Chevron battle #7 (Fire)

Flame had been flying for quite some time and frankly, it was wearing him out. Having lived in Stonefeild for most of his life, he had little need to fly as the whole city was underground. Now he wished he had spent more time outside instead of staying to himself mostly.

Ever since he had left childhood, he had seen the corruption in Stonefeild for what it was. People there never left those halls and developed customs separate from the rest of the world. Things considered law there were looked at from outside as taboo and blasphemy. Flame saw this and refused to be a part of it. As such he was ridiculed for being soft, weird and perverted when it was actually the other way around.

Ember also saw the corruption but tried to fix it however she could, with limited success. When she saw Flame and his purity, she became attracted to him and they devoted themselves, most people ridiculed Ember for her poor choice of mate, the exceptions being the handful of people who she had shown the light and had also turned from the corruptive society that was Stonefeild.

When they left, Ember had left a legacy of dragons determined to end the corruption of their home, and Flame had left an impression, the "soft pervert" had been chosen by the outside to be a leader. Flame hoped they would realize the significance in this, and perhaps take a step back to see what they've become. Flame was glad to have left that city, a modern Babylon. But someday he would return to end the corruption once and for all.

Flame brought himself out of his thoughts to look around at where he was. Below him was red stone stretching on for miles, the weak sandstone had eroded over time and he gazed down at a magnificent matrix of canyons.

The massive scars in the earth were sometimes narrow and sharp, as though a giant knife had split the earth, other places they were wide and sloping, as if the walls had melted and flowed over any sharp angles. Here and there were waterfalls shooting from the canyon walls, but no river. He could smell fresh water, but these falls were the green of saltwater, sometime in the past, the main river had eroded away the ceiling of a huge cave complex. The river then went underground, mixing with the salt, sand and limestone of the underground network, and pouring out the canyon walls from underground saltwater rivers.

Here and there, particularly ear a waterfall, a tree would grow from the wall, the trunk curving upwards towards the sun. birds nests were in many of these trees. Any other life was scarce.

As Flame flew on, he saw a hole in the earth, directly under the hole was a stone formation, but its angles were far too accurate to be natural. Flame angled down to get a better look. His wings folded, he shot through the hole and flared his wings in the darkness.

As Flame landed, he gazed up at the structure, only the tip was visible in the narrow shaft of light that spilled in from the opening. All around him was the roar of running water echoing off the walls. Flame opened his mouth and shot a fireball into the darkness, it then compressed and began exploding, but very slowly, Flame was controlling its burn rate so the light would last for several minutes. What he saw both awed and shocked him.

The cavern he was in was massive; at least half of Warfang could fit inside. In the center was the chevron, its pyramid tip pointing directly at the hole in the ceiling. The walls around him had many waterfalls pouring out into holes bored into the floor. If there was a bottom, it was impossible to tell. But that's not what shocked Flame.

At the base of the chevron lay Ember, bound and gagged. Next to her was a creature the likes of which Flame had never seen.

It was a Purple reptile of some sort, It resembled the spawn of a dragon and some feral beast, it's eyes were crimson and its short, pug like face matched it's short squat body, with its legs jutting out from it's body at angles like that of a chameleon. Its tail resembled a snakes rattle, and its teeth poked down from below its upper lip.

"Who are you?" Flame asked, slightly disgusted by the thing.

When it spoke, it was in a nasally voice accompanied by snorts and slurping noises. "I'm Spyro"

Flame couldn't help himself, he started laughing. The creature cocked it's head quizzically, much like a dog. Flame managed to stop laughing long enough to say "I know Spyro, you're not him. I mean, his children are taller than you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm Spyro, how can there be more than one me?"

Flame walked over, the humor had worn off as quickly as it came. "What are you doing with her?" He said, referring to Ember, he had to play this carefully, he didn't know the mental state of this thing who thought it was Spyro.

"This is Ember, She liked me for a long time and I didn't. But Now I do and she doesn't. But I know she still does inside, So I'm taking her home with me until her feelings return."

At the mention of her name, Embers eyes opened a crack. "Flame… Help me."

Flame nodded and Ember shut her eyes again. Flame returned to looking at the creature. AS he spoke, he ever so slowly circled to get himself between Ember and "Spyro". "and where is your home?"

"Skyland, I'm friends will Gill Grunt." Flame shook his head. This thing is completely insane, he doesn't make any sense at all.

Suddenly "Spyro" realized Flame was now between him and his prize. "What do you think you're doing, She's my girlfriend!"

Flame smiled. "Sorry to break it to you, but You're too late, she's my mate.

"Spyros" eyes widened. "No. You lie!"

Behind them, Ember whispered "It's true."

Goblin Spyros mood quickly changed then. "Ember was supposed to be mine! You'll pay for this!" Goblin Spyro shot out a fireball, which Flame countered with one of his own, both hit and splashed flames everywhere. Goblin Spyro then charged Flame, knowing he couldn't dodge without letting him hurt Ember, and he didn't, Flame instead sidestepped and clamped onto goblin Spyros wing with his jaws and whirled around, building on his opponents own momentum and sending him flying several yards. Goblin Spyro jumped up and whirled in midair, sending a barrage of fireballs at Flame, who stood there, protecting Ember.

Goblin Spyro landed and walked toward the cloud of smoke, a smug look on his face. But as the cloud cleared, his smile vanished. Flame hadn't budged, but there wasn't a single burn on him. Goblin Spyro fired another ball at Flame, it hit him in the face and his head whipped back, but Flames check was unburned as he turned to look at his opponent again.

"Face it, you're outclassed. You're not even that strong, and I'm a guardian. Simply put, you can't beat me."

"Oh no?" Goblin Spyro said. "Try this on for size!" He opened his mouth and an arc of blue lightning shot out, hitting Flame and throwing him off his feet and over Ember, skidding to a stop several yards away. He tried getting up, but the residual electricity was interrupting his nervous system, sending false signals to his brain, which made his body twitch and jerk.

As Goblin Spyro walked over to Ember, he said "I don't just have fire ya know. I'm full of tricks." He looked up at Flame and prepared to shock him again when Flame darkened and faded to a thick oily smoke. "What?"

"I'm full of tricks too." Flame said behind him. Goblin Spyro wheeled around, only to be knocked into the air by a vicious uppercut from Flames horns. Flame flew after him and slashed at him with claws and tail, but each time goblin Spyro managed to block it, a after which he spat a cloud of frigid air, Flame countered with a stream of scorching fire, on contact a huge cloud was created, Flame terminated the fire, in the deep fog he had no clue where "Spyro" was, to make matters worse the slow burning fireball was going out. Flame raised his head and fired another one. When he looked down, he saw a flash of movement in the fog, then it was gone.

With Ember bound, Flame was unable to use his fury, so he did the next best thing, He took to the air, looking down, he saw a flash of purple where he had been just a moment before. Once above the fog, he opened his mouth, a jet of flame screamed out, billowing and expanding when it hit the ground, creating a massive inferno that grew, curved in on itself and collapsed, making way for the new flame underneath. The firestorm grew until it consumed the entire cloud, then Flame exercised his control over fire, jerking his head back, the fire stopped growing and imploded before it could consume Ember.

Once the fog was burned off, Flame looked around for the small dragon, before he could react, a frigid wind hit him from behind, throwing him to the ground, where ice formed around him, encasing his body in a thin layer of ice. The cold sapped his body of strength and he could no longer feel his limbs, let alone move them. As he breathed fire on himself, a torrent of water hit him, dousing his flame and freezing on contact with the ice as the frost crept towards his mouth and nose, the small goblin Spyro landed and walked toward ember "Looks like you're all mine now that that red dragons out of the way."

Forgive me. Flame thought as he delved into his energy and released the fire fury.

The Ice coffin shattered in a flare of sanguine light, the goblin Spyro wheeled around and tried to hit Flame with another last of electricity, the arc flew at flame, then changed course just before it hit him, blasting the floor. Flame then looked at the goblin Spyro as he got up. His quarry tried to run, but Flame opened his mouth and a tongue of fire raced toward goblin Spyro. The dark red fire wrapped around goblin Spyro, who yelled in pain as it burned, then the flames, still poring from Flames mouth angled up, carrying goblin Spyro with them, Flame turned, whipping his neck, the fire followed, sending goblin Spyro flying through the air. But Flame didn't let him go, he instead snapped his neck back, sending goblin Spyro flying overhead, only then did the fire release him, to burned to move, he could do nothing as he flew into one of the waterfalls, which caught him and shoved him down into the hole bored in the floor to depths unknown.

Flame then allowed the wild energies inside him to die down, the light ended, along with his fury. Flame walked over to Ember and with a claw, cut the ropes binding her. The metal muzzle, which Flame hadn't noticed before allowed her room to speak, but no enough to open her mouth to use fire. He grabbed the plate on the back of her head with both wing claws, one on each side and yanked in a scissor motion, the metal torqued and shattered, freeing Ember.

"How did you get here?" Flame asked. Ember shook her head.

"He surprised me one day and knocked me unconscious, I woke up bound and saw him before he started talking to me like we were mates. When I didn't answer, he knocked me out again, the next I woke up I was here. I couldn't see anything for a long time, until you showed up.

Flame nodded. "Are you ok? You can fly back?" Ember nodded, then kissed Flame.

"Thanks for rescuing me."

Flame blushed "Well… heh. Anytime." After that, he walked to the chevron and after looking it over a minute, found the panel and placed his paw on it. A current of fiery energy left his paw and down the panel before racing up the chevron, lighting up it's markings. When it reached the top, it split into a giant V, the tips angling inward to point at each other. Then they fired a beam of red energy at each other, which coalesced into a large ball that fired a red beam through the hole in the roof to the sky.

Flame went over to Ember, who had gotten up, kissed her again, this one lasting a few moments before they took off and shot through the hole to head back home.

Chevron battle #8 (Electricity)

Valcor had long ago reached the chevron, and had tried to activate it to no avail. The panel would react to him, but not send his energy to the obelisk. He had given up a while ago and now sat in meditation, trying to solve this dilemma.

In his minds eye he was in a land that embodied his soul. The land was dark soiled, good land for life to flourish, yet none did. The few trees here were old, twisted, barren and black. The same with the few shrubs that dotted the land, the earth was cragged and fissured. Directly above was the reason nothing grew, a massive storm cloud twisted overhead, like oil going down a drain. This huge storm never grew or shrank, no rain fell, but lightning constantly bombarded the earth, allowing nothing to grow, the death wrought by the force of nature killed everything, which became one with the earth, making it rich land if the lightning would ever abate, which of course it never would.

The sky to the east was pink and orange, like an eternal sunrise, the sun poked halfway above the horizon, casting an orange light on everything, never moving, an eternal sunrise.

The sky to the west was dark, like twilight, stars twinkled and the full moon hung low in the sky, an eternal night. Overhead, the sunrise melded with the twilight, there was no blue sky of day, just one changing to another.

Directly in the center of the scarred land was a small oasis of green life. Lightning would occasionally jump to this area, but an invisible force would deflect it. This oasis was about 20 feet in diameter, with grass six inches long, a large moss covered stone lay to one side and a small cherry tree in eternal bloom gently showered the stream underneath in pink petals. This stream originated from a small spring in the oasis and flowed out of the green area only to fall into a fissure a few feet away.

In the middle of this oasis sat Valcor, he wondered at this small garden, it had not een here before he met Zoulu, and it was larger than it had been, perhaps Zoulu was changing his inner being? Valcor gazed outward at the ravaged land and thought back to his life before her, he had been alone, always alone. Everyone shunned him and he shunned them back, His "Mother" Byancyra had tormented him as a child, it made sense that his soul was barren. When he met Zoulu, he finally had a reason to live, he was happy around her. He had even almost given his life to save her with no thought to his own safety, and again to save her family. Perhaps this oasis was the embodiment of his feelings for Zoulu?

Leaving his contemplation, Valcor looked at the two spirits before him. Ondonna, in the form of a great pink serpentine dragon hovered in the realm of sunrise, Tempes, the great black Wyvern, with massive wings and no forelegs stood in the realm of twilight.

He turned to Ondonna, who had a look as confused as his. In all my eons of existence, I have never seen this kind of technology, I could only suggest asking the Ancestors for guidance, but we have not the time.

Bah! Tempes said You can solve any problem yourself, you just need to find the solution, I think we should destroy it.

Why? Ondonna said. What will that accomplish besides dooming us all?

Maybe it's like nut. Tempes suggested. Cracking it open reveals the sweet seed within.

Valcor shook his head. "No, destroying it won't help, it's some kind of energy conversion and direction device, I may have the energy inside me needed, but not in the form the portal needs to activate. Maybe it requires a certain technique?"

Ondonna spoke up I don't thing so, it was designed by humans, they would only be able to harness electricity, not bend it to their will as a dragon can. I'm almost certain it simply needs the energy to be present.

"Humans… so confusing, for such an advanced race, they seemed to be weak as a creature, only their technology made them powerful."

Tempes laughed You speak as if you weren't one! Valcor shrugged.

"I may have been Stephan once, but he died, I lived my whole life not knowing of my past, I became a new person, as far as I'm concerned, I was never a human."

Tempes nodded as Ondonna came out of thought. Perhaps, there's something we missed.

No. Tempes said. I didn't overlook anything, There wasn't much there, only a fool would fail to notice even the slightest detail.

"Well thanks Tempes." Valcor said. "I didn't notice what color the ants were, way to be supportive."

Tempes grinned Anytime. Ondonna rolled her eyes.

After a few moments, Valcor said "Maybe… there's some information we don't have. Ondonna, what did you learn from the others?"

As a spirit, I can see and do many things you cannot comprehend, I've seen them all fight something or another, usually an enemy created by the chevron specifically to make the battle difficult for them.

Tempes took to the air, swinging his tail and ripping a hole in the fabric of the mindscape. It's settled then, Come Valcor, I've found the solution.

Valcor looked to Ondonna, who shrugged. He stood up and flew through the tear, ending up back in the real world.

All around them were trees, deep in this forest of giant trees, where those who enter can never leave the pines grew to heights of three hundred feet. The locals seemed to have a problem with dragons of an element not having to do with the four elements, and Valcor managed to bluff his way through by showing off his purple scales He had encountered a few voidlings, even his strongest attacks were useless, but with Tempes's power, his strength increased to the point that they weren't a problem.

Valcor looked to the clearing the chevron stood in, dwarfed by the trees and was shocked to see Tempes, who grinned.

The chevron needs a defense to fail before it will accept your power, since it has no natural defense, I'll defend it.

"What?" Valcor exclaimed. "I thought you were on my side!"

I am. Tempes said. And right now, fighting you is the only way to stop Ôumí Jiâ.

Valcor glared at him. "Fine then." He began to summon Ondonna's power, but was again surprised when she stopped him.

I cannot aide you in this fight. She said, I embody the light in your soul whereas Tempes embodies the darkness, both are needed to maintain a balance, if one of us were to conquer the other, calamity would ensue. You must fight this battle on your own.

Valcor closed his eyes and brought to mind a single image, a yellow dragoness that seemed to fill his waking hours and dominate his dreams. For Zoulu He thought. Then opened his eyes and summoned a charge of lightning, sending arcs of lightning from the ground to writhe in the air. Tempes summoned an aura of darkness.

Eager to start, Valcor leapt at Tempes, using his electricity to accelerate. He collided with Tempes before he could react, there was a flash of lightning, and they flew apart, Tempes being thrown much farther than Valcor, who flipped and landed on his feet.

Tempes landed on his back and carved a furrow in th earth before slamming his tail on the ground, throwing himself back into the air, where he flipped and took off to the sky.

Valcor smile and took off in an explosion of lightning. He arced up towards Tempes, who looked down and breathed shadow flames on Valcor. At this speed he couldn't evade and flew straight into it. Immediately his momentum ceased and he stopped dead in the air. The shadow flames seemed to suck the very air out of his lungs, replacing it with a strange urge to sow anarchy.

Fight it Valcor. Ondonna said. Valcor shook his head free of the confusion and thought quickly, he was running out of air, but he remembered that certain particles conducted electricity. He focused a large blast of lightning into a small orb in his mouth and released. The energy arced out in a million tiny bolts that seemed to energize the shadow flames, it glowed as it absorbed the lightning, and finally hit critical mass and exploded outwards. Valcor being in the center was unharmed. Tempes however was caught point-blank. He was thrown away, tail smoking.

Valcor flapped his wings to blow away the smoke ad watched Tempes fall to earth. Something changed just before he hit though, he seemed to fly at the ground, accelerating. When he hit, there was a brief flash and a black shockwave flew from a new crater too fast for Valcor to dodge. AS it flew at him he folded his wings, and just before it hit he flared open screaming as a yellow shockwave flew from him. Both energy waves hit each other and seemed to absorb one another, shrinking to a point until they were gone.

Tempes shot into the air and Valcor flew to intercept. Before they got free of the trees, the branches moved to completely block any escape, as Tempes stopped and turned in midair, Valcor slammed into him, clawing at his belly while Tempes snapped his jaws at Valcor's neck. They twisted in midair as they fell, each trying to tear at one another in their deadly embrace. Just before they hit the ground they untangled and Tempes, being larger got Valcor under him and used him as a springboard to launch himself into the air, shoving Valcor into the ground in the process.

Valcor shakily got to his feet and looked up at Tempes. Get up Valcor! Some guardian you are! Tempes said.

"Jeez! Can't you take It easy on me?" Valcor said. But Tempes just laughed.

First, my honor wouldn't allow it, second, it wouldn't be so much fun! Then Tempes seemed to vanish. Moments later Valcor was struck by an unseen force, leaving a gash in his side.

"Two can play this game." Valcor said and altered his internal electricity, creating a force that bent light around him, making him all but invisible. AS he did he saw a slight movement in the grass that headed towards him. He twisted and brought his bolt shaped tail spike to bear, he heard a grunt and a force press on his tail as Tempes collided with it. He later became visible and much to Valcor's surprise, his tail spike had lodged itself deep in Tempes's forehead. AS he dropped his own cloak Tempes fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Oh jeez! Tempes!" Valcor shouted and moved to help him when he felt a nudge from Ondonna. Taking a closer look, he saw there was no blood.

Valcor jumped back just as Tempes sprang to life, snapping at the air where he had been but a moment before.

Valcor Ondonna said, We're spirits, you won't be able to kill him, only subdue him.

"But I thought you couldn't have bodies of your own?" Valcor asked.

The Chevron is lending him some unnatural power, when we leave this place, our ability to manifest will vanish.

Valcor nodded. Tempes could only be subdued? No problem.

Tempes got to his feet from playing 'opossum, and flew at Valcor, roaring his challenge while cloaking his body in shadow. The amount of energy in his shadow strike would kill any normal dragon. Valcor however was not a normal dragon.

Just as Tempes would hit Valcor, he opened his eye, which glowed yellow, and vanished. Moments later a yellow beam seemed to come out of nowhere and send a tearing pain through Tempes's very being. Before he could recover, there was another beam from another direction, ignoring the pain, he turned to search for the source of the attacks, instead a beam shot through him from the opposite direction. Tempes's vision grew fuzzy and he released all his energy in one final attack, a great cloud of shadow enveloped him and took the shape of a great dragon head, which them exploded in a malicious shockwave, just as another beam fired.

The beam collided with the shockwave and both stopped in midair, the yellow energy of the beam started to fall apart from the tail end and disintegrated until only the source was visible, glowing with a golden aura. Valcor pressed against this all out attack while pumping more energy into his fury, he honestly didn't think he would be able to defeat this attack. Then through the rippling air of the shockwave he watched Tempes fall to the ground, completely exhausted.

No longer with any reason to fight, Valcor reversed direction and arced upwards, the yellow beam curving over the shockwave to land beside Tempes, the yellow energy completely dissipating in a harmless ring that flew from Valcor's body. He looked down at Tempes, who truly was unconscious this time.

"Looks like I won?" He asked.

You did, little one. Ondonna replied. That's always been Tempes's style, even before we traveled to the physical world, to put everything into every attack, until he has nothing left and ends up like this.

Valcor nodded and touched the dragon, who faded from the physical world and reappeared in his consciousness. Valcor smiled at Tempes's moaning in pain and grumbling at being defeated by a mortal.

He then walked to the Chevron and placed his hand on the panel, a pulse of lighting left his body and shot into the chevron, lighting it up and causing it to split into a V shape, it then fired a yellow beam, which blew away the enchanted tree branches above, allowing Valcor an escape from the so-called inescapable forest. Valcor spread his wings and took flight.

Back at the Warfang Portal chamber:

Spyro waited eagerly with the others, James, Perrin, Ryan, Jacy, Kenji, Selena, the three ex-guardians, Terrador, Volteer, and Cyril. Even Hunter, Sparx, his wife, Shimmer and their son Lumi were there to see the fate of their world. No one said much as they waited in anticipation.

They looked up to watch as a small circular rainbow appeared in the sky, it kept their gazes as the beams flew down from the heavens and struck the huge portal they were all standing in front of.

The super portal resembled the chevrons in that it was ancient, with strange looking carvings all over it. Ryan looked at these and thought they looked like ancient Nazca markings. The base of each leg of the arch was cast in gold, and along the arch were nine gems. One by one they seemed to glow.

The ruby began to flicker, almost as though a flame resided behind or inside it. The opal glowed and frosted over, the citrine pulsed with an inner energy. The shimmering orange band of the tiger-eye seemed to grow until the entire brown semiprecious stone was an odd gold that changed in the light.

On the other side, the emerald glowed with a sickly light, the carbuncle next to it gave off an eerie light, the solid onyx next to that suddenly became transparent and inside a smoke seemed to swirl around and the diamond next to that seemed to morph as a white vapor twisted inside.

This only left the last gem at the very top, a large amethyst. Everyone stared in confusion as it remained unlit and the portal dormant. Suddenly they heard a deep, dark laughter behind them. They turned to see a black dragon. Spyro's eyes widened.

To be continued… sucks, don't it?