you coward!" Sparx yelled out as he shook the small cage that the apes had imprisoned him within. The leader began laughing at the dragonfly before turning to face Spyro. A creepy grin adorned his face as he said, "Don't let him get away."
As the other apes dropped down to advance on Spyro he crouched down and growled, focused on saving Sparx and winning this fight. The apes taunted Spyro for a moment before the one on the right rushed Spyro, intent on running him over. Spyro charged forward, meeting the ape head on and knocking him onto his back. He couldn't get up as Spyro landed on top of him and proceeded to tear out his throat with his teeth, leaving the ape to let out a few strangled gurgles as it bled out on the floor. The other ape rushed towards Spyro while he was focused on his comrade and threw a punch right into his side. This knocked Spyro off the dead ape and forcefully removed the air from his lungs. While Spyro remained upright, he was gasping for air as the remaining ape began to close in. Once the ape got close Spyro lashed out with his tail, slicing through the ape's stomach and forcing the ape to stumble back until his throat was pierced by the tail.
Once Spyro defeated the last ape he turned to the leader, intent on finishing the fight now. The leader smiled as he let out a war cry, causing more apes to join the fray and surround Spyro. Spyro immediately charged at the encircling enemy, piercing them in the stomach while also breaking through and gaining some breathing room. Pulling his horns out of his dead foe, Spyro turned to the remaining apes which numbered 5 in all. A few were carrying rudimentary clubs for weaponry and they attempted to strike first. As they advanced on Spyro, he managed to kill another ape with a tail stab to the chest before being violently thrown backwards by a club to the chest. Spyro groaned as he staggered to his feet and managed to kill one of the weaponless apes that tried to tackle him to the ground by letting him pierce himself on his horns. Spyro scraped off the ape as the last of the weaponless apes rushed towards him and managed to claw his face, leaving long cuts running down the side.
Spyro retaliated with his own claws, slashing the ape's chest and leaving him to stumble back in surprise for a moment before collapsing onto the floor. The last two apes, both wielding clubs, advanced on Spyro in unison intent on overpowering him and beating him into the ground. Spyro advanced on the ape on the left, provoking it into swinging with all its might at him. Spyro dropped back quickly, causing the ape to overswing and leaving an opening for Spyro to tackle the ape and claw his throat out. The last ape took this opportunity to hit Spyro with his club, sending him onto his side and causing Spyro to shout out in pain. The ape grinned as he heard the pained yell and advanced, intent on ending Spyro's life. Spyro struggled onto his feet as he attempted not to drop onto the floor and focused on the final ape. Pooling all his strength into his legs and charged the ape, catching him off guard and causing him to stumble back. He never got the chance to recover as Spyro sliced at his legs, causing him to fall onto his knees and allowing his neck to come into convenient biting range. After having dispatched the last ape, he advanced towards the leader intent on stopping him. As Spyro closed in, Sparx had decided to again begin agitating the ape.
"Let me outta here and fight me like a… whatever you are you pathetic wretch!" As Spyro neared the ape had decided that he has had enough with the annoying dragonfly and set the small cage on the ground. Spyro believed that they were leaving Sparx and were going to leave but horror quickly overtook him as he saw the leader raise his foot, intent on killing the helpless dragonfly in the cage. Spyro looked on in horror when suddenly he felt his anger and determination to save his brother seeming to culminate in his throat. He felt that it seemed near bursting and suddenly felt the need to release it. He opened his jaws and while expecting a loud roar of anger, he suddenly began to breathe fire towards the ape. The ape received the full force of the flames and stumbled back and screamed in agony for a few moments as his skin was turned into ash and he fell to the ground dead and horribly burned. As Spyro tried to understand what happened, he suddenly saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Spyro turned and saw an ape trying and failing to hide high above him. Once he saw that he was spotted he turned and ran away. As Spyro focused on getting Sparx out of his cage, Sparx decided to raise a question that he wanted answered. "Did you just seriously breathe fire dude?!"
Spyro frowned slightly as he replied, "I'm not entirely sure what I just did Sparx."
"Ill tell you what you just did man, you breathed fire out of nowhere!" Sparx exclaimed as Spyro finally managed to let him free from his cage and he began flying around him erratically.
"I know Sparx, but are you alright?"
"You almost tricked me dude, but more importantly we seriously need to tell mom and the old man what happened!" Sparx exclaimed as he headed towards the tunnel, aiming to head straight home. Spyro hesitated before limping him, knowing that whatever happened next would change his life forever.
(A/N) Rate and Review people, helps me out more than you expect!