Chapter Three

"Ok Cynder, are you ready?" Jet started. "We'll start off sparring so I can see how good you are with shadows already. Spyro, I want you to keep an eye on her for anything I miss and just try to learn by watching us for now. If I'm still conscious at the end and you still can't get it, I'll see what I can do." The two nodded before Jet and Cynder began their sparring match using only their shadow element at first, then moved on to full contact.

Casille was watching Jet from her balcony as he fought Cynder and gave her orders on how to improve. Her adrenaline had mostly worn off and she began to feel extremely tired as she watched the black clouds of shadowfire scatter in the training area below. She began to doze off, recalling what had happened during her first flight.

"You need to focus Cynder. The shadows can hide you, but when you come out to attack you have to make sure it's the last hit or they can strike back." Jet said after shrugging off one of Cynder's shadow strikes. "Don't give them the chance to fight back."

"Well I was holding back because I didn't want to hurt you." The black dragoness smirked.

"Then stop," Jet commanded. "Treat me as you would if I was really your enemy. I don't want you hold back unless one of us is in life threatening danger."

The former queen of darkness tried her shadow cloak again and Jet closed his eyes. Now invisible, Cynder ran over to him. She got close to his right side to try another shadow strike when she stopped. Jet opened his eyes and blasted a condensed ball of shadowfire to the ground, making a shockwave that knocked the dragoness out of her cloak and sent her flying back a few feet.

"Invisibility is practically useless if I can still hear you!"

Cynder jumped towards him and tried to attack with her claws and tail, but Jet's size gave him an advantage in physical combat. He grabbed both of Cynder's forelegs with his left paw and her tail with his right. In one fluid movement, Jet pushed her paws down and pulled her tail over her, making her flip past him.

She stood back up and exhaled a wave of shadowfire at the black dragon. Jet thought he saw something in the attack and was too distracted to dodge it. Instead, he quickly used a wave of his own shadowfire. Cynder's began pushing Jet's back, but Jet boosted the power in his. Spyro saw Cynder's get slowly pushed back at her before she stopped her attack and rolled out of the way.

"Try harder!"

Cynder nodded and let a larger wave of shadowfire loose from her maw. Jet did the same but his was formed less like a black fog as shadowfire normally does, but was instead a stream of purple, red, and black flames. Spyro watched how Jet's blast began to effortlessly rip through Cynder's and threw the dragoness to the ground. As soon as she fell, Spyro and Jet both ran to the downed dragoness with worried looks.

"You're going to teach me that even if I have to beat it out of you." She said as Spyro helped her up.

Jet stood a few feet from the two dragons and his eyes focused on a small trail of blood coming from his new student's mouth.

I'mgladshe'snothurt,buthowdidsheevenstayconsciousfromthat?"Y-Yeah, just not anytime soon… it takes a lot of energy to pull that off. Let's call it a day." He said, his eyes fixed on her blood.

Cynder caught Jet looking at the blood coming from her maw on the side opposite of Spyro and cleaned it off before the purple dragon could see it.

"What about teaching me?" Spyro asked. "I really want to learn how to do that."

"Maybe later. As I said, that move takes a lot of power. I'm tired already." He lied. Jet was still in top fighting condition, but he lost control of a power he had mastery of and was scared to do it again. Spyro nodded and led Cynder back into the temple.

HowcouldIhavedonethat?Thatcouldhavekilledher… His thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice calling his name. He turned around but didn't see anyone.

"Jet…" Jet looked up to where the voice came from and saw white scales on the balcony above him. He smiled as he remembered the only white dragon that knows him.

"Casille…" Jet smiled to himself as he flew to the balcony.

He got up to the balcony and saw the dragoness asleep. He turned to fly off and go back to his room when a cold gust of air blew by and made him decide to stay inside.

The black dragon walked to the door but stopped when he heard his name called again. Casille was still curled up on the balcony, but Jet noticed how she began to shake a little. He got close to the sleeping dragoness and called her name, but she did not wake up. He tried again and got the same response.

After multiple failed attempts to wake her, he positioned himself under Casille's body and lifted her off of the cold stone floor. He gently set her down on her bed and she curled up again. The black dragon walked back to the door and turned to see her one more time.

Finally, he walked into the hallway and found his room down the hall from the one belonging to the two heroes. As he climbed into his own bed, he found himself thinking about the white dragoness but knew he was forgetting something important. Jet shrugged the thought aside and slowly went to sleep.

"Spyro, I'm fine, believe me." Cynder told the purple dragon who was in bed with his wing draped over her body.

"I do believe you. It's just that attack looked really strong and I don't want to see you hurt." She giggled when she heard Spyro say those words.

"Well I'm not hurt Spyro, don't worry. I helped you take out Malefor and I seriously doubt Jet is as strong as him."

Spyro nodded and gave Cynder a kiss before he went to sleep. When Cynder was sure the purple dragon was asleep, a tear welled up in her eyes. It was the only time she had ever lied to her mate and she regretted it, but she needed him not to worry. She was sore from the battle. She had only been hurt this badly once, when Spyro's convexity fury knocked her out when she was still evil. Her entire body shuddered with a quick jolt of pain as her paw traced over the spot on her chest where she had been hit. She leaned her head on Spyro's and quickly went to sleep, trying to ignore the pain left by Jet's unintentional blast.