Sorry it took a while but I had graduation tests to study for. (Excelled on all four parts, one with Honors so I'm excited.) Here's a longer chapter as an I'm sorry.

Chapter Five

"WHAT?" Spyro cried as the guardians had told him about the discovery of the army.

"We are sorry, but there is a large force of Malefor's remaining army who is coming to Warfang, Volteer went to check for himself…" Terrador solemnly said.

"HOW COME YOU DIDN'T TELL ME EARLIER?"

"We wanted to tell you, but-" Cyril started before the purple dragon cut him off.

"WE WERE STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE OUT THEIR LEADER, BUT YOU DON'T TRUST US TO TAKE DOWN WHAT'S LEFT OF HIS ARMY?" the purple dragon roared.

"We held off the last attack, and now there won't be a golem to help them. They should be easier now so why have all of us relocated?" Cynder asked.

"Because this portion of his army is three times larger than the last one. Do you know just how many lives were lost in the last attack?" Terrador retorted. The two dragons were silent.

"We need the two of you to take your generation to Avalar; Prowlus has agreed to keep you there until this battle is over." The earth guardian finished while still looking at the floor.

"We just need you two to let the younger dragons and anyone who cannot fight out of Warfang, the rest will need to stay and fight." Cyril said.

"Fine… but I want the truth right from the start from now on, got it?" the purple dragon said with a commanding tone than even Terrador refused to argue with. The purple dragon's glare helped as well. The only one who wasn't surprised at his outburst was Cynder who had seen Spyro at his worst, when he transformed, and it seemed to almost come back.

"Please calm down Spyro." The black dragoness pleaded when she saw Spyro's purple scales begin to darken just like before.

Until now, Cynder had been the only one to see Spyro's dark form aside from the golden dragonfly, Sparx. She was also the only one who could manage to reach him in this state as she had calmed him after both Malefor's release on the night of eternal darkness and when he transformed again after Ignitus' sacrifice.

The hero's scales returned to their original purple color and his normally kind nature returned. "I'm sorry Cynder, I almost lost it again."

The guardians were at a loss. They had never seen Spyro act like he had and none of them knew about his dark side. Sparx had never told any of them either. It was the one thing the dragonfly knew that he didn't tell anyone and everyone about.

The two dragons decided to call as many dragons as possible to the temple's courtyard instead of flying through the city telling everyone.

Every single young dragon looked to their parents as if it would be the last time they would see them again, which for many was very possible. After many heart wrenching goodbyes, the only ones left in the courtyard were the younger generation, Jet's closest friend Voltaria, (the lightning dragoness who came to the city with him) and Casille's foster parents.

Voltaria flew off with one last glance at her shadow dragon friend and headed toward the main gate where all the adult dragons, including the guardians, were preparing to defend the city. Casille's foster parents flew off as well, but stayed long enough to see the shadow dragon comforting their daughter. Jet had gently placed a wing over the sobbing dragoness who rested her head on his shoulder. Her tears softened, but never really stopped. Seeing this made her parents think a little harder about shadow dragons as they flew away.

After everyone had gathered what they wanted to bring with them, Spyro and Cynder led the group to Avalar with Sparx sitting on the purple dragon's head. Spyro had a handful of scrolls on advanced element control, Cynder had the same but with her own strange elements, Casille had a single silver colored book, Jet took nothing, as did Flame and Ember.

They group got to the wall and took flight. Throughout the long trip, the only sounds that could be heard by Spyro and Cynder were the beating wings and a few sobs from the crowd behind them. About sixty young dragons came while the rest stayed behind.

Spyro and Cynder were in front followed by Flame and Ember who were talking to a light blue dragoness they did not recognize, then a lot of dragons they hadn't gotten the chance to meet yet. In the back of the group was Jet who was carrying the three-tailed white dragoness.

Casille was lying on Jet's back between his wings with her front legs around his neck, thinking about when she would get to see Chasm and Aeris again, if she ever got to. The thought of not getting to see her foster parents again entered her mind and made her sorrow deepen and caused her tears to reform.

"Please don't cry." Jet said. "There is nothing to worry about. You will see them again, I promise."

Without warning, Jet's body transformed into a pure black cloud of shadow and Casille fell through him. Just as she fell out of the cloud, Jet's body rematerialized with his arms around her. The white dragoness was now facing up toward him, having rolled over during her quick fall.

"I will keep you safe no matter what happens." The black dragon said.

After hearing this, Casille began crying, but for different reasons this time. The dragon she cared so much for was carrying her away from danger and trying his best to keep her happy.

Why did all of this have to happen? Spyro thought. Malefor is gone, Cynder is with us, shouldn't we be at peace by now? There's no other dragon capable of leading an army of this size is there?

"Spyro?"

Spyro was broken out of his thoughts by Cynder who was giving him a curious look.

"Is everything ok? You seem like you aren't entirely here." She said.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking about something…"

"Anything that we can help with?" a new voice asked.

Flame, Ember, and the blue dragoness who was with them were flying closer to them now. The voice didn't sound like either of them so Spyro assumed it was the new dragoness.

"I doubt it. So who are you?" the purple dragon asked.

"I'm Celestia. Ember's sister." she said.

Spyro looked at the new dragoness' features. She was built much like Cynder but a bit longer from nose to tailblade. On her head, in the same spot where Spyro's were, stood two horns that curved backwards slightly. They were clear blue and looked as if made of ice but anyone who actually felt them would know they were still the same as anyone else's horns. Her scales were a light blue that blended in with the sky behind her. The membranes in her wings were unusual, having a pattern of several small pieces of membrane overlapping each other, and had a bluish-gray tint, as did her eyes.

"Well it's nice to meet you. I'm-"

"Spyro, I already know, as does most of the realm." She joked, trying and failing to lighten the mood.

After several hours of flying, the valley came into view and Spyro led the group down to a clearing where he noticed two cheetahs. "Hunter! Meadow!" the purple dragon said as he and Cynder landed in front of them. It was the first time during the entire day that he smiled.

In front of them stood a gold-furred cheetah with a brown cloak and a bow on his back. Beside him was a darker colored cheetah leaning on a tree branch he used to support his bad leg.

"Spyro, Cynder, it is good to see you again. I just wish it could be under better circumstances…" Hunter said solemnly.

"Me too." Spyro said while the dragons following them came down. Some landed, others collapsed out of exhaustion.

"Do you have enough space for everyone?" he asked.

"We should, although some might have to live with two or three in one house." Meadow said as he hobbled toward the dragons.

Jet had just landed at this point. Casille may have been very light, but the weight of two dragons slowed him down drastically. Upon landing, Jet set Casille down near the front of the crowd and stood next to her, letting his tired wings droop.

"We do not have enough room in the village for all of you, so Prowlus asked us to build another. It's amazing, just a week ago he had the two of you shackled and now he's building homes for you." Hunter laughed.

Casille's eyes moved around, taking in the sights of the valley. Every inch of ground was covered with grass or trees, there was a fast moving river running through the middle, and the creatures that lived here were so pure compared to the savage animals that used to attack her village when she was little. Eventually, her eyes landed on the wounded cheetah's leg.

Something began stirring inside of her and she lost control of her body. She slowly walked toward the cheetah but she couldn't stop. She guessed this was her instincts making her body act by itself as the feeling inside of her grew stronger. All eyes were on the strange dragoness at this point, watching her inch her way toward Meadow, not once looking away from his leg.

The feeling began moving from her chest to the back of her throat as she got near the cheetah and without warning; she opened her mouth and used her element for the first time in her life. A fine mist came from her maw and covered Meadow's leg. It may have lasted only a minute, but made Meadow drop his crutch-like branch.

Gasps were heard as Meadow's leg held up its own weight without the brace. Whatever Casille had done had healed the cheetah's leg completely. Once she got control of her body again, she looked just as surprised as everyone else. "What was that?" Cynder asked in disbelief.

"I-I don't know." Casille said, letting her nervous demeanor slip through again.

Almost everyone was now crowding her, asking her what she did, or what it was, or how she did it. The only ones who weren't hovering around her were Spyro, Cynder, Hunter, Meadow, Flame, and Jet. Casille started drawing back to escape the curious crowd. Jet noticed this and stepped in. He ran to the crowd and jumped over all of them, landing between them and the white dragoness.

"BACK OFF!" he roared. "Now if everyone can calm down for a second maybe we can find out later. She doesn't know what she did either."

The crowd stopped after the black dragon scared them, but soon was closing in again. A dragon like Casille had never been seen before, and the only known black dragon up until now was Cynder so seeing Jet stirred their curiosity even more.

Jet was getting even more annoyed and thought to slip away with Casille unnoticed. If they want to see what I can do… he thought before breathing a column of shadowfire straight up into the sky, making the crowd look up. When they looked down again, the two dragons were gone. Everyone was shocked except for Spyro and Cynder who had seen and done this move several times in their adventures.

Jet and Casille hid in a shadow cloak that Jet made after his little distraction and were moving in the shadows of the trees to get away. Once they were far enough as to not be heard, Casille spoke up.

"Thank you Jet, I couldn't stand that much attention."

"I know what you mean. It's nice to be noticed but that much attention is enough to drive anyone insane."

The two laughed for a bit and stayed hidden by the trees even after Jet released the shadow cloak. They passed the time by just talking about anything they could think of. Every now and again Jet would look back to see what was going on. The dragons were in small groups just talking to each other, most likely about Casille, while Spyro and Cynder were talking with the cheetahs.

Once, Jet looked back and saw a look of confusion on Spyro's face, anger on Cynder's, and horror on everyone else's. He was about to come out and see what happened but stopped when several dragons jumped out of the way of a small fireball. The explosion that followed was powerful enough to knock some of them down still and caused the ground to ignite. Spyro, Cynder, Flame, and a few other dragons their age flew in the direction the shot came from while the younger ones were quickly led through some trees nearby by the cheetahs.

Jet and Casille got up and ran into the clearing to help any way they could. They looked up and saw some wyverns carrying several crossbow wielding orcs. The dragons that did not retreat were having an all out war against the invading creatures. Jet looked to Casille who just nodded, knowing the black dragon wanted to help. He took off while the dragoness went over to help the younger dragons escape.

"What are these things doing here?" Cynder asked before using a cyclone to blow several orcs and grublins off of their wyvern mounts. The purple dragon beside her froze the wings of a few, causing them to fall to the ground as well. "That doesn't matter; we just need to get rid of them."

Spyro looked around and saw his friend Flame take out many targets at once with an airborne fire fury. He could only watch in awe as this young dragon's fury was nearly as strong as his former mentor, Ignitus. Not far away, he saw Ember and her sister Celestia unleash fire and ice furies together, causing a devastating combination.

"Spyro, look out!" the black dragoness cried in vain. A large wyvern, possibly elite, was already within inches of the purple dragon. He turned to see the creature bear its fangs and lunge for his throat. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to come but instead, he heard Cynder gasp.

He opened his eyes and saw the elite wyvern still over him, but he had translucent black, chain-like energy ensnaring its neck and arms. He looked to the source and saw the black and navy shadow dragon with the opposite end of the chain wrapped in his claws. In one quick motion, he swung the hostage wyvern as a wrecking ball, also snaring other targets in the process. Once he thought he had enough, he made the black chains burst, along with the enemies it caught.

Cynder could only watch her friend and shadow instructor as he mercilessly decimated the enemies one by one. It wasn't easy however; Jet had taken several blows during the beginning of the fight and was getting weaker as it dragged on. This wasn't some small group of enemies, it was an entire battalion. A handful of adolescent dragons against these numbers did not help their morale much.

Another large wyvern took him by surprise and dragged its claws across the dragon's chest. He roared in pain and sunk his fangs into the wyvern's neck before blasting it with shadowfire. The creature died and fell to the ground. Jet held his chest and felt the wyvern had done far more damage than any normal one would. He began to get dizzy from blood loss, but was able to look around and see everyone was too busy with their own fights to notice, and he wanted it to stay that way. He refused to make everyone worry for his life when theirs is in just as much danger.

Jet thought he heard someone call out to him, but when he looked up from his wound, he was completely surrounded. He built up as much power as he could, and released it when the group attacked. Shadows emanated from his body in tendrils and began to move and grow, as if they were alive. The shadows stopped all of the enemies in their tracks, while also gaining attention from his allies. They watched as the shadows appeared to have physical properties and began to pierce through many of the attackers. A ball of shadowfire encased Jet and with a roar, he made it explode. Countless enemies didn't just die, but vanished as the black power blasted through them, leaving nothing in its wake. The ones that missed the blunt of the attack began to mindlessly attack each other instead. The shadow dragon exhaled and his dizziness intensified, causing him to black out in mid-air.

Casille had just finished helping the little dragons get out with a cheetah on either end of the group. Hunter led in front while Meadow stayed in the back to stop anything that followed. She heard a roar and looked up to see Jet dispatch a wyvern that had apparently gotten close enough to land a heavy blow. He hovered for a second and Casille began worrying if he was really too hurt to notice the large force surrounding him.

"JET!" she screamed, trying to get his attention. He looked up for a second and began to build his power. Everyone, including Casille far below, watched as they got to witness a rare shadow fury firsthand, sending death and chaos through the enemies' ranks. She smiled at the thought that her crush would be alright, but it quickly vanished as the dragon lost consciousness and fell from the sky.

She ran as fast as she could, trying to get to where Jet was going to land. She was stopped by several small, ugly, green creatures that jumped from the ground in front of her. "Get out of my way!" she roared. The creatures were not even phased by the dragoness and began closing in on her.

The delay worked. Casille watched in horror as the dragon hit the ground with a sickening noise, and the peaceful dragoness' anger flared. Her tails lashed out, destroying the grublins easily with a flurry of slashes, stabs, and crushes. She never thought three tail variations would help, but she had proven herself wrong as twelve grublins died within five seconds.

She ran to the shadow dragon's body and tried to wake him up. "Please don't leave me Jet, I need you!" she cried with tears streaming from her eyes. "Come on Jet! We won! Please, wake up…" She looked to the dragon in her arms as his breathing stopped.

She opened her maw and used the healing mist she used earlier, hoping to have the same effect. His body began to heal, but Casille didn't have the power to sustain it. The mist died down revealing the mortally wounded dragon it was attempting to heal. She held her head down and put it to Jet's neck, crying harder than most of the on looking could have ever thought.

Cynder looked over to Spyro, thinking of how bad she would feel if this had happened to her purple dragon. She knew she had to help somehow. She walked up behind the white dragoness and placed a paw on her shoulder and sent every last bit of magic she had left to her. Feeling this, she looked up at the black dragoness with bloodshot eyes. Again, she felt magic being given to her. She looked over her other shoulder to see Spyro doing the same.

The mist dragoness looked down and tried healing Jet again. When it dissipated, his body was back in top shape, but his chest remained still and his eyes closed. She laid her head on his chest and the crying continued for a while. She only stopped when she felt a bone-like form on her face. She looked up and watched the navy blue, scythe shaped tailblade wipe the tears from her face.

"I promised I would be here for you so please, don't cry."

Casille looked back to the dragon's face as his dark eyes opened to meet hers. When they did, she buried her head to his neck and began crying for joy as the black dragon's wings covered her.

You didn't honestly think I would kill off my favorite character did you? I'm sure you see the new character Celestia. She belongs to my younger brother Mikey and he asked me to work her in the story and I already know what to do. I worked really hard on this chapter so I hoped you like it. I'll try to be faster with my updates. Please R&R, I could use any advice at this point.