Sparx's jaw dropped when he saw Cynder get rammed through by Liun's tail blade. He turned away and began to vomit profusely. He felt so weak and helpless just watching his friends get their tails handed to them by the jerk who hurt his brother before and insulted their family.
When he finally was able to stop himself he heard the beating of wings overhead. He looked up to see the black dragon retreating across the sky carrying Spyro with him. His shadows spread out from his body as he carried the unconscious Stella along with him. Sparx turned back to the campground and looked around. Flame and Ember were crumpled upon the ground; Tremor and Candice were nowhere to be seen. It was then Sparx's eyes fell upon Cynder. The black dragoness lay motionless under a large oak tree, her blood staining the dirt beneath her.
"Cynder!" He shouted and flew over to her. He looked at the wound in her chest and nearly barfed again. "No! Gotta stay focused here! Uh... Cynder! Cynder! Wake up!" He urged rubbing scales on the dragoness's cheek. "Cynder! Come on girl, you've got to wake up!" Cynder moaned slightly and her eyelids twitched faintly but didn't open.
"Cynder come on!" Sparx was getting desperate now. "Wake up! He drew his arm back and threw the hardest punch he could muster into the side of the dragoness's muzzle. A ripple of pain swept through his arm and he clutched at his throbbing fist. The dragonfly looked around the campsite. "Ember!" He snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his tiny head. He zipped over to her body and pushed against her cheek.
"Hey Ember! Get up! Let's go! We need your help right now!" The pink dragoness remained silent. "Wake up!" Sparx shouted at the top of his lungs. He reared back again and swung with all his might. His fist connected with Ember's nostril and got stuck. "Son of a!" Sparx cursed as he struggled to free his hand from her nose. As he started to pull the tickling sensation began to wake the fire dragoness.
"Ah...ah..." Ember was beginning to return to consciousness. Sparx noticed and began tickling her nose even more.
"This should get her up." He thought to himself.
The tickling grew more intense and Ember was nearly fully awake.
"Ah...AH!" Ember's head began to raise up, carrying the dragonfly, still stuck in her nose.
"Uh oh!" Sparx gulped and his pupils dilated.
"AHHHH!" Ember's mouth opened wide and Sparx could feel the heat that was coming from the back of her throat. At the last possible second he managed to squeeze his little hand out of her nostril and roll to the side. "CHOOO!" Ember gave a thunderous sneeze as flames billowed from her nose and mouth.
"That was too close." Sparx breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead with the back of his palm. Then he looked disgusted and tried to wipe the snot off of his hand.
Ember's vision began to clear up. She looked around to see her mate lying still in front of her and her heart nearly stopped as her memory came flooding back to her. "Flame!" She cried and dashed over to his body. "Flame! Wake up!" She shook him hard. "Please Flame! Answer me! Anything!"
"Ember wait!" Sparx interrupted flying up in front of her. "We have bigger problems right now!"
"Like what?" Ember demanded. "We can't save him if he's dying."
"He's not the one you need to worry about right now!" Sparx snapped.
"What?" Ember's face scrunched into a disgusted look. She couldn't believe Sparx had just said that to her. The dragonfly pointed across the campground at Cynder and Ember's eyes grew wide. "Oh no..." Her voice trailed off as she began to fall into shock.
"Hey. Hey!" Sparx called and pinched the dragoness in the shoulder. Ember jolted back to reality and stared down at him. "You work on Cynder, I'll try my best to get your little hot-shot to wake up. Deal?"
"Uh! Yeah!" Ember nodded as a subtle smile tugged at her mouth. "Thank you Sparx."
"Thank me when you've got Cynder back!" Sparx waved as he turned back to the fire guardian.
"Candy?" A soft voice called from the darkness. "Candy, can you hear me?"
"Tremor?" Candice moaned. Her head was spinning and pounding. Her eyelids quivered slightly before opening. She saw two blurry figures hovering over her head; one green, the other red.
"Good, she's starting to come to."
"Huh? Tremor? What's going on?" Candice whimpered as she clutched at her throbbing head.
"Easy now Candy." Tremor whispered softly. He rested a paw on top of hers while giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead. "You need to take it easy. You took quite a hit back there."
"Hit?" Candice shook her head a bit as her vision started to clear.
"Can you stand?" Tremor positioned himself beside her in case she needed help getting up.
"I...I think so," She groaned. Her body shook as she started to rise.
"I gotcha." Tremor assured her as he stooped his shoulder underneath her for support. Candice took in a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of frost. She looked around to see Ember sitting on her haunches with Sparx hovering by her side. The pink dragoness held Cynder's body in her arms not making any sound whatsoever. Candice took a step towards her and Flame cut her off with his wing. The ice guardian looked at him and he shook his head.
"What's going on?" Candice whispered worriedly, trying not to break Ember's concentration.
"She's trying to save Cynder," Flame sighed sadly.
Candice's heart sank. "Any luck?"
"She's been at it for over an hour." Flame turned back to his dragoness; her body shrouded in a faint golden glow. "I think she might be able to pull Cynder through."
"Are you sure?" Candice glanced at her friend's limp body.
"If anyone can, it's Ember."
"Yeah." Tremor nodded. "I mean, she brought me back didn't she?"
Candice smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Point taken. So what do we do in the meantime?"
"We wait." Flame sighed sadly.
"What for?" Tremor demanded. "Liun and the Dark Master have Spyro. We can't let them get their slimy claws on his powers." He looked back at Cynder, Ember and Sparx with an exasperated sigh. He suddenly felt tired as he looked back at Flame with a look of weak determination shining faintly in his eyes. "I think some of us should go on ahead to deliver a first strike to try and get Spyro back. The rest of you guys can follow when you're done here and..."
Tremor was suddenly interrupted by a loud gasp. The three guardians turned to see Cynder jerk straight up and cough hard, releasing the blood that still resided in her throat. Ember held the dragoness as she rolled onto her side, forcing the remaining blood out. The puncture wound in her chest had stopped bleeding and was healing slower than desired but it was enough to keep her alive and awake.
"Cynder!" Candice called out and rushed to her side. "You're okay!" She sighed with relief when Ember began to help the black dragoness to her feet.
"I wish I felt the part." Cynder wheezed, the taste of blood clinging to her tongue and the back of her throat.
"It's still good to have you back Cynder." Sparx patted her on the head. "I was worried I'd have to tell Spyro we'd lost you."
"Spyro..." Cynder's head sank. "I wasn't able to protect him after all."
"Don't say that!" Tremor butted in fiercely. "It wasn't your fault to begin with."
"Yes it was!" Cynder protested. "I brought Liun back here! I thought he didn't survive our last encounter but he did and now Malefor has Spyro!"
Tremor glared at her and pressed nosed to hers, displaying his full height. "It wasn't your fault!" He growled and backed off a step. "And even if it was you don't carry the entire blame. We all failed to protect Spyro."
The other guardians nodded shamefully.
"Yeah Cynder, we're all in this together," Sparx pointed out. "No matter how much danger you guys seem to attract, I've never left you guys before."
"Exactly." Tremor nodded.
"So what's the plan?" Flame asked, insinuating that Tremor was going to lead this operation.
Tremor nodded taking the cue from the fire guardian. "Cynder," He looked to her for advice. "You said Malefor is headed for Munitions Forge, right?"
"Yes." Cynder nodded. "I'm certain that's where he's taken Spyro.
"Then that's where we'll be going. Now I know Liun and Malefor aren't going to make this easy on us. There's no way we'll be able to just walk in and take Spyro back. He and those wolves are going to try and stop us every inch of the way; they're going to try and kill us before we even get near Spyro. But I say it's about time we showed Liun and Malefor who they're dealing with!" Tremor puffed his chest out to show his boldness. "Now let's go get our friend back!"
"Good idea." Cynder nodded approvingly. "Let's go get Spyro back!"