Chapter 12

Magnus was asleep on the couch in Hunter's home as if nothing had ever happened to him. Spyro, Ember, and Lateef were the only ones watching him and Flame and Cynder were outside with Hunter.

"You think he'll be alright?" Lateef asked as if it were his fault he was in this position.

"Of course he will," Spyro replied. "Hunter helped us a few times in our years. And when I say our I mean me, Cynder, and Flame."

Lateef looked over at Spyro and eyed him over. "Spyro, so you went to school with Ember?"

Spyro closed his eyes, remembering the time he did. "Yeah, but it was six years ago. Something came up and I had to leave." He looked back at Lateef. "You see, my mom died because she caught some sort of illness. A very slow working illness. It destroys the part of your body that fights against diseases and sickness making you more vulnerable to get sick. But it takes a long time for it to completely destroy that part of your body. When my mom died, my dad told me that he too had caught this disease. He told me there was only one cure for it, some type of sap from a rare mushroom. So I left the village to look for this mushroom."

"You left when you were that young?" Lateef asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I did. But my father had sent someone to help me. We met in the forest where he led me to the closest place where that mushroom could be. But at the time I didn't even know how to defend myself. So it took me a year until I could finally use fire."

"A year? Wow, so you must have had some sort of new life."

"It was actually kind of frightening at first. But the one who helped me, Ignitus, had a son. We quickly became friends and I began going back to school in Barkwood. That's where I began my second life. I would sometimes think back to my first life and ask Ignitus if we could go and look for the cure. But he said that I wasn't ready. He kept on saying that until three years ago. After I learned fire, I continued on with my life the best I could. I had some fun times."

Three years ago

Barkwood

Spyro was by himself in the forest with no one around for a little ways. He just had to find it, it was the only reason he got sent to Barkwood in the first place. He was needed and Spyro couldn't let his main objective go through his paws. After all, he didn't know what he would do if both of his parents were gone. Being away from his father for three years already was life changing and Spyro missed him. He wanted to go back to his father but he didn't really know the way.

He remembered when he woke up that morning, finding his mother in need of medical help. But it was far too late, nothing could have saved her. His father told him her heart just stopped but he was too young to understand something that big. That was the truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. The reason her heart stopped was because of the PCP disease.

It felt like hours that Spyro was out there in the forest. Searching under rocks and past trees. He found mushrooms, but they were just ordinary. The ones he was looking for were red with a blueish stem and they were very rare. They were also said to grow around swampy areas the most but he didn't know where a swamp was.

Then Spyro heard the sound of a large branch cracking. He froze in his spot and looked around. Trees, leaves, nothing looked suspicious. But Spyro double-taked and gasped. A black bear was trying to sneak up behind him but was caught. Spyro turned around and ran. Bears were vicious and were known to tear nearly anything apart for food. It looked as if dragon was on his menu and Spyro was it. Spyro ran, dodging trees and the occasional bush, trying to flee so he could continue his search. But he couldn't lose him, instead the black bear was gaining on him. He didn't want to fly out of the forest right now, but it looked as if he had no choice.

"Hey! You want a piece of me you overgrown rug! Then come on!"

Spyro looked behind him without stopping and saw Flame facing off against the bear. "Flame? Are you crazy?" Spyro slid to a stop and ran back.

"Like a fox! Come on Spyro, we can take him!"

Flame was right, both of them were fully capable of using flames and were trained for this kind of stuff. Why was Spyro running in the first place? Now was a good time to test his abilities and if things began to look bleak, he could just fly out of there. Why was he worried?

Spyro stopped right beside Flame and the bear roared and charged. Spyro and Flame split and one took position to the right, the other to the left. The bear looked to his right at Spyro, and went after him. Spyro's heart was pounding and his body jumped to the side to evade the hundreds of pounds that tried to trample him. As the bear went by, Spyro swiped it in the side with his claws making the bear feel pain on his left side. Flame ran back to Spyro's side as the bear turned back around, and the bear roared with anger. Or it could have been pain. Either way, he wasn't happy and the bear realized that he couldn't do it. He couldn't win. So he ran back into the woods from whence he came.

"C'mon Spyro let's go after it!" Flame suggested in an excited tone. It was like he was enjoying it.

"Naw, it's alright Flame." Spyro replied as the bear disappeared from his sight. "That bear will think twice before attacking a dragon again."

Flame looked eager to run after it but restrained himself with a sigh. "Oh alright." He turned and looked around. "What are you doing out here anyways?"

"I'm looking for something. How did you find me?"

Flame grinned, "I came looking for you. I saw you head into the forest but I laid back for a little while. When you never came back out, I came to look for you. Then I heard noises and found you being chased by that bear."

Spyro looked into the forest, "How far are we from Barkwood?"

Flame shrugged, "Not that far, maybe five minutes away if we fly if not less."

"Oh really. I should probably be heading back now should I?"

"Probably, Ignitus might be worried about us so we should probably head back."

"Then let's go!"

Flame nodded as Spyro lifted off through the tree limbs. His wings scrubbed a few tree limbs but it wasn't like he couldn't handle it. Flame followed his example. The two of them flew towards the village that could be seen at the horizon. It was a little hard to spot at first but as they drew closer to it, it was easier to make out. No one could miss it from this point.

"And you said that we should go after the bear. Then you said that we should go back," Spyro said, making conversation with his friend.

"Whatever," Flame simply replied.

"So how is Cynder doing?" Spyro smirked.

Flame looked over at Spyro, saw his smirk, and looked back forwards. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you do talk to her a lot. And you always have a good time when she is around. I was just wondering on how she was doing since how I haven't seen her in a few days."

Flame growled then answered, "Your just jealous."

Spyro chuckled then went on, "I'm not jealous Flame. I'm happy for you."

A few more seconds passed then Flame began, his voice sounded more serious. "Hey Spyro."

"What is it?" Spyro asked, still smiling at the last part of the conversation.

"Do you know what puberty is? Ignitus told me that I was going through it and I have no idea what it is."

Spyro frowned, "I don't know what you mean."

Flame continued, "Well, Ignitus said it had something to do with Cynder. He didn't tell me much about it."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find out more about it later on."

"I hope so," Flame obliviously said. "It sounds kind of interesting."

A few minutes passed then the two landed in the village, in front of their home. The few dragons on the street, watched them as they landed, then returned to their business.

After they landed, Flame said, "I'm going to go see what Cynder is up to."

"Can I come with you? I got nothing to do right now."

Flame looked Spyro over then replied, "Of course you can."

Then the front door of their home opened. Spyro and Flame looked and saw Ignitus. "Where have you two been?"

Spyro and Flame looked at each other then Flame answered, "Uh . . . nowhere in particular."

Ignitus looked at them as if he could tell they weren't telling the truth. He eased down to their level and repeated, "Where have you two been? No lies."

This time Spyro answered. "We went to go look for that mushroom Ignitus. We're sorry."

Ignitus looked him in the eye and smiled, "Well that is okay. But you won't find the mushroom in these forests. The mushroom we seek is elsewhere. I appreciate you looking though. Now run along, and if you go mushroom hunting again, at least tell me."

"Okay Ignitus," Flame responded. "We will."

Ignitus eyed his two sons and went back into his home. Flame looked at Spyro, "Well that was easy. I was expecting us to get an earful out of that one."

"Well, we didn't really tell him the whole story. I didn't tell him about us being attacked by that bear."

Flame quickly put a paw over Spyro's muzzle, "Hey shhh. Not so loud. We got out of this one easy. And we told the truth, most of it anyways. It's not like we lied."

Spyro sighed, "Well, that's true. So when are we going to see Cynder?"

"Right now," Flame replied then began leading. "C'mon."

Spyro followed him down the street a little ways, passing by several houses, then they came upon an intersection in the road. They turned left and headed down the road a little more ways, about two minutes worth, then they turned a right. This road wasn't as full of houses as Spyro was used to seeing, so it was easy spotting Cynder's home.

Cynder's home was one story and sort of small. It consisted of two bedrooms, one master bedroom, one kitchen, two bathrooms, and a living room. The front yard was decorated with a small garden on the side. The garden had a rose bush on the side of it and the main part of it were planted with bright colored flowers and daisies. The front porch was big enough for a whole party of dragons to stand on it, and the porch also had an wooden awning that stretched from the roof of the house across the front porch to protect anyone from the rain. On the porch were two light colored basic wooden chairs, and a bench which was hanging from two chains that was attached to the ceiling of the awning. On that bench was Cynder and she was light swinging back and forth on it. When she noticed Flame and Spyro, she got up and made her way to them with an unnoticeable smile.

"Hey there," Cynder greeted as she approached them.

"Hey Cynder, you doing anything important right now?" Flame asked hoping for no.

"Not at the moment. Why?" Cynder replied, looking over to her right at the garden.

Flame looked at Spyro then looked back at Cynder, "Me and Spyro are kinda bored so we were wondering what you were up to."

Cynder looked at Flame expectantly, "Is that all?"

"We were also wondering if you knew where any nearby swamps were at. Me and Spyro would like to check them out."

Spyro remained quiet. He wasn't sure what he was getting at at first, but when he said swamp he knew what Flame was planning.

"Swamps? Why would you . . . nevermind. I think I might know where one is but I'm not sure. So I guess I'll tag along with you two."

Spyro still remained quiet. They were all only eight years old, yet, Flame was willing to help him. Spyro was gonna have to tell Cynder on why they were going to a swamp. She was going to find out sooner or later anyways. All three of them were acting more mature than they should be. Was that a good thing? They were well taught, had courage, reliable, and were the best of friends Spyro could ever ask for. Spyro couldn't have asked for more.

Back to Spyro and Ember

"Sounds like you had a ol'e time," Lateef began then continued a few seconds later. "Did you ever find that mushroom thingy you were looking for? Sounds pretty rare to me cause I never heard of such a thing. Never heard of PCP either, whatever that stands for. What does it stand for anyways?"

"Plenicoplylia," Spyro replied, saying it slow so he could understand.

"Never heard of it. So I was thinking while you told us that story, I was in school with Ember in preschool and you must have been too. So we used to be classmates right?"

Spyro made a small smile, "Indeed we were."