A/N: So here faster than last time. I quite enjoyed writing this chapter :) well things seem to be going good for the our group but I'll let you decide after reading this. As always, hope you enjoy it.
Ornis
Ornis walked down a bustling street of Wartalon in the sun. Trying to let the events that brought him here flow out his mind. On either side of him were small stalls selling all kinds of weird and wonderful things.
" You young sir look like a fine kept dragon. Here, keep it up with this, horn and talon sharpener. Only five gold peace's." A dragon yelled at Ornis while he was walking. The wind dragon looked at the small device and shook his head.
" Maybe if I had enough but I don't so, better luck next time." He said cheerfully. Ornis kept on walking and came across some dragons a little younger than his age. They were looking at the top of a building and pointing to a small fox which had in its mouth a small note.
" We can't catch it like this." One of the young red dragons said. " We need to surprise the thing. One of you go up behind it." The red dragon looked and patted a green dragon to which he hastily disappeared into the side street adjacent the house. The fox in a way sniggered at the young dragons and Ornis could see that it new the young earth dragon was going to try and sneak up on it. Ornis watched as the inevitable happened. The green dragon lunged for the fox and the small animal merely hopped up and over the earth dragon as it flew over the edge of the house and landed back where it had started. Ornis couldn't help but chuckle as he approached the young dragons. Being a couple of heads higher than them, he looked down with a smile.
" Can I help you dragons with that?" He asked pointing to the fox. The red dragon out of the trio looked at him while thinking before a smile appeared on his face.
" Names Tenzil. This is Bronk and Whirl." The fire dragon said pointing firstly to the earth dragon then to the other fire dragon.
" Nice to meet you all. Mines is Ornis. Now erm, I saw your attempt to catch the fox but can I ask. What is it you're trying to get?"
" Oh its a letter for an ill friend in hospital. That darn fox took it while we were walking there-"
" Hold on. A fox took that letter from you. A dragon. Seems like a damn brave fox to me. Right let me have a shot at it." Ornis said raising a paw.
" By all means mister." Bronk said with a friendly smile. This should be easy. Ornis thought to himself as he pushed himself using his wind element up to the roof. He looked the fox in the eye before crouching down to its level.
" Hey little guy. Listen I need that letter for those dragons down there. Please can you give me it?" Ornis asked as if it would understand. He held out its paw to which the fox seamed to smile at. The orange animal took the letter and started to hand it to Ornis. " That's it. That's it." Said Ornis but as the letter brushed against his paw, the fox yanked it away and jumped back. Ornis glared at it.
" Why you little-" He said as he lunged for it. The fox dodged his first attempt which left the white dragon on the other side of the roof. Ornis jumped for it but the fox again, danced out of the way and Ornis found himself falling over the ledge and ending up where he started, just like Bronk.
" Not very good hmm-" Tenzil said.
" Shush. This just got personal." Ornis growled as he made eye contact with the fox who was sitting on the letter.
" I will get you, you little vermin." Ornis said laying a trap on the edge of the roof. It was starting to get dark now and the stars were coming out. The trap was far enough away that the fox couldn't see it. Ornis placed a small peace of fish on a platform that some rope that would, when moved, rap around the fox and trap it.
" You sure have put some thought into it huh Ornis." Tenzil said admiring the trap.
" Yes now let's go. We can't be near the trap if we want it to work." Ornis replied jumping down to the ground and walking away from the roof. Tenzil and the others followed and watched as the fox looked at the devise with some curiosity. Ornis rubbed his paws together and chuckled a little.
" Come on now. Go for it, you know you want to." He said to himself. The fox moved only a little bit more and only nudged the fish and sure enough. The roped snapped up and wrapped round the fox and held it.
" Yes!" Yelled Bronk punching the air.
" I think my work here is done guys." Ornis said with a smug grin. " Have at him. Go get the letter."
" Thanks mister." Whirl said and the three of them vanished into the side street to get the fox. Ornis chuckled to himself and reminisced about his hatchling years. He was very good at mastering wind when he was young. Hence how he could use it so well now. Ornis smiled to himself again and started to walk. Suddenly he heard a yell coming from the street the three dragons went down.
" What!" Ornis said in shock before sprinting down the street. When he turned a corner he came face to face with two bigger dragons adoring Wartalon guard armour. The red dragon was holding Tenzil and Bronk against the wall while the other green one was holding Whirl.
" You know the law. No trespassing on Elite guard territory. You know what the punishment for that is!" The red dragon yelled.
" No please we didn't know this belonged to them. Please-"
" Say farewell." The dragon repeated. He lifted a claw to strike.
" HEY!" Ornis yelled. Both dragons snapped their heads to the white dragon. " They weren't doing anything. Surly its not punishable by … death?"
" You no nothing! Get out or you will meet the same fate. You have no idea who your dealing with."
" Oh I think I do." Ornis said taking a step forward. " You're both two big bad dragons that prey on the weak younger dragons. Well let me show you what the definition of karma is."
" If you lay one talon on us you will answer to Durzanith and his superiors-"
" Hold on. superiors?"
" Like I said. You know nothing." The bigger of the two said before flexing his claws. The green dragon then smiled back at Whirl and Ornis new what was going to come next. In a flash, Ornis flung his paw up and blew out a burst of wind that knocked both dragons away from the younger three and into the far wall. The large wall creaking as it cracked upon the dragons impact.
" You three, get behind me." Ornis said. The three young dragons bounded behind the bigger wind dragon and looked fearfully back at the two other dragons.
" You'll regret that. You fool!" The smaller one said. He got up as fire started to burn around him and as the dragon breathed, the fire pulsated bigger and smaller. The other one stood up as rocks formed rose around him. Crumpling and reforming into sharp edged tiny splinters. Ornis sized up both of them and new what had to be done.
" NOW!" Yelled the red fire dragon as he released a torrent of fire at Ornis. The wind dragon raised his paw and blasted wind straight into the middle of the torrent. He pushed for a second before slapping his paws together then pushing them apart. The wind Ornis had used imitated his paws and split out, dispersing the fire and stopping it.
" So you have skill. Well wind cannot stop rock so easily." The green earth dragon growled. He sent shards at Ornis and hit the floor with his front paws bringing up a large square of earth before he sent it hurtling towards the wind dragon. Ornis made some coordinated paw movements and wind burst out from each one. Each of the small movements sent wind which deflected the small shards of rock. Ornis then leapt into the air and as if he was gripping something. Span around and sent another column of wind at the large peace of earth. The wind span round it and Ornis, gripped the air and used it, as a chain of wind attached itself to the rock. He then span round and sent the rock spinning back at the earth dragon faster than it had been sent to start. The earth dragon couldn't deflect it and was hit head on by the attack and was sent threw the wall behind him. Ornis landed and quickly turned around.
" Run. We need to get out of here." He said to the three younger dragons. They nodded before sprinting away with Ornis. The wind dragon looked behind him every now and again but found no signs of a pursuit but he didn't stop. Soon after they ran to the other half of the city did they stop.
" Why … why would they kill you for that?" Ornis said while taking deep breaths. Tenzil looked back down the road in which they cam from.
" Its been like that for a while now. Ever since Durzanith took control, all the guards have changed. They take no warning and give no mercy. Its like they've been ordered to kill anyone disobeying the law on sight."
" And it doesn't stop there. There's been sightings of large dragons going in and out of the temple but no one knows who they are." Bronk said. Ornis found himself thinking about Durzanith and rethinking again about him. He turned his full attention to the three and smiled.
" Where do you like. I can take you there before I leave-"
" Don't worry about it. We live right there." Tenzil said pointing to a large house behind them. Ornis recognised it as a band three house.
" Alright then. I'll bid you a goodbye then and be careful next time you try to take a letter to your friend." Ornis said.
" Hey mister. Thanks for protecting us back there. You didn't need to do that."
" And watch as they hurt you? Bah, I couldn't stand by." Said Ornis. " But I really need to leave now so bye."
" By Ornis." The three young dragons chimed before disappearing into the house. Ornis watched them go before he himself turned and started heading back to the temple. He couldn't believe he just had to protect three dragons from getting killed just for walking onto someone's land. It was far to much of a punishment. And then there was the fact that one of the dragons mentioned Durzanith answering to someone above him.
" Guardians don't answer to anyone above them, do they?" Ornis questioned himself as he left for the temple. The night settling in.
Earn
Earn walked slowly out the main temple doors. Having spent the half day there waiting for the artefact's, he was extremely bored now. It was sunset when he left and the clouds were scattered around. Earn huffed a sigh and headed down the stairs to the streets of Wartalon. Almost as soon as he got to the foot of the stairs he was met with a guard.
" Enjoy our city. Prosper in its glory and above all. Have a great day." The guard said.
" I'll keep that in mind." Earn said nodding his head slowly. Not sure whether or not to take the dragon seriously. He carried on walking and found himself heading towards a lake. Quite a large lake which had on it some boats. The suns rays reflected of the water and gave it a purple hue. Earn scanned the shore lines and had to shake his head. Coming out from the shore was a small slither of land which had a pavement on and it head to a large building that was housed on the lake. Earn let his mouth drop at the building. It looked as if it were made of gold and emerald. Its wide and shallow dome for a rood had light coming out of it.
" Getting a good look are we?" Came a voice. Earn tilted is head to see another earth dragon looking at the building.
" You could say that." Earn said flatly.
" Surprised its still standing. With all the fighting that goes on in there."
" What? What is that building for."
" The stadium for the pro-elemental battles of course. Where have you been for the last two months?"
" Not here." Earn said simply. The green earth dragon nodded to Earn.
" Its the semi final tonight. Going to be packed with dragons."
" Is that so."
" Go take a look then new guy. You'll love it."
" I'll take note buddy. See you some other time." Earn said before walking away from the shore. He thought thought about what to do as he walked, all the while being very aware of the stadium in the corner of his eyes. Earn thought about watching dragons battle each other for fun and having rules to keep them in check. They didn't have that in Warfang. Earn continued walking until finally his curiosity got the better of him. He huffed before turning a little and headed towards the stadium. The earth dragon walked for a small amount of time before he came to the entrance of the large building. Being this close made it look gargantuan compared to when he was looking at it from a distance. Earn walked and found himself standing in a small hall which had some corridors leading of. It was fair to say that Earn was completely lost and it looked easier to just leave.
" Hey! You!" Came an irritated voice from the left. Earn glanced at the direction and found a dragon wearing a golden hat walking towards him. " You can't be in here, The match is soon to begin."
" Don't worry I was-"
" I'll have no excuses!" The dragon said. Earn was losing his patience with the dragon in front of him but thankfully another voice saved him.
" Its alright Jao. He's with me." The voice said. Earn saw a fire dragon come to his side and look at the dragon wearing the hat.
" Fine. But get him out of here Louden!" Exclaimed Jao. Louden nodded and put a paw on Earn's shoulder, pulling him down one of the corridors. They walked for a moment before they came to a room where some equipment was and a large net.
" Thanks." Earn said. Louden turned with a smile.
" Its nothing buddy. Glad to have you here. So are you watching the game?" Louden asked. Earn then got a good look at the dragon. He was wearing padding all over his body. Pads covered his elbows to his underbelly and chest. He had red marks over the collar of the suit.
" Uh, yeah. I guess."
" Great uh, what's your name?
" Its Earn."
" Well Earn since you're here. Lets see what you got."
" I'm sorry what?" Earn asked. Louden chuckled and turned him around to look at the net. Earn noticed targets on it.
" Use your earth element and lets see your hardest hit. Here, use these." Louden said. Earn saw his talon pointing to a large stack of earth like coins. The were completely green and they were completely smooth. All of them being symmetrical. Earn moved slowly as he started to use his element.
" So I just take them and hit the target." Earn muttered as he swung both paws in a punching motion. Two coins of earth zoomed out of the stack and swirled into the net hitting the bullseye first time. Earn grinned while turning to Louden.
" Beginners luck. Lets see you do it again."
" Fine by me." Said Earn with a chuckle. This time however he punched his arms five times and five coins of earth swirled into the net, again hitting the bullseye. Earn laughed at Louden's face. If only he new the amount of experience Earn had with his element in battle.
" So you're good then I'll give you that-"
" Hey Louden. Wai- Who's this." Came an unsure voice. Both dragons turned and saw an ice dragon walking into the room. Earn noticed he was wearing the exam same suit as Louden except it had blue markings on it.
" Hello Meldann. this is Earn. I was just witnessing how awesome he is at his earth element. Seven bullseye's and they were his first try. Didn't miss one."
" So you're good then." Meldann said raising a sceptical scaly eyebrow. Earn nodded in return saying nothing. Meldann shrugged. " Huh, fair enough then. Louden, we need to be ready in five. Teral should be here soon."
" Sure, I'm ready now anyway." Louden replied. Earn watched and then Meldann turned to him.
" hey, why don't you come see the match. See what a real elemental can do? Hmm?"
Earn thought for a moment and looked at Meldann. A tug of a smile appearing on his face for the first time since Star died. " Yeah. Where do I go?"
" Yes!" Louden yelled. " Well you have to go back out that door, to the right and up the far stairs. When you come to the top you turn right and then its the first left." Earn nodded at Louden taking everything in. Earn was about to say something but a dragon wearing the same suit but with green colours burst through the door with a large frown.
" Glad to see you idiots are ready. Perhaps we could actually win without you two dragging me down with you!" Exclaimed the dragon Earn took to be Teral.
" Be quite Teral." Sighed Meldann.
" Or I'll make you be quite." Louden said staring Teral down. Teral imediantly walked up to Louden and was staring at him in the eye.
" Make a move." Teral said low and deadly. Louden didn't move but kept his eyes locked with Teral's. Not daring to be the first to break contact.
" C'mon guys, break it up. We have a semi-final in half an hour and you two look like you're about to kill each other-"
" I wouldn't put it past me." Louden grunted. Teral flinched but narrowed his eyes even more. Louden prepared for the worst but it didn't come.
" Y'know what. I quit. This is absolutely ridiculous, see if I care." Teral said turning around and storming out the the room. Earn watched without moving at the small drama before him. He internally chuckled at how they were acting before the game.
" Great! Just great!" Yelled Meldann glaring at Louden. The red dragon merely huffed in reply.
" He had it coming. If you weren't going to annoy him then I was." Growled Louden. Meldann picked up his helmet and threw it into the net as hard as he could.
" Now we don't have a complete team you numskull!"
" Ah that's were you're wrong." Replied Louden with a sneaky grin. Meldann pressed his lips together and waited for an answer. Louden chuckled. " Look at out scales. What colour do we not have-"
" I know that just get on with it." Snapped Meldann. Louden raised a talon and pointed at the only other dragon in the room. Meldann whipped his head round to Earn, realization dawning upon him. Followed by anger.
" You expect him to play. He isn't even trained in the sport Louden!" Meldann yelled.
" Uh guys-" Earn tried.
" Oh yeah? Well I'll give him a crash course right here."
" Bah, you can't teach a hatchling."
" Guys!"
" WHAT!" Both dragons yelled at Earn. Earn took the moments silence as a gift and rolled his eyes.
" I know how to use my element perfectly. All I need to know are the rules." He said calmly. Louden grinned at Meldann. Meldann huffed and walked forward.
" Fine. Lets give you a run down." The blue dragon then pulled out a map from a near by shelf and put it down in front of Earn. It held on it a square shaped arena which had two colours on it. The middle was red and each end was blue. There were small green circles everywhere on it. There was one large line down the middle splitting the sides followed by another one in each half. " Right Earn. What happens is each of us stand here on this side. We'll have a team come up against us on the other side and our goal is to knock them off to win the game. If we don't get that far then we need to have the most points by knocking them back a sector. Here's what you need to focus on. D'you see these circles?"
" Yeah." Earn said slowly.
" Well their filled with earth coins exactly like the ones there. You only have to focus on using them to hit any of the opposing team but you'll have to dodge earth, fire and ice. And that's basically pro-elemental battling for you."
" Not that hard aint it?" Louden said patting him on the shoulder.
" Yeah. Seams easy." Earn said with a grin.
" dragoness's and dragons alike. Enjoy our lovely city. Prosper in its glory and above all. Have a great day! Welcome to the semi-final of the seventy fourth pro-elemental battle!" The announcer yelled. Lights beamed up onto the raised platform of the arena. Surrounding the arena was water and at corners of the stands were small platforms. Dragons filled the raised stands that stood above the arena, yelling and getting ready for a good fight. " You have your seats. So let me give you what you want. We have the news team on the block. Coming in at a number five rating on the scale. We have the sky-tigers!" The announcer yelled. Three dragons flew onto the right side of the arena with their full protection suits on. They were very calm and collected. The announcer dragon then raised a hand for calm. " And next we have surprisingly another rookie team. Recently having a change of players in the group, give it up for the ice-breakers!" Earn, Louden and Meldann all flew in and landed on the left side of the arena. Earn was a bit taken aback at the site but held his cool. " Now I want a nice match. From you both. Take your positions." Both groups stood at either side with earth being on the right, fire on the left and water in the middle.
" Oh looks like its gonna be a good one tonight guys." The commentator started. " We have the Sky-tigers versus the ice-breakers. Oh and it seams the ice-breakers have a change in their line up today. Earn his name is called has replaced Teral as the earth element in the group. I wonder what he can do that was better than Teral?"
" You have no idea." Earn muttered before a large bell clanged sounding the beginning. Earn immediately jumped sideways and sent three earth coins at the three opponents. One hit the fire dragon but the earth and ice both dodged and sent their elements towards Earn. Louden quickly blasted fire across the path of the attacks stopping the coins and the water, followed quickly by a quick succession of ice and water shots from Meldann at the others. One hit the their earth dragon but their fire dragon was up and launching a barrage of fire bullets at Earn and Louden.
" Oh and Earn narrowly dodges two fire bullets. Runden quickly senses the moment and fires a stream of water but its quickly cut of by Louden blasting fire in its path. Earn jumps into the air. Toldal reacts with three coins but Earn dodges two and fires the other one back. Louden jumps and enhances the speed of the coin with fire but OH! Runden grabs Toldal out the way just in the nick of time. Oh folks the ice-breakers are out to win tonight."
Meldann shot a stream of water which whipped their fire dragon sideways and into the earth dragon. Earn grinned and spun round kicking the ground brining up two coins before spinning round again and kicking them both at the earth and fire dragon. Louden and Meldann saw this and kept their ice dragon busy by launching a blast of fire and water at him. The fire dragon saw the coins coming and leapt out the way, one coin scuffing his wing as he dodged it but unfortunately for the earth dragon, he was hit square in the chest and sent back behind the line separating the red and blue zones. A different bell sounded throughout the stadium.
" Oh and Toldal gets knocked to the blue sector. Folks he's treading on thin ice now and I think its about to be broken by non other than the ice-breakers. Earn jumps into the air launching two earth coins at Runden but Skyline blocks with a quick blast of water knocking them back to the ice-breakers. Louden jumps over the stream and unleashes a blast of strong fire at Runden. Runden dodges but gets his by Meldann's water bullet. The sky-tigers are looking like its inevitable for them not to win tonight oh but wait! Runden jumps into the air as Toldal fires coins at all three of the ice-breakers. Skyline fires ice at them all and Runden sends a volley of fire balls at only Meldann. Earn dodges the coins but gets grazed by the ice shards. Louden also dodges but, OH! Seams the sky-tigers have got one back on the ice-breakers and have sent Meldann back to the ice-breakers blue sector."
Earn watched as Meldann was knocked back a sector followed by the booming bell before turning round and sending six coins at all the sky-tigers. Two for each dragon. Skyline jumped and span sideways in the air to dodge them while Runden blasted fire knocking them off course. But he didn't know that he had inadvertently knocked one into the course of Toldal so when he dodged both of Earn's coins, the last one hit him square in the face knocking off his helmet and sending him spiralling of the arena and into the waters bellow.
" Oh! And there goes Toldal. That looked painful. The sky-tigers are down to two dragons and there seams to be no let up in persistence from the ice-breakers. Earn swipes a sideways coin barrage while Meldann launches a stream of water at Runden. No but wait OH! And there goes Skyline. Seams like Louden just wanted to get his opposite element off the arena. Well folks it seams as though that's this game for tonight."
Earn watched as Runden looked around for his team mates but found nothing.
" Ha, got ya." Earn said. He gave a sidewards glance to Louden who nodded. Earn then lifted two coins and started spinning them before sending them both at Runden. Louden took a deep breath before sending the largest blast of fire yet at the opposing fire dragon. Runden dodged one coin but was hit by the other and knocked back to the blue sector. The booming bell signalled the sector breach but it signalled again when Louden's stream of fire smacked Runden sending him spinning off the end of the arena.
" Oh! And that's it. The ice-breakers are victorious. They win." The commentator said.
" YES! WE WON!" Yelled Louden taking of his helmet and throwing it into the air. The announcer then flew onto the arena and held up a hand.
" The ice-breakers are this semi-final's winner and will go threw to face the defending champions the Shadow-dragons." After he said it, three dragons appeared on the stage. They were completely covered in dark energy and their eyes glowed a brilliant white light. Earn recognised them immediately and took a step forward but they vanished.
" What the?" Earn asked himself before being scooped up by Louden and Meldann and taken back to the changing rooms, chanting the words champion on the way.
" Damn Earn. I never new you were that good. You practically took them out yourself except from Runden. We both took him out." Louden said. Meldann was up in the superiors box signing the contract for the final.
" Oh that's only using coins. You should see what i'm like when I have all my earth around me." Replied Earn.
" Id love that. I'll be back in a second. Just going to get Meldann." Chirped Louden before he vanished threw the door. Earn was about to follow but stopped upon remembering why he was here and what he was meant to do. That and the fact that they were leaving tomorrow. Earn sighed and turned to the bench. He took of his helmet and placed it on it.
" I'm sorry." Was all he said before he jumped out he nearest open window, heading to the back to the temple.
" Hey Earn i'm back-" started Louden but he stopped when he looked at the empty room. He had a small peace of cake in his left paw which fell off as he walked up and picked the helmet up. He stared at it for a moment before putting it back down with a sad smile.
Spyro
Spyro sat in his room with closed eyes. Waiting. He could sense everydragon in the temple and the dragons just around the perimeter. Spyro couldn't help but think to himself that he could sense the presence of the same darkness the shadow dragons had when he was close to them. He growled slightly as his scales turned to a dark black and dark energy started to flow off his body. This time however there was blue in the lightening as well as the purple.
" I'm coming." An eerie voice whispered. Spyro snapped open his eyes, the dark energy and the lightening disappearing as he fell backwards some steps. He looked about frantically but found no one in the room but himself. The only thing her heard as the night seamed to come in at double pace was a faint laugh.