You may want to reread Chapter 3 before you read this in case you forgot anything that happened to Spyro

Chapter 6

Old Friends, New Enemies

Ignitus went inside and motioned for Spyro to follow. Spyro walked in much slower than Ignitus had. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the dim light, but as soon as they did he grinned. Inside was a large cavern lit by torches and small candles and decorated with strange symbols. In the center of the room stood none other than Cyril, Volteer, Terrador, and the Chronicler. The purple dragon ran up to them and greeted them happily, even managing to give a few hugs. Ignitus stood farther away from the rest and waited for them to finish. When they did he cleared his throat and got their attention. They turned.

" Well now that we've finished greeting each other, perhaps we can get to business."

The others nodded, but Spyro wanted answers first. " Ignitus, what is this place? How did you all survive? How did you all get here?" he questioned.

The fire dragon smiled and answered, " All of your questions will be answered shortly, though I can answer one right now. This is a dragon refuge. It is a secret place where dragons can go in times of crisis. As for your others, it is a long story. Now come, let's go to the other room to finish our discussion."

Immediately the group of dragons moved to a different room with a vision pool in the center and the elemental banners of fire, ice, electricity, earth, and time on the walls. It reminded Spyro a lot of the room in the dragon temple. The elder dragons each took up their positions and had Spyro sit between Ignitus and the Chronicler. Ignitus started.

" We all have our own stories and I think it's time we shared them. After all a lot has changed in three years. I suppose I will start. You see Spyro, after you and the other Guardians left; I stayed for a long time alone at the temple. It wasn't long before I realized that Cynder was long gone and it was pointless to search for her. But before the others returned, the apes planned a second raid on the temple the night of the eclipse and I was easily overwhelmed. They took me to the prison, and I remained there until you helped me escape." He paused for a second. " Terrador, perhaps you'd like to go next?"

The earth dragon nodded. " Certainly. After I finished my mission, I returned to the temple a day after the eclipse. The others had returned as well, but Ignitus was missing. When we saw the temple had been overrun, and when the apes tried to capture us, we retreated. There were too many of them. We needed a safe place to go, and when we remembered this refuge, we went here."

The others all nodded and Ignitus looked over at Volteer and Cyril. Cyril was next. " Our stories our basically the same, perhaps the Chronicler would like to go next," he simply said. Volteer nodded at this.

The Chronicler shrugged and seemed a little nervous. He wasn't used to being around so many dragons. " I had a vision the night of the eclipse that the apes would find the White Isle and destroy the Moon Temple. I knew I wouldn't be able to fight them off, so I came here, long before the others did. And using my control over time, I managed to take all of my books as well, after all, without it, I would have never been able to bring the books here in time and they would have been destroyed." He was silent after that.

Ignitus seeing as everyone was finished he addressed Spyro. " It seems that I have forgotten something important. Where are Sparx and Cynder?"

Concern instantly etched the other dragons' faces. Spyro had a sad look in his eyes. He sighed and said, " I don't know. I haven't seen them since we returned to the temple and I was captured." He bowed his head and stared at the floor.

Ignitus seemed worried. Young dragon," he said, " you must find them. They could be in serious trouble."

Spyro looked up, his face turned serious. " I'll try Ignitus. I'll try." He stood up and seemed as if he was about to leave.

Terrador stopped him with a massive paw. He spoke slowly and seriously to the determined young dragon, " There is no try, Spyro, you either do, or don't. You must be careful when searching for them. These are dangerous times and you could easily be captured and killed by the Dark Master."

Spyro nodded and tried to leave once again. Terrador stopped him again. " You cannot go yet Spyro," he told him calmly.

Spyro seemed angry and huffed, " But you said I needed to look for them before something bad happens. I need to go now."

"Terrador is right, you must stay here tonight. You need your rest before you do anything else," Ignitus told him.

The purple dragon relaxed, and Terrador moved his paw from in front of him. " O.K. I will." He sighed.

The dragons began to disperse from the room and went through different tunnels that led to the bedrooms. Volteer took Spyro to his room and left surprisingly without saying anything. It was a simple room with just a small bed, a few candles, and scattered books everywhere. Spyro curled up in the bed and sighed. He thought he'd never be able to sleep. He was worried about Cynder. He loved her, and wanted to tell her how he felt, but he couldn't now. He had to find her first. Soon his eyes began to droop, and all his worries slipped away as he fell asleep. While his slept, he had a dream.

It started when he got captured by the apes and was taken away, but this time, he saw what had happened to Cynder instead of himself. He watched everything from when Sparx and Cynder had gone to get Hunter and when they had started their quest to find him. The only things he didn't see were Cynder's talk with Sparx about him and her mysterious and strange encounter with Blaze. When Spyro woke later that night, he stood up and left his room quietly. He passed through the meeting room and the huge entry room without a sound. When he reached the exit, he pushed the rock blocking it slowly and quietly out of the way. The dragon dashed out of the door and into the cold night air. He took to the skies and began his long journey to find Cynder and Sparx. He had to before it was too late. Back in the tunnels, Terrador came out of his hiding place and sighed deeply. He knew what Spyro had been thinking all along. Deciding that there was no point to follow him, he strode slowly back to his room. The others would find out about him soon enough in the morning.

Meanwhile back at the temple, Malefor sat in the dank emptiness of the underground cavern. He formed a throne out of the rock and lay there doing nothing. He was craving news about the purple dragon, and good news. If he heard anymore bad news he would go crazy. He could hear an ape coming down the steps to his domain rather slowly. It stopped at the bottom of the steps, awaiting his command nervously.

The Dark Master's blood red eyes glowed fiercely. " Enter!" he barked.

The ape hesitated for only a moment, and then came closer to the throne.

" Do you have news about the purple dragon? Good news?"

The medium sized ape gulped. " Well, uh… It's like this, some of the centuries thought they saw the purple dragon fly by about an hour ago. The only problem was, they couldn't tell if it was him, or a bat. I would have told you sooner, but they were arguing so much about it that I didn't know if I should stay or tell you."

Malefor was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it sent shivers down the ape's spine. " So tell me," he started, " was anyone sent out to follow this dragon bat?"

" Yes, we sent twenty of our best apes to follow it," he said proudly, puffing out his chest.

Malefor shook his head and tried to stay calm. " Well then, maybe I should point out the fact that you just sent twenty of my best soldiers that are supposed to be here guarding the temple on a mission that was ordered without my command."

The ape's eyes grew wide as he tried to reason with his master. " But sir, you told us that..."

Malefor cut him off abruptly. The dragon was angry now, and he was giving the ape a death look as he started to move closer to him. " Maybe I should explain this to you. Did you ever think of the fact that maybe it was a bat, and now you're sending some of my best apes on a pointless quest without my command to follow a bat?" He yelled the last part.

There was fear in the ape's eyes as he tried to beg for forgiveness. " Please Master, forgive me…"

The Dark Master cut him off again. " That just it," he said slowly, coming up behind the ape and making him shudder, " I can't forgive you. Because if I do, you'll just end up making more mistakes, and I can't have that."

The ape's voice was merely a weak croak now. " Please Master, spare m…"

He was cut off one last time as the Dark Master drove his claws through the ape's side and flung him across the room to a dark corner. He walked up next to the dead ape and whispered in his ear. " See this is why no one but me gives the orders. Otherwise they end up just like you!" he batted the ape with his paw again and made him hit the cave wall with a sickening thud.

Just then another ape came down into the cavern. It saw Malefor standing over the dead carcass and started to go back up the stairs.

" Wait!" the dragon commanded.

The ape jumped at the sound of his voice and turned around fearfully. It was a female.

" Get this ugly excuse for an ape out of my sight and dispose of it immediately," he ordered.

The ape nodded and went over to the body, knowing it was a bad idea to make her Master angry. Malefor seemed satisfied and went back to his throne. He licked the blood off of his claws and grinned. The ape saw this, but simply ignored him. As she dragged the body up the steps she glanced at the ape's face. Instantly anger and rage filled her. It was her husband. As she stared back at Malefor sitting casually on his throne she knew she would get her revenge, or dye trying.

Well that's Chapter 6. On to 7. Anyway, I have some good news. In a little bit I'm hoping that I can put some of pictures of the characters on . I already have one of Spyro, I just need to put it up. It could be a while, but I will try. Also for anyone who doesn't know, I started a new forum where you can talk about what you think will happen in the newest Spyro game, the characters, or your own stories. Thanks please R & R.