Reticence Saga
Wings of Change
Chapter 2: Spyro's Perspective
Spyro found there were a few annoyances that came with being the head of the Avalarian Council. Oh, he certainly had power, but that didn't always mean influence. And it was largely up to him to cover up witnesses for Matt's rampage. By bribing them with mutton.
He thought about the dragon Matt had turned to. He'd spoken to Morgan, the old Shar-Khan happy to keep the secret and said Matt had turned into some sort of dragon native to Earth, long since wiped out by the atlanteans to protect the rest of the planet. That made sense, Matt was from Earth after all...probably something that had happened on his last mission.
Urgh...Zara...if she found out, there'd be nothing he could do to stop her turning half the populace on the human side.
"Why couldn't there have been a more reasonable dragon selected to be the Fire Guardian?" moaned Spyro.
"I've been thinking that too." Spyro jumped before snapping, "Chloe, don't do that!"
"Hi, Mr. Spyro, we need to talk," said Chloe, standing in front of the desk, but...something seemed off. She was wearing jeans and a midriff-baring T-shirt which said 'Sanity is for Dweebs' in pink letters on it and a smaller shoulder badge that said 'Mr D for Prez' on it. Her eyes seemed off too...yellow with red irises.
"Chloe, can it wait? I'm up to my horns in paperwork," said Spyro.
"This can't really wait. You owe my brother and his friends and family something," said Chloe, still grinning happily, though there was a predatory edge to her jovial tone.
"And I've already paid you back," said Spyro, "I've already covered for Matt's episode." He looked up to see Chloe hovering right over him. "And can you please back up a bit. People might talk if they see you this close to me," said Spyro. From this perspective, Chloe seemed a bit more...chesty than before.
Chloe looked down before backflipping off the table. "Well, given what my brother's going through, I think you should apologize properly. It's just two little words."
"Chloe, I've taken care of things. We're even. Now please leave me alone," said Spyro, getting annoyed.
"Really? It's just two little words," said Chloe happily, somehow suddenly next to Spyro the second he'd looked down, making him jump.
"Go away!" snapped Spyro.
Chloe's grin got wider, "Ok...you were warned." Spyro turned to call the guards before turning back to see she was gone. It was only later he remembered the door had been locked.
"So...that Infinity Stone did this to you? Sounds like one of the old element stones," said Cynder, looking at Matt.
"Element stones?" asked Matt.
"Legends...Malefor had me and Gaul looking for them early on. They're meant to be worn by the first dragons," said Cynder.
"Just how far back does dragon history go?" asked Matt.
"A long way...thousands of years but our people have been around longer," said Cynder.
"Long before the Atlanteans?" asked Matt.
"Far longer. They're said to be worn by the very first flight...masters so much of their element that it's now a part of them..." said Cynder with a sigh.
"I can think of at least three world-threatening crises where they could have showed up," said Matt, his tone loaded with skepticism.
"I know, but when I say 'master of their element', I mean it. They coulda stopped Malefor...and me...but they'd have destroyed half the planet doing it," said Smoldron, the group visiting him and Sonya. Kala had wanted to talk to Sonya about something private...and Cynder was still worried about Spyro.
"How convenient. The gods can't help save the world or else they'll destroy it," said Matt sarcastically.
"I never said they were gods," said Cynder.
Therma tagged him at that, Matt rolling his eyes with a grin and chasing her, making comical growling noises, saying something about a tickle monster that caused Therma to squeal with delight and fly away from him.
Chloe sighed. "So...what's the news from the purple headache of legend?" she asked.
"Oh, he promised he'll cover up for what Matt did," said Cynder.
"And?" asked Chloe.
"Also he probably won't be home until late," said Cynder, sounding rather annoyed.
"Has this become common with him?" asked Chloe.
"Zara's kicking up a stink still. You'd think the treatment woulda mellowed her...then I remember she was always a real pain in the tail," said Cynder with a slight growl.
"Yeah, Spyro doesn't strike me as the workaholic type," said Chloe.
"Your brother flattened a small city block that's turning into a forest," said Cynder, the group looking out the window where Matt was now flying from a giggling Therma.
"My brother...the childish apocalypse," Chloe sighed.
"He'd make a great dad or uncle," said Cynder.
"Unfortunately, unlikely to happen," said Chloe, "Me and Kala still have that fertility lock from our Ekta nanites."
Kala walked out with Sonya at that, Kala looking a little shellshocked. "Girls?" she said weakly before Therma was heard screaming.
"What is it? A mouse?" asked Morph, holding up a mallet.
"Nope, worse," growled Matt, looking at a familiar floating equine head.
"I'm gonna need a bigger mallet," said Morph.
"Hiya g-" began Betrayl before a chorus of elemental blasts blasted her into atoms, before she reformed. "Ok...I think you might be in a bad-" before Chloe fried her again.
"Is that anyway to treat family?" asked Betrayl.
"You're not family, you're a brood parasite," snarled Chloe.
"I kept the surname so I'm family," said Betrayl cheerfully, before teleporting inside, just as Therma and Matt came in, Therma screaming at Betrayl's teleport and hiding behind Smoldron and Matt. "Bro...like the new look...and the serious power boost. What did you do? Eat an Infinity Gem?" she laughed .
"No, I crushed it in my fist," said Matt.
Betrayl's smile froze. "Oh..." she said before she said, "I'll think about that later. I was passing through the Horsehead Nebula and I heard how your old homie, Spyro, tried to lock Miss Roph up." Her smile has a shark-like quality.
"We've already taken care of that situation, without you," said Chloe, "So why don't you make like dust and blow in the wind?"
"Not till he apologizes," said Betrayl, before saying in a cheerful voice, "So till he does, I'm gonna hang around here." Then she finally noticed Therma. "Oh, you old dog, Matt," she said, floating up to Therma before thinking, clicking her fingers and making a cookie as big as Therma appear before offering it to the small dragonling.
"Get away from my daughter," growled Sonya.
"Oh please, I'm a spirit of chaos, not a demon," laughed Betrayl, Therma chewing happily on the cookie.
"Aren't you guys overreacting a bit?" asked Cynder, "All she's done is poof around and gave Therma a cookie."
"She dumped me on a Darkrift prison planet. That's why I'm a werewolf. Then she impersonated me for 6 months," snapped Chloe.
Betrayl said in a sad tone, "I'd just escaped from being experimented on. I wanted some family."
Cynder glared at the gang, "Come on, Betrayl, I have a spare room."
"Don't let her stay," said NegaMorph, "You'll never get her to leave."
"Nega, you helped bust me out," said Betrayl before saying in a dark tone, "But stuff it." An apple appeared in each of NegaMorph's mouths, regenerating each time he ate one and unable to spit them out.
Cynder sighed and said, "Let me show you that room."
"Uh, before you go, I kinda have something to say," said Kala.
Matt, not taking his eyes off Betrayl, asked "What is it, honey?"
Kala said, "Betrayl's 'old dog' thing might be more relevant than you think..."
"Why? What are you saying?" asked Matt.
Kala said nervously, still smiling, "Well you did touch the Life Stone..."
"Yeah? So?" asked Matt.
"Ok, there's no point in letting you work it out for yourself," said Kala with a sigh, "The fact is..."
It had been a rather peaceful evening in Warfang after yesterday's rampage. The citizens were rather hoping for that. But the peace looked like it had finally ended when the sound of screaming rent through the air. It sounded like more than one person screaming. And it sounded like it was coming from the residential area...
Matt was flat in his back, eye twitching, Kala glaring. "He is such a dork," she growled.
Of course, Matt wasn't the only one shocked, just the most shocked.
"That's impossible." snapped Chloe, glaring.
"Well, life finds a way," said Betrayl.
"No, I mean it's actually impossible," snapped Chloe, "Alayshia locked our fertility so we wouldn't be creating more Ektas. Which in itself is extremely misogynistic and heartless."
"I don't get it either, but the doc says an egg's coming, which is why I'm stuck like this," said Kala.
"So I assume you were both in the scaly skivvies when you-" started Betrayl.
"Matt's stuck like that at the moment," said Kala.
Betrayl grinned. "Ooooh...I get to be the fun aunt."
"Over my dead-" Chloe snapped before stopping herself. That was way too tempting an opening for her wannabe twin.
"Oh please. Dead bodies aren't fun," said Betrayl offhandedly before saying, "Anyway...I want to use my powers for good." Suddenly, she was in a white gown with a halo.
"Pardon me for calling baloney," said Chloe.
"Look, what Darkrift did, they wanted to see what made me tick..." said Betrayl in a sullen tone.
"Shouldn't have been that hard to find the cuckoo clock," said Chloe dryly.
"Hey, I'm trying to be solemn here," said Betrayl, "And it actually pains me to do so. They...kept cutting me open...I heard one of them say I couldn't feel pain." The light in the room somehow blacking out as she spoke to match her dark tone.
"You know...maybe there's more to her than just being a troublemaker," said NegaMorph reluctantly.
"Does that mean we can forget about the whole kidnapping thing?" said Betrayl happily before teleporting behind Chloe and NegaMorph, all three in matching bowling shirts suddenly. "We's can go bowling," she said in an accent, Chloe glaring at NegaMorph who facepalmed.
"I think you need to do something more meaningful," said Chloe.
"How meaningful?" asked Betrayl.
"How about saving my life?" asked Chloe.
Matt and NegaMorph both went wide eyed at that. "Betrayl...don't you-" began Matt before Betrayl said "Great idea." before she clicked her fingers and both her and Chloe vanished.
Chloe blinked, her vision blurring as she tried to work out why she was in a wind tunnel before she looked down and went bug eyed, seeing she was above the clouds...though probably not for long given how fast the ground was approaching. It's worth noting that for a shar to transform into a dragon, it needed concentration...and finding yourself a thousand feet in the air with said number of feet rapidly dropping is REALLY good for stopping concentration. That said Chloe wasn't reflecting on this, she was too busy screaming.
"Jumping without a parachute? Kinda dangerous, huh?" Betrayl's voice was somehow clearly audible over the rushing wind. Chloe looked to one side to see Betrayl wearing an aviator's suit.
"BETRAYL, YOU BIIIIIITCH! GET ME OUT OF THIS!" screamed Chloe, trying to swim over to Betrayl so she could either strangle her or use her as a parachute.
"Now, now, name-calling isn't going to get you anywhere," said Betrayl.
"I MAY BE A WEREWOLF BUT I THINK BEING TURNED INTO A FUCKING PIZZA WILL END ME! GET ME OUTTA HERE NOW!" screamed Chloe, coughing as they passed through the clouds and saw...well it was a little worse. They weren't going towards an island. They were headed for the crystal core. Least it gave time to wonder how she'd kill Betrayl as a ghost.
"Ok, just wait 5...4...3..." said Betrayl, looking at her watch.
The 'walls' of the islands shot past, the glowing crystal core, part of the old Banshee Cannon's lift still connected, coming into view at high speed. "BETRAYYYYYYYYL!" she screamed, covering her face.
Suddenly, the rushing air stopped and so did the feeling of inertia. Chloe slowly opened her eyes and saw she was back in Sonya's apartment. "See? I saved your life. Now we're even," said Betrayl, standing beside her.
"Let me make myself clear," said Chloe, "Saving my life doesn't count if you ENDANGER IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Chloe clutched her stomach as she felt the inertia whiplash start hit home. "Excuse me," she said before covering her mouth and running for the bathroom.
Betrayl noticed everyone's looks before pulling a clock out of some unknown place. "Oh look...I have a hotel reservations," she said nervously as the dragons growled before she said "Okbye." vanishing in a flash of light, as a blast of crimson fire demolished the wall she'd been in front of.
"Matt, I understand you have good reason to be angry, but please don't destroy my home," said Sonya. Matt's eye twitched before he turned to glare at Sonya who said weakly "Please?" before Matt stomped out.
"So...er...mazel tov, Kala?" said Sonya weakly.
Betrayl appeared on a rooftop a few streets over. That had not worked. This would be easier if at least one of them could see her point of view. "At least Cynder was nice enough to offer me a room," said Betrayl. Just then, a rather devious idea came to mind. "Oh, poor Cynder. The faithful housewife having to wait so long for her hubby to come home," she said, "I think she needs a little girl power."
4 hours later...
Cynder sighed, walking in and shifting to dragon form with a yawn. With Matt's new...condition and the state he'd walked out in, the gang, her included, had went after him to make sure someone didn't set him off. They'd finally found him eating mutton near Ignatius Square. That had accounted for most of the 4 hours. The rest had been trying to stop Chloe choking him out.
She looked around...of course no Spyro. She didn't hold it against him. On more than one occasion, Spyro had spoken of regretting taking the job of head of the New Warfang council. Cynder wondered if she should have gotten a job on the Council as well. After all, it wasn't like there was anyone at home waiting for her...
The lights suddenly shot on, Betrayl setting off an airhorn. Cynder's room was decked out like a party, including a large cake...so it's kinda a shame that Cynder reacted as she did, screaming and blasting Betrayl out the kitchen window.
Betrayl soon reappeared and asked, "Was the airhorn too much?"
Cynder glared. "Ok, not that I don't appreciate a cake but why?" she snapped.
"Well, you seemed like a lonely girl," said Betrayl.
"I'm not lonely," said Cynder, "I have plenty of friends and a loving mate."
"Right, so where is Mr. Breadwinner?" asked Betrayl, looking around.
Cynder looked around, "Working late again. I think Zara's purposely throwing paperwork at him."
"Ah, I've been hearing a lot about her," said Betrayl, "From what I hear, she's a stick so far up her butt it should be sticking out of her throat."
Cynder laughed at that, "You got that right." before Betrayl clicked her fingers, two glasses and a green bottle appear.
"Girls night in?" asked Betrayl, pouring a green liquid into the glasses.
"Well...why not?" asked Cynder shifting back into anthro form.
The next day...
Cynder woke up, clutching her head. What the hell had been in that...what had Betrayl called it? Le jus du chaos?
She also had a feeling they were talking about something important. What was it? Something about Spyro? Yeah...after the first glass, she'd spoken about how frustrating it was to barely see him...and how he was getting more distant. Betrayl had said something after that...
Ugh, her head was pounding too hard to think clearly.
She looked down to see she'd shifted into anthro form in the night, sighing and putting a robe around her. Sometimes having such a big...chest was a pain. The kitchen was surprisingly clean, Betrayl floating in the air, snoring. She'd apparently cleaned up before going to bed. Cynder wondered where it had been sent.
Zara stared at her room, full to the roof with rubbish, including some sort of half-eaten cake, her eye twitching.
A quick check of the stores showed hardly any food. Dammit, she had meant to go shopping after seeing Sonya. "Urgh...what I'd give for some nice mutton," she muttered, clicking her claws before a flash of light from behind her got her attention. She looked to see a plate of sliced mutton, with sandwich bread and condiments on the side.
"The heck?" she muttered, walking towards it and sniffing it. It was mutton alright. It even had ground dragonroot on like she liked. A quick bite confirmed it, followed by the food being gone. "Thanks Betrayl," she said to herself with a smile, going to get changed.
Spyro sighed, walking home...another all-nighter. Some sort of incident at Old Warfang. Moneybags again. As loathe as he was to admit it, that bear had a shrewd sense for business. How else was he able to stay afloat when things tend to blow up on him? His greed wasn't always the cause of said blowing up.
Why the hell did Zara keep dumping him with the paperwork? He'd asked Terrador who had also seemed surprised. Man, Cynder would be upset.
He was a bit relieved that Cynder didn't look cross when he came in. In fact, she looked like she was in a particularly good mood. Noticeably, she was wearing jean shorts and a green halter top. "Hey Spyro," she said cheerfully.
"Hi, honey." yawned Spyro before his libido realized what she was wearing. "Er...hi?" he repeated a little confused.
"Spyro, have you finally got some time off?" asked Cynder.
"Uh, a respite," said Spyro, "Cynder, why are you wearing that outfit?"
"Oh, I don't have any real reason to dress so formally. No one to stand on ceremony with around here," said Cynder.
Spyro looked at her. Casual human clothing hadn't caught on that well, most dragons still trying to look formal, even in their human forms. A few passing dragons were, depending on their gender, either giving her interested looks or glaring daggers...and said looks weren't restricted to one gender.
"Is there something particular you wanted to do today?" asked Spyro.
"I just wondered if we could get some Us time. That wyrm, Zara's kept you away from home for weeks," said Cynder happily, practically skipping over to Spyro and linking arms with him.
"I'd like that too, but we might only have a small window for that," said Spyro.
"Urgh...I wish Zara would just end up on that moon colony," muttered Cynder, nobody noticing when her eyes glinted for a second.
Blizzara and Mazer looked at the lake, the rear end of Zara sticking out of it after she'd appeared with a surprised look and a flash of light and dropped into it. "Lynches!" they said in unison then sat down to watch.
"Yeah, if we're lucky," joked Spyro.
"Anyways, let's just take a day off," said Cynder, "I'm sure you've more than earned it."
"Can't. Zara's insisting on a reset of security after a load of party stuff filled up her room last night," said Spyro with a sigh, "I'm just going to try and get some lunch.
"But surely you can delegate," said Cynder.
"No, she pushed it straight to the top. I swear she's trying to keep us apart," snapped Spyro, adding, "She almost stopped me getting home at the full moon."
"I don't see why she'd try to do that," said Cynder dryly, "I mean, look how well our last kid turned out."
Spyro's hands curled into fists at that, before he sighed, "We'll get her back. Even if we have to go with Matt's crew to do it."
"Well, at least you've buried the hatchet with them," said Cynder.
"Yes, that's over and done," said Spyro.
Cynder gave a small twitch before saying, "You still haven't apologized yet."
"Cynder, we're trying to move past it," said Spyro, "Wounds don't heal if they keep being reopened."
"You almost locked Megan up. That's gonna look bad enough going before the Shars next week," snapped Cynder, prodding Spyro in the middle of his forehead. Spyro's eyes crossed as he tottered. "Uh, Spyro?" asked Cynder, waving a hand in front of his face.
Spyro's colors faded to a gray before he mumbled like a zombie, "Yes, dear?"
"Spyro, this isn't funny," said Cynder, getting more worried.
"Yes, dear," said Spyro with half-lidded eyes.
Cynder racked her head and panicked, seeing two guard drakes had seen the commotion in the distance and were padding in her direction. "Ok...ok...I poked him and...that's it," she yelped, poking Spyro, his original colors spreading from her fingers contact.
Spyro's eyes refocused and he went, "Huh?"
"Spyro...you ok?" yelped Cynder, hugging him.
"Uh, a little tired and my writing hand's sore," said Spyro.
"I...I gotta go talk with someone," said Cynder in a panic, before running off as the guards arrived.
"Lord Spyro...are you ok?" asked one of them, Spyro looking confused.
"Uh, just fine," said Spyro. He had a feeling he was missing something rather important.
By the time Cynder reached home, she felt...off, like she was in a skintight suit, Betrayl awake and watching a holovid. "What did you do?" Cynder snapped, clutching her head as one of her horns twisted into a ram shape.
"Oh, I lent you some of my power...and it seems it's kicking in," said Betrayl casually.
"Lent your power? How does that-" started Cynder before she started feeling weird. Her body started becoming very thin. Not skeletal thin, more like a cartoonish noodley shape. Her body made a wiry warbling sound as she staggered, rather like a thin piece of metal being waved.
"What...happ-" she rasped, as her scales started to tear, purple fur poking out.
"Oh don't worry. I had the same thing happen and I'm just fine," giggled Betrayl.
"I can't feel my bones," said Cynder with worry.
"Don't worry...in a few seconds you won't care," said Betrayl cheerfully as two new horns grew from Cynder's head, looking like antlers before she shuddered as her eyes turned yellow and purple, her shed skin turning to dust.
"Now how do you feel?" said Betrayl.
"I feel...kinda great," said Cynder as she started to stand up.
"It does feel great, doesn't it? You can do anything now," said Betrayl cheerfully.
"Anything, you say?" asked Cynder.
"Just think it and click your fingers," said Betrayl cheerfully. Cynder looked at her hand uncertainly. "Oh, never clicked your fingers before?" asked Betrayl, "Here, let me show you. Just squeeze your thumb and middle finger together tightly. Now go like this."
Cynder did as instructed, clicking her fingers. "Wonder what that did?" she asked.
In Ignatius Square, Zara appeared with a flash of light, before falling in the fountain. "That's it...I'm going home to bed…" she growled.
"Nothing happened," said Cynder.
"Well, not here," said Betrayl, "But it did happen."
Cynder twitched, before getting a grin like Betrayl's. "Well for a start, if my husband's gonna act like a big girl over this apology..." before she clicked her fingers…
Spyro couldn't shake a feeling of dread. It's like...someone was out to get him somehow. And that it was going to be soon. A knock was heard at his door before the guards let Matt in. "Spyro." he said slightly icily.
"Matt, feeling better?" asked Spyro.
"Yes...I assume you've heard," said Matt calmly.
"Heard what?" asked Spyro. Matt gave him a flat look. "Look, a lot of news has been flying around recently," said Spyro, "You need to be a bit more specific."
"Kala's gonna have an egg," said Matt calmly.
"Oh, congratulations," said Spyro. When Matt didn't smile, Spyro asked, "Not something to celebrate?"
"More like something to contemplate," said Matt.
"Well, becoming a father is no small thing," said Spyro.
"Right now, I'm wondering more about how Kala became a mother," said Matt, "Unless something unlocked her fertility..."
"The same thing that did that to you?" asked Spyro, gesturing to Matt's look.
Matt nodded. "Yeah...something else. If something happens to me. Look after Kala, ok?"
"Well, I'm sure she doesn't really need looking after," said Spyro.
"Spyro, this is serious," snapped Matt, eyes glowing red for a moment.
"Matt, don't you think I already have enough to look after as it is?" asked Spyro in annoyance.
"Spyro, I-"began Matt, before Spyro was engulfed in white light.
Spyro blinked as the light faded, leaving him rather dazzled. Then he said, "Really, Matt, I already have to watch over the rest of my race, maintain diplomatic relationships with the other species here, not to mention the Nullspace ones. And I'm not even bringing up whatever mayhem my daughter is causing or will cause. I barely even have time to see Cynder each day, let alone..." But it seemed that Matt wasn't really listening to Spyro. He was just staring at them with a gaped mouth. "What? Why are you..." Just then, Spyro noticed that wasn't his voice he was speaking with.
"Spyro? You ok?" asked Matt carefully.
Spyro blinked before Spyra sighed. Matt was good looking as a dragon, but she was commited to Cynder. "I'm sure your sister can take care of your egg," said Spyra, "I'm not even sure when I'll be to have my own."
"Er...Spyro? You feeling ok?" said Matt. He'd just seen Spyro turn into a dragoness, wearing a shirt that left her lower chest bare.
"It's Spyra," said Spyra, "Really, I thought we've known each other long enough to get each other's names right."
"You don't remember Lumina?" said Matt carefully.
Spyra sighed and said, "I don't know where I went wrong with her."
"Well...you can't really blame yourself," said Matt awkwardly.
"Well, I can't really blame you either," said Spyra, "You know, sometimes I wondered if our lives would be simpler if we had settled down together after that one time."
Matt blinked, getting a violent twitch as a small part of his brain processed that, filed it under 'nope' then decided it was the rest of the brain's problem. "Pardon?" he said weakly.
"Oh, you know, that night in the forest. Of course, back then, I didn't have these," said Spyra, hefting up her chest, "You ever think of what that would have been like if we had these bodies then?"
"Baarrg?" said Matt, his brain temporarily giving up and waving the white flag.
Spyra laughed and said, "Oh, I remember that face. Just like when you first met Lumina."
"Brain...imploding..." managed Matt, his eye twitching violently.
Just then, a guard looked in, "Lady Spyra...are you ok? We heard a scream."
Matt screamed "She's not a dragoness!" before he ran past them screaming.
"I think he's been at the kr'ta again," sighed Spyra.
Matt, once he;d calmed down, pulled out his communicator. "Chloe, if you tell me Spyro's a girl, I'm going to hulk out," he said through gritted fangs.
"Don't tell me Megan's been practicing spells," said Chloe.
"No, I saw a flash of light before it happened...I swear to Fod I'm going to peel Betrayl," snapped Matt.
A clunk was heard before Chloe said, "Er...the picture of you and your friends from your first visit here are definitely different now."
"Don't tell me, I'm the only guy dragon in it," said Matt.
"Afraid so. The later pictures with Smoldron still have him as a guy. Er...there's a picture of you and the female Spyro. We'll hide it before Kala sees it," said Chloe.
Matt said, "Burn it...then we burn the noodle. Meet me at Cynder's."
Cynder had been expecting Spyro to freak about being turned into a dragoness. She hadn't expect her to accept she's been a dragoness her entire life.
A quick check of Spyro's room indicated that had been affected too. Though to her relief lumina still existed, however she had blue spines now instead of yellow. "Nice...full reality warp on your first go," said Betrayl with an impressed whistle.
"I didn't mean it to go this far!" snapped Cynder.
"Yes, but isn't this more fun?" said Betrayl, giggling, the laugh a little infectious.
Cynder stifled a giggle. "No-hehe-it's-hah-not funny." she managed.
"That's it, just let it all out," said Betrayl.
"It's...haha...not...ha...hahaha...HAHAHAHAHA!" managed Cynder, closing her eyes before going into full hysterics before opening red and yellow eyes. "Oh, that's so much better," she said in a chipper voice.
"So...what do you wanna do now?" asked Betrayl.
"Watch the chaos? Gotta admit, she does make a nice dragoness. You should probably hide. They'll think you did it," said the new draconequus.
Betrayl looking surprised. "Hey, I don't do reality warps. Dad never taught blame me?"
The draconequus clicked her fingers and looked like Cynder again. "Cause you're the only one here...and Nightshade hates competition," grinned Nightshade.
"Well there's gratitude for you," snapped Betrayl.
"3...2...1..." said Nightshade before the front door exploded, Matt stomping in.
"BETRAYL, YOU GODDAMN NOODLE!" he roared.
Nightshade grinned before running towards him. "Matt, she's up there. She said I was next," she said in a mock panic.
"Oh, that's a load of bullshit-EEK!" snapped Betrayl, managing to dodge a fireball.
"Ok, here's what's gonna happen. I want everything bibbidi-bobbidi back to normal. Then I want you on an asteroid in interstellar space!" snapped Matt.
"Can't do it, not my spell," said Betrayl, peering out wearing a firesuit.
"You're a terrible liar," snarled Matt.
"Urgh...you impersonate one family member twice and nobody believes you ever again," muttered Betrayl.
"Hello? Your name is Betrayl," snapped Matt.
"Yes, but it doesn't say liar. It was her," said Betrayl, pointing at Nightshade, who blinked and looked innocent.
"You expect me to believe that?" asked Matt, "That's a flimsy lie, even for you."
"But it's true!" whined Betrayl before yelping as she was hit by a dehydrator, Chloe lowering the dehydrator rifle. Betrayl looked a little more shriveled before she let out a weak cough. "Anyone have any moisturizer?" she wheezed.
A second later, she was dogpiled. "Cynder, this is gonna sound weird, but Spyra isn't meant to be a girl," said Matt carefully.
"Dear me. I would have thought Betrayl would know better than to mess with Spyro," said Nightshade.
"Yeah, I'm not. It was only a matter of time. Now we gotta convince her to change this timeline back to normal," sighed Matt, adding, "Before Kala finds out that in this timeline, Lumina is mine and Spyra's kid."
"Convince her! She's the one who did it!" snapped Betrayl, pointing at 'Cynder'. Matt turned to glare, to the two draconequi's vision, he was getting a blood red aura around him. "Look, I can prove it," said Betrayl.
"How?" managed Chloe, trying to pull the desiccated draconequus out the door.
"Try pulling her head off," said Betrayl.
"Y'what?" said Matt in confusion.
'Cynder' snapped, "Oh please, that's pathetic."
"It's true! Really! Her head will come right off!" yelped Betrayl. Then she realized that didn't help her case. "Ok, then how did she know that Spyro has been changed?" asked Betrayl.
There was a silence, Cynder saying nervously, "You...you told me."
Matt said, "No...No I didn't." before he started growling.
"You want me to toss her out while you're working?" asked Chloe.
Cynder looked worried before smirking. "Caught me," she giggled.
Matt getting a shudder, he knew that laugh. "Betrayl, what did you do to her?" asked Matt.
"I wanted her to lighten up so...I shared some magic. It shouldn;t be this powerful though," yelped Betrayl.
"She already has four elements, she shares convexity power with the Purple Dragon, and she's borderline purple herself," said Chloe flatly.
"She's more like a light black," said Betrayl.
"Not helping," snarled Matt, advancing on Cynder who grinned disarmingly, "Cynder, you've got some bad juju we need to get out of you."
"What if I like the bad juju?" sneered Cynder, eye twitching as two antlers grew out her head.
"And how about losing your marriage and your daughter?" asked Matt.
Cynder paused, her eyes narrowing. "Way to go," said Betrayl weakly before Cynder grinned and booped Matt, who twitched. His eyes crossed at that before he began to grow.
"Uh oh," said Chloe, grabbing Betrayl and running as Matt transformed into the super dragon.
"Good boy...sic em," sneered Nightshade, before frowning when the dragon just glared down at her. "Ahem, I said sic em," said Nightshade. The super dragon just glowered. "What? That's pretty much the simplest way to say it," said Nightshade. The dragon responded by raising a forepaw in a fist and attempted to pound down on her
"I thought eastern dragons were supposed to be wise," said Chloe.
"Actually, we're draconequi," said Betrayl.
"Which translates to 'halfwits made up of extra parts from the rubbish bin'," said Chloe dryly.
Betrayl nodded, "You've done your research." before a blast of energy knocked Matt back.
"You'd better have a backup plan," snapped Chloe.
Betrayl nodded, "But we'll need Spyra's help unless you want to mix magic again."
"She better not be far," said Chloe.
Spyra sighed. Matt had seemed distant. Maybe they'd go out once Zara gave her 10 minutes of her own...that freakout though. An explosion knocked her out her thoughts as she looked out and stared, a giant dragon attacking some sort of wingless...noodle dragon thing.
"Well, there's something you don't see every week," said Spyra. She squinted more before going bug-eyed "Matt?" she yelped, running to the window, opening it and flying out.
However, before Spyra could get close, she had to dive down to avoid some large blasts of energy. Her landing was...less than graceful. She got up unsteadily and stared at a face she never thought she'd see walking into view...
NegaMorph was not having the best of days. It had been fine till a few hours ago when there'd been a flash of light and suddenly everyone was either terrified of him or trying to attack him. He'd left all his attackers breathing at least but he was ever so slowly being tempted to make some of these dragons small and fluffy.
As if on cue, he saw a purple blur do a belly flop into the ground. "Spyro, finally, what the hell...wait, you aren't Spyro," he said, noticing the purple in front of him was female...extremely so and staring like she'd seen a ghost. "Let me guess, Megan wanted some payback?" asked NegaMorph.
"Y...you're dead." said the dragoness weakly.
"And you're a bimbo," said NegaMorph rudely.
"This isn't possible. Matt saw you die," said the dragon weakly, backing up.
NegaMorph raised an eyebrow. "Megan didn't fry your brain too, did she?" he said a little sarcastically.
"Who?" asked the dragoness.
"Ok, now that's just rude," said NegaMorph. He stomped up, the dragoness backing up in fear before he snapped, "Oh hold still!" A scanner extended from his tekpack and bathed her in light.
"Dimensional variance of 2.7. Timeline damage detected," said his tekpack.
"Ok, Megan couldn't have done this...could she?" asked NegaMorph.
"What's going on? This is all wrong," snapped the dragoness.
NegaMorph sighed. "Welcome to another dimension," he said sarcastically, pointing to the fight above between Matt and Nightshade, "We even have kaiju battles."
"This...this can't be..." said the dragoness, clutching her head.
NegaMorph sighed. "Ok, welcome to the fun world of dimensional travel. We'll find the gang and..." he paused before looking at the giant dragon "Maybe not now...he's busy."
"He can make time for his wife!" snapped the dragoness, "Now who is he fighting?"
NegaMorph twitched before he began giggling. "No...No, No, No," he said, his voice getting a little more manic.
"What?" asked the dragoness.
NegaMorph managed to straighten his face and said, "Well, that's an interesting dye job you got, Kala."
"Kala? Why would he be married to Kala?" asked the dragoness.
"Then you are..." said NegaMorph.
"Spyra, haven't you heard of me?" asked the dragoness.
NegaMorph's eye twitched a little before he covered his face with his hat. "Excuse me," he said before going around a corner.
The dragon dodged a blast from Nightshade who had grown to his size before biting her as she tried to curl round her and choke him before an agonized scream echoed over the city, the two looking in its direction.
"By the gods..." muttered the dragon.
Nightshade said "You're telling me." before they looked at one another and lunged at each other again.
Spyro had jumped behind a cart at the scream and peered out in fear before NegaMorph came round, straightening his hat. "I'm fine...really," he said, one of his eyes twitching like crazy, and the left side of his grin also twitching a little.
"So...do you think I can get his attention?" asked Spyra.
"Maybe...hehehe...not like this though...this Matt...he...well..." said NegaMorph.
"Just how different is this dimension from the one I'm from?" asked Spyra.
"Well...I may as well start with the biggest difference," said NegaMorph, "You're supposed to be a drake here."
"Wow...weird," said Spyra.
NegaMorph shrugged "I've seen weirder..." before he activated his comm.
"Chloe, why is Matt fighting a giant noodle?"
Nightshade's voice echoing across the city as she yelled, "I HEARD THAT!"
"That noodle is Cynder," said Chloe's voice.
"What?" asked NegaMorph and Spyra flatly.
"Betrayl gave her a little touch of madness," said Chloe.
"Oh great," muttered Spyra.
NegaMorph said, "Got one of your own?"
Spyra nodded. "She insisted on being Lumina's godmother."
"I'm sure there's an interesting story that I never want to hear," said NegaMorph.
"Fine," grumbled Spyra, taking off.
Matt roared as Nightshade bit into his shoulder. "You can't beat me!" snapped Nightshade. Matt grabbed Nightshade and threw her into a vine-ridden tower. As soon as she made contact, the vines started wrapping themselves around her.
Nightshade glared, before yelping as the vines squeezed, then screamed when the vines all sprouted thorns. "Get off!" she snapped.
"Why? You're a pest...and pests...get squeezed." sneered the dragon.
"Oh, you are really asking for it," snarled Nightshade.
The dragon just grinned. "I wonder what will grow from you?" he sneered, taking a breath, a red glow traveling up his throat.
Just then, the top of the tower flipped open and a giant boxing glove on a spring shot out and punched the dragon in the snout. This usually wouldn't have done anything but it forced his mouth closed when his fireball should have discharged, a cloud of smoke coming out his snout, the dragon looking dazed before falling out the sky.
"That was too close," said Nightshade with a relieved sigh.
"Cynder!" called a female voice. Nightshade turned to see a purple dragoness flying into view before Nightshade shrank down to her normal size.
"Honey..." she said happily, adding darkly, "Gonna play nice with Matt now?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Spyra in confusion.
"Oh yeah...I had to borrow you from another dimension and impose you over my stupid husband. I wonder if he's still in there?" said Nightshade manically.
Spyra looked horrified. "You did what?" she snapped.
"Oh, our daughter got corrupted by the Virk virus, which you wear well by the way. But yeah, my husband's having trouble forgiving Matt for it," said Nightshade offhandedly.
"Our daughter?" asked Spyra.
"Well, in this world you're called Spyro," said Nightshade, teleporting next to Spyra, "I hope you know how to have fun there cause Zara's turned you into a real workaholkic here."
"This doesn't make any sense!" snapped Spyra. Nightshade's grin faltered a little at that. "You drag me away from my real home because you had a fight with the other Spyra? Why would you drag me into this? Am I supposed to apologize on his behalf? How can I apologize for something I know nothing about?" snapped Spyra.
Nightshade paused. "Hmm...that is a problem," she said, before clicking her fingers.
Spyra's brain throbbed as a sudden rush of information hit it. She didn't know all about Spyro's life, mostly just what was relevant to his quarrel with this world's Matt. She shuddered, before she said "I know he'd want to apologize now..." hanging her head.
"Is that really so hard to say?" asked Nightshade.
"A little..." sighed Spyra.
"Well, all you have to do is say it to Matt and it'll all be settled," said Nightshade.
"Two problems with that," said Spyra, "One, Spyro has to apologize, not me. And two..." A thundering roar was heard at that. "Matt is in no mood to accept apologies," said Spyra.
"Oops?" said Nightshade nervously before making a 'gak' noise as she was grabbed in one giant draconic fist, Spyra grabbed in the other.
The dragon holding them definitely didn't have Matt at the wheel, confirmed when it said in a deep calm voice, "I'm annoyed...so I'm going to kill you both now."
Nightshade got a hand free, "Please be ready to apologize, hun." before she managed to click her fingers, Spyra engulfed in white light before a confused Spyro was held in place.
Spyro's head was still spinning, still reeling from memories of another lifetime, a very different lifetime. But it quickly stopped spinning when he saw that Matt was getting ready to bite it off. "Matt, wait! Matt, if you can hear me, I'm...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken this anger this far. I should have realized you would have done all you could to stop Lumina falling," he called, the dragon pausing and squinting at him.
"You aren't to blame. There were...many forces at work. I'm not even sure if I know all of them," said Spyro, "In any case, you weren't responsible for her going down the dark path. I should have realized it from the start."
The dragon tilted its head before gently putting Spyro down...before immediately biting Nightshade's head off, to Spyro's horror. The dragon glared before spitting Nightshade's head out, which rolled to Spyro's feet. "Hi honey," said Nightshade's head cheerfully, before Spyro did the only logical thing and fainted.
"Really, I could do a lot of good for Avalar like this," said Nightshade, her head having been reattached.
"Except you have no idea filter," said Chloe flatly.
"Yeah, you turned me back into Hulk Drake," snapped Matt.
"It would have happened eventually," said Nightshade cheerfully.
"You did it EARLY!" snapped Matt, twitching.
Spyro said, "You almost got yourself killed."
Then everyone looked at Betrayl. "Do it then bugger off!" snapped Chloe.
Betrayl rolled her eyes before clicking her fingers, Nightshade coughing before spitting up a glowing orb that shot into Betrayl, Nightshade twitching before, with an organic noise, turned back into Cynder who looked ill.
"So, I suppose you're going to throw me in jail now," said Betrayl, now wearing a black and white striped prisoner's uniform.
"Oh, don't be silly. We wouldn't dream of doing that," said Cynder before saying flatly, "Because that would require you staying in one place. And I'd rather not have you on this planet at all."
Betrayl nodded. "Sure thing...I get the feeling an entire planet of dragons could find a way to do something permanent to me soooo...byebye!" she said, vanishing with a flash of light.
"Is it too much to hope we never see her again?" asked Chloe.
"Probably," said Matt.
"I wonder if Spyra was real...or something Nightshade's magic made?" said Chloe thoughtfully
Cynder said, "Look, I don't want to think about it. I just wanna go home."
"I agree," said Spyro, "We've all been through enough for one night."
Cynder yawned, her and Spyro in dragon form. "Honey...you think we should have another egg next breeding season?" she asked randomly.
"I'm...not so sure," said Spyro, "Some people would see it as us trying to replace Lumina. Including Lumina herself."
"Well...maybe once Lumina returns?" said Cynder, Spyro missing the flash of yellow and red in her eyes.
ERROR: Unknown dimensional frequency
Spyra yawned, opening her eyes to see she was in a healer's bed at Warfang General. "Honey, you're ok," said a familiar voice.
Spyra rubbed her head and said, "I just had the craziest dream."
"Dream? You passed out in the council chambers. Cyndra and Me have had to give Zara the runaround all day to stop her assuming the head councilmanship," said her husband's voice, belonging to a blue plasma dragon, before the dragon sighed "I suppose you'll be back to work."
Spyra opened her mouth to reply, before remembering her dream. "No...you know what? Let's go out to dinner. Work can wait," she said, pulling her husband into a kiss.
Yeah, this is definitely one of the strangest chapters of this fic. Even I'm not sure what that alternate timeline Spyra is from is like. There's no telling if we'll be seeing any of that at any point, but I'm sure the possibility will be lingering in the back. The next chapter comes out tomorrow so keep an eye out for it and please review.