Stella leaped high over her opponent's head. The wolf swiped at her but missed. The dragoness landed and swung her tail, sending a surge of electric energy at the wolf. The canine caught the orb and smiled. Stella only smiled back. The wolf hurled the lightning orb and Stella caught it in the arch of her tail and swung it back at the wolf, adding more power this time. The wolf caught the orb yet again, spun around and flung it back, tripling the orbs output. Stella saw what was coming and jumped backwards into the air. She caught the energy ball in her front paws and backflipped before sending the ball right back. The wolf barked excitedly and extended a hand to catch the orb.
It was then that Stella pulled her trump card. She clicked her teeth together and sparks crackled all around her jaws. The wolf yelped in surprise as he found himself bound in an electrical current. Each time he had made contact with the orb, the dragoness had drawn him deeper into her trap. Stella spread her wings wide and flexed her membranes, intensifying the electro-magnetic field holding the wolf in place. The orb detonated and the shock wave send the lightning dragoness tumbling back through the air.
The dragoness smiled as she watched the wolf pick himself up off the ground. The beast glared at her. He was not amused having been tricked into a false game of catch.
Stella back-winged and and opened her jaws slightly, allowing her white teeth to glow with electricity. The wolf's muscles tensed up as he waited for the dragoness to attack. The tiny bolts crackling between the guardian's teeth focused into a larger ball. The wolf's ears pinned back expecting another blast of lightning. A loud shriek ripped from Stella's throat causing the beast to howl from the piercing pain. A split second later a barrage of ice spikes punctured his back from across the battlefield. The lighting mutant staggered forward. onto one knee, stunned by the blow.
Stella smiled to herself. "Conductors..." She muttered and unleashed the concentrated energy. The bolt struck the spikes and the warrior squalled in pain. He dug his claws into the ground and his fur stood on end. With a shudder he began to glow with electric energy. Stella's eyes widened in surprise as she felt her own power being pushed back. She opened her jaws wider and forced more energy out. The two combatants locked eyes for a brief moment before giving another hard push. The forces combusted and sent both wolf and dragoness tumbling head over heals.
The wolf was the first to recover. He scrambled to his feet and charged across the field, lightning cracking angrily each time his feet hit the ground. Stella sensed the coming assault and her eyes snapped open. With a furious roar she rolled to her feet and her body exploded with lightning bolts. Her lightning manifested into the guardian's towering adult form. There was a loud crack as the two supercharged warriors clashed in tremendous display of power.
Stella ducked under the wolf's claws and lashed out with her own talons. The wolf jerked his head to the side but Stella's talons still managed to leave three marks on his cheek. The dragoness was knocked to the side by the beast's retaliating elbow-strike. She felt her ribs crack from the blow but pushed the pain to the back of her mind. The manifested dragoness swung a paw and missed the wolf. The canine jumped backwards right into Stella's trap. The dragoness swung her tail, bringing a wave of electricity into the ice shards that remained in the wolf's back. The wolf howled, as he felt his body begin to tear itself apart from the inside out.
Just when the lightning guardian thought she had gotten the upper hand the wolf turned on her with furious, yellow eyes. His teeth flashed with dark energy and his claws began to glow with dark lightning.
"What the hell?" Stella gasped. The mutant struck the ground and sent a dark pulse into the dragoness. Stella screamed and her legs buckled under her, numb from the shock. The wolf leaped into the air, his beastly form growing larger as his energy increased. "Son of a!" Stella rolled away as the wolf brought his fist slamming into the ground where she had just been a moment before. The dark magic burst from the wolf's fist and struck the dragoness in the side. Stella cried out as she tumbled across the ground.
The beast barked angrily and lunged for the dragoness's throat, teeth dripping with saliva, thirsting for blood. Stella summoned all her strength back into her legs and sprang as high as she could into the air. The wolf looked up in time to get showered with lightning bolts. He yelped and thrashed on the ground.
Stella didn't relent. She dug down deep and roared again. The chains of lightning began to focus into one concentrated bolt. The wolf's hair stood on end as he began to go berserk. Stella's bolts sprayed off his fur as he summoned the dark lightning from it's well of power.
The lightning guardian's eyes grew wide as saucers as she watched the abomination swat her bolt back at her. Stella screamed as she felt her own attack overwhelm her senses. Her scales and flesh began to burn from the searing heat. There was a brilliant flash of light and a deafening explosion . The wolf crouched down and shielded himself from the blinding light. When the glow died away he looked around curiously. The dragoness was nowhere in sight. Lifting his nose to the sky he took a series of whiffs only to have his attention grabbed by an angry roar from behind. The canine whirled around and stared across the battlefield. His eyes locked on his pack-mate and the two fire breathing dragons that were standing before him.
Ember stared at Flame in horror. The fire guardian help the spear in his jaws, inches from her face. She wasn't as terrified of the weapon as she was of the guardian himself. His body was covered in angry, red-glowing, flame-like markings. There was a loud hiss as the spear burned away between Flame's jaws.
"F-Flame?" Ember stammered.
"It's alright." Flame assured her without turning to look her in the eye. "I promise."
"But...Flame....H-how?"
The fire guardian turned to look at her over his shoulder. "Do you trust me?"
Ember was silent for a second then nodded. "I trust you."
Flame smiled. "Good..."
The burned wolf lunged for the fire breathers. Flame whirled around and slammed a paw into the wolf's throat. The beast staggered back, gagging and clutching at his neck. Flame waited for the deformed mutant to get his bearings again was interrupted by a howl from behind. The fire guardian turned in time to see the lightning wolf Stella had been fighting charging across the field.
"Look out!" Ember shouted and leaped to intercept the beast. The pink dragoness tackled the lightning mutant in midair and the two rolled over each other, clawing and slashing madly.
"Ember!" Flame hollered. The wolf he had struck slammed a heavy hand down on top of him, pressing him to the ground. Flame groaned from the pain and gritted his teeth. The markings burned into the wolf's flesh, causing the canine to yank his hand back. Flame struck the monster across the face, sending him bouncing across the ground and charged after the other wolf.
The lightning warrior managed to pull Ember off of him and brought her up to meet his eyes. The dragoness glared defiantly and clawed at his arm, tearing it to shreds. The wolf only winced and began to tighten his grip on the dragoness's neck. Ember coughed hard as she struggled for air. Her world was beginning to spin and her vision was fading fast.
Just as she was about to pass out Flame's roar brought her back. The blazing red dragon barreled into the wolf's chest, shattering the bones in his chest wall. The wolf released Ember as his body skid across the ground. Flame moved to catch his dragoness in his forearms but only managed to get knocked onto his back. Ember coughed and sputtered as Flame held her close to him.
"Are you alright?" Flame asked worriedly his marking beginning to fade away.
"I've been better." Ember half giggled, half coughed. "Thanks for the catch."
Flame chuckled. "You know I'll always be there to catch you when you fall."
"That's why I love you." Ember smiled flirtatiously at him and rolled off his chest.
Several yards away the lightning wolf got to his feet. He clutched at his burning chest and the scorched mark on his chest. At the same time the scalded wolf staggered to his feet. He was beginning to wear down but not to the point where he wasn't able to fight anymore. Both wolves looked at one another, taking their cues. They howled as they rushed across the field.
"Here we go again!" Ember called as Flame's marking lit up his body again.
Snarl watched as the battle raged on above him. Spyro and Cynder had been matching each other blow for blow without showing any signs of wearing down. The Alpha growled in irritation.
"How are we supposed to chapter the purple one when she's keeping him all the way up there?"
Suddenly the earth shook and his world went spinning out of control. After several moments of lying on the ground, staring up at the dragons above, he returned to his senses. The pack leader propped himself up and clutched at his jaw. It was warm with blood and his big fang was missing along with several other teeth.
"I don't think they are your biggest problem." An angry voice came from the darkness of the forest. Snarl jumped to his feet and grabbed his weapon that lay on the ground beside him. Just then the ground burst up and grabbed hold of his blade. The Alpha barked in surprise and tried to yank it free. With a mighty tug he wrenched it from the ground. No sooner had he lifted his head than he was struck with an earth missile and sent flying backwards through a cluster of trees. The sound of snapping tree trunks hurt his ears almost as much as the stones, dirt and debris falling down on top of him.
Snarl shook the stars from his head and growled angrily. Whomever was challenging him was going to regret it soon. With an angry growl he burst free from the pile of rubble and scanned the forest for his opponent.
"Who's there! Show yourself." He tightened his grip on his weapon and bared his bloody fangs. It was then that Tremor stepped out into the open; a heated glare spread across his face. Beside him emerged a pale blue dragoness with a royal-purple crest and fierce violet eyes. "You!" Snarl pointed his blade at Tremor. Candice looked between the two of them in surprise.
"Oh, so you recognize me?" Tremor cocked his head to the side, keeping his eyes locked on the wolf.
"It feels like I have seen you before." Snarl growled and climbed across the wreckage. "But I'm not sure where..." Without warning, Tremor charged the Alpha wolf. He slammed into Snarl leaving Candice watch in shock as the two bit ad slashed at one another. At last Tremor got the upper hand when he struck the Alpha across the face with his clubbed tail. Snarl stared up at the earth dragon with a punch-drunk expression on his face.
"You were the one who killed my sister!" Tremor snapped as he pinned the Alpha's shoulders to the ground. "You took away the only family I had left!"
"Tremor!" Candice called as she ran to catch up to them. Her muscles tensed as she stood ready to jump in and help if he required it.
Snarl looked up at the earth dragon staring down at him with pure hatred burning in his eyes. It was then that Tremor began to glow with green energy again. His eyes flashed bright yellow-green and Snarl began to recognize his face. The memories came flooding back to him; the invasion of the underground dragon city, the capturing of the black dragons there, and the sight of the young earth dragoness fighting against his pack-mates.
A smile spread across the Alpha's mouth as he recalled the event. "Ah yes, I remember seeing a dragon that looked a lot like you. She killed a lot of my warriors."
"Good!" Tremor spat on the wolf's forehead. Snarl ignored the gesture and his smile continued to grow.
"You know, she was a good fighter, but she wasn't that good."
"What?" Tremor jerked his head back as if he'd been hit.
"For being so capable of combat she sure didn't have any knowledge of her surroundings."
"What are you talking about?" Tremor demanded and dug his claws into the wolf's flesh.
Snarl winced slightly but continued to smile. "I'm talking about when I killed. her. She was so caught up in fighting my warriors that she never saw me coming." Tremor was frozen, speechless. The thought of seeing his sister laying dead at his feet returned to him. Snarl noticed the way the earth dragon had fallen silent and gave a mocking laugh. "After the first blow, she didn't put up much of a fight. In fact, she didn't really fight back at all."
"Tremor! Don't listen to him!" Candice shouted. She could feel her own temper rising and could only imagine how high the earth guardian's was going.
"It was basically like butchering a sheep." Snarl laughed. "Except this sheep didn't have wool and had a longer tail. Which, by the way, you may have noticed I hacked in a few places to make it shorter." The wolf laughed again and Tremor felt his heart pound against his chest wall. It hurt. It hurt to breath, and it hurt to think about his lost sister. Snarl's laughter grew louder and the earth dragon's consciousness began to slip away. Snarl continued to taunt the young dragon as he watched his transformation. The dragon's scales began to fade until they were a dark olive green. The scales on top of Tremor's head turned jet-black and his grip on Snarl tightened.
"Tremor!" Candice shouted. She couldn't take Snarl's laughter any more. She too a step forward then froze when Tremor let out an agonized roar. The earth dragon struck the wolf across the face. Snarl felt his cheekbone crack but continued to laugh.
"Shut up!" Tremor bellowed and struck the wolf again. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" With each cry he would strike the wolf again and again. He could barely breathe anymore, his mind felt numb. His whole body felt numb. All he could feel was the pain as the laughter continued.
"Tremor stop!" Candice rushed up to him and tried to pry him off of Snarl.
"Get off me!" Tremor fumed and threw his dragoness off. Candice flew back and slammed hard against a tree. The trunk shook and the leaves fell all around her. The ice guardian struggled to hold onto consciousness. She watched as Tremor's complexion grew darker and darker, until his scales were nearly all black. The memory of Dark Spyro flashed into her mind and suddenly brought her back to reality. The dragoness was on her feet in an instant.
Tremor continued to pound away at the snickering Alpha wolf. His paws were covered in blood and Snarl was beginning to feel the pain of his injuries. The earth dragon pressed his sharp claws into the wolf's neck and leaned down until his nose was nearly touching the wolf's. Snarl coughed as the air flow to his lungs began to staunch.
"Go ahead." Tremor growled. "Try and laugh now."
"Tremor! That's enough!" Candice tackled him off of Snarl and the two rolled across the ground leaving the wolf to cough and sputter.
"Get off of me Candice!" Tremor roared and tried to shake her off of him, but this time the dragoness held on tight. "Let go!"
"Never!" The dragoness shouted as Tremor's elbow caught her in the face.
"Leave me alone! I have to kill him! He killed Gaia! He killed my sister!" It took a moment for Candice to finally get the upper hand on Tremor. She pinned his arm to his side and locked her hind legs around his, holding him in place as she struggled to free himself from her grasp and go after the wolf again.
"I won't let you do this Tremor! I won't let you lose yourself for your sister's sake!"
"I thought you were my friend!" Tremor shouted furiously and his struggling became more violent. "How can you side with that bastard! He killed Gaia! My sister and your friend! How could you!" As the earth dragon continued to struggle the ground began to shake.
"What the hell is going on?" Ember shouted over the thunder of the shaking earth. All around, cracks in the ground began to open up, threatening to consume everyone in the area.
"It feels like Tremor again!" Flame gasped as he leaped into the air and beat his wings to stabilize himself. He looked down at the two mutant wolves struggling to stand on the rocking earth. The rocks that burst up from the ground knocked them off balance. The fire breathers saw their chance and opened their jaws wide. Ember released a white-hot wave of fire that melted the rocks onto the startled wolves. The beasts yelped and howled in pain as they were burned alive. Flame charged up a blast of red energy `Ember dove out of the way as Flame unleashed his attack. The wolves cries were drowned out by the deafening explosion. The blast tore the ground up beneath him and he dove to help Ember get airborne. The two fire breathers panted heavily as they stared down at the smoldering crater beneath them. There was no sign of the mutant wolves at all.
Off to the side, Tremor continued to struggle against Candice's grip. The thrust his head back as his cries for revenge grew louder. Candice cringed against the harsh noise. "Damn it Tremor!" She cursed as she felt him begin to slip free from her grasp. "He's so distraught he's gong to destroy everything!" She shouted in her mind. The dragoness had only one other option she could think of to stop him.
Just as he was about to escape her hold on him, Candice pounced on top of him and pinned his head to the ground. Before the earth dragon could react she bit down hard on the base of his neck. The earth guardian's eyes widened from the sudden sensation of pain. He froze for moment, paralyzed by the dragoness's actions A split second later there was a loud snap. Tremor's pupils diluted and his world turned pitch black.
Candice released him from her jaws and let his limp body fall to the ground. His blood stained the rim of her mouth and tainted her taste buds.
"Thanks for the help." Snarl chuckled. "You'd make a decent wolf warrior."
Candice gave him a cold glare. "Don't flatter yourself." She spat a small barrage of icy darts at him and peppered him generously. Snarl growled in vexation and collapsed to his knees. "I can't blame Tremor for wanting to spread your carcass all over the ground. What you wolves have done to us dragons...what you in particular, have done to him...is unforgivable..."
"So why spare my life now?" Snarl sneered and leered at the ice dragoness with sinister, yellow eyes.
"Because I would never want to see Tremor lose himself for something as meaningless as revenge. I won't sit by idly and watch him be torn apart by hatred." Candice moved closer to Tremor's body and spread her wings wide. "I suggest you get out of here while you can. Or I'll change my mind and end your life myself."
Snarl just laughed. Candice thought he was about to go on the attack again but much to her surprise the wolf turned and ran out to the field. The dragoness sighed. She suddenly felt exhausted as she lay down beside Tremor and curled herself around him. She knew she had done the right thing by stopping him. "So why do I feel so guilty about it?" She muttered under her breath. She closed her eyes and began to cry.
High above, Cynder and Spyro clashed again and again. Both were covered in cuts and bruises but nothing serious enough to be fatal. Both wore smiles across their faces as they continued to spar. Despite the current circumstances, they were both having fun. When Snarl suddenly appeared from the cover of the trees, Cynder's smile disappeared.
"Damn it! I think we're out of time." She said as she lunged for Spyro.
"So what do we do?" Spyro asked. He dodged her talons as she rushed by swung his tail at her. The blow connected but CYnder brushed it off as if it were nothing.
"Hit me!" Cynder shouted and turned to face him. She began to glow with convexity, indicating what she meant. "Use everything you've got Spyro!"
The purple dragon hesitated for a moment. Then he nodded and the two began to circle each other. Spyro's power began to rise and his purple aura began to illuminate the sky. As Snarl watched from below, Cynder gave a load roar and charged. She swung at Spyro with her massive paw only to have the purple dragon weave to the side and slam his tail under her jaw. Cynder's head rocked back exposing her bare stomach. Spyro opened his jaws wide and unleashed a concentrated beam of convexity. The energy struck Cynder in the chest and propelled her into the ground, nearly crushing Snarl in the process had the Alpha not dove to the side at the last second.
The attack was enough to leave Cynder slightly dazed as she rose to her feet. She shook the dirt and ash from her scales and noticed Snarl getting to his feet several yards away. The dragoness hissed up at the purple dragon and her eyes flashed with convexity. She turned and snatched up the wolf and took to the air. As she flew off, she glanced back over her shoulder to gaze at Spyro who remained hovering in place.
Spyro sighed sadly as he watched her disappear over the horizon.
Sparx poked his head out of his hiding spot. When he saw that the coast was clear he flew up beside Spyro and squinted into the distance. "I'm guessing she's leaving us aloe for now?" He asked.
"I guess so." Spyro nodded slightly. He wished she didn't have to go back to wherever she might be going.
"Hey, Spyro. If you're that worried about her, why don't you just follow her?"
Spyro nearly slapped himself in the head. "Why didn't I think of that before?"
"I dunno? To busy ogling your girlfriend probably." Sparx shrugged. Spyro flew a few feet then slowed to a stop. "Hey what's wrong buddy?" The dragonfly noticed the expression on his brother's face.
Spyro sighed sadly but then his smile returned shortly after. "Nothing. We don't need to follow her."
"What? Why not? I thought..."
"It's alright Sparx." Spyro looked at his brother; his eyes wet with tears. "I love Cynder and I trust her."
The dragonfly glance from the purple dragon to the horizon and back before shrugging again. "Well, if you say so."
Spyro just chuckled. "Come on. Let's go gather the others." The two of them drifted to the ground and met Flame and Ember. The fire guardian's markings had disappeared but Ember was keeping her distance from him. "Are you guys okay?" Spyro asked as he approached them.
"We're alright." Flame nodded.
"Somehow I find that hard to believe when you look like that." Sparx pointed to the puncture wounds on Flame's back.
"It's not as bad as it looks." Flame waved a paw dismissively. "I'll recover in no time." He honestly felt like he was dying inside. He could taste blood in his mouth but was refraining from coughing for fear of worrying his dragoness.
"Where's Tremor and Candice?" Spyro looked around.
"Right here." The four friends turned their heads to see the ice dragoness walking towards them.
"Where's Tremor?" Ember asked, a look of concern spread across her face.
"He's back there." Candice gave her head a slight thrust behind her. "He'll be fine. But I suggest we make camp there for the night."
"Sounds good to me." Sparx yawned. "I'm beat."
"How can you be tired?" Flame asked and raised a brow. "You weren't the one doing all the fighting."
"No. But it's no less tiring watching you guys."
"Hey guys?" Candice looked around the open field. "Where's Stella?"