The Electric Dragon

Chapter 3: Believing in Strangers

Spyro felt so comfortable where ever he was laying. The bed was nice, the pillow soft, and the blanket warm. He didn't want to get up, for he would have to leave the confindes of his relaxed state. Then he remembered the vortex, and of falling through it, and Cynder.

Spyro quickly opened his eyes and searched the site he was at for Cynder. Although he was crest fallen to not find her, he was curious about where he was. The room had a large vessel of some sort with four wheels attached, and the place was littered with tools and gadgets alike. Yet what really caught his eye was the other bipedal creature.

The creature was sitting in a wooden chair with his arms crossed and fast asleep. Spyro had no idea who he was or why he was sleeping here with him in that position. The purple dragon took a closer look; it had a shaved head with a light stubble beard. it wore a yellow and black t-shirt. He also had black cargo pants with a white Union Jack on its right leg. What stuck the dragon as the strangest was his sling bag, or more specifically the metal rod it held.

Spyro felt like he should wake the thing; to let it know that he was awake, but shied from it. The dragon did not want to ruin the guy's sleep. Never the less, he had many questions, and he was the only one who could answer. So, Spyro awkwardly tried to wake it with his words, "Um... hello? I'm, uh, awake..."

The being suddenly came to, jerking himself out of dream land. He looked around a minute before landing his eyes on the dragon. He gave a soft smile and said, "You're awake now, huh?"

"I guess so?" Spyro said strangely. He began wondering if this whole situation was a dream.

The character chuckled, "Name's Cole, Cole MacGrath."

"Spyro," the dragon stated simply.

Cole looked him over a bit more, before asking, "What exactly are you?"

Spyro was perplexed by the question; no one has ever asked a question quite like that before.

"Well, I'm a dragon, but who are you...exactly?"

Cole blinked, before standing up from the chair. "I'm a human," he stated as he pointed to himself. "and you are in New Marais."

Spyro searched his brain for that name, but he did not recal a 'New Marais' before in his life. "I don't think I quite understand where that is in the Dragon Realms."

"Dragon Realms?" Cole said surprisingly, "You're on Earth, buddy, no 'Dragon Realms' here."

Spyro gaped at the man, thinking he must be mistaken, but Cole had a poker face that said otherwise. So, instead of questioning it, he asked an unrelated, and hopeful one. "Have you seen another dragon like me, with black scales and a magenta underbelly?"

The human opened his mouth to reply, but slowly started shifting his face to a look of shock. He cursed, and slammed his fist at the wall in frustration. Spyro took this personally, thinking he had said something wrong. Cole turned to face the dragon with sorrow in his eyes.

"I think I should start from the beginning before I answer that."

Spyro stared at him a second before slowly nodding. As desperate as he was to find Cynder, he thought that understanding how he got here would help immensely.

Cole took a deep breath before starting his story, "You fell from the sky like a meteorite, blasting a large area midtown. I went there to investigate and found you surrounded by Militia." Spyro had no idea who the Militia was, but was too polite to interrupt the man now. "I took 'em out before they could haul you off, and Zeke and I brought you to our apartment for safety."

Cole looked down, acting like he did not want to finish his story, but he finally looked back at the dragon. He sighed through his nose, and calmly said. "There was another meteorite like you that also fell somewhere near the swamp... but in finding you, it was driven out of my mind."

Spyro began to realize what the man was saying before he finished.

"I think that other meteorite may have been your friend that we forgot." Cole said sadly.

Spyro looked away from Cole, trying to hold back tears, but some did escape his eyes. "Where is she?" he said gravely.

"I don't know, but-"

"Where is she?!" Spyro yelled. He was enraged, not at Cole, but at himself for not trying to protect Cynder better.

"I said I don't know!" Cole yelled back, being a bit defensive, "I think, maybe, the Militia got her."

Spyro shook his head in irritated confusion, "You've said that twice now, who are the Militia?"

Cole quickly answered to keep the conversation up before things turned violent. "They're a group of men who hunt down conduits, led by a jerk named 'Joseph Bertrand', they probably thought your friend was one, and took her hostage."

Once Spyro heard the word hostage, he got up immediately and headed for the door, but Cole jumped in front of him, his arms out wide like a brick wall.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To save Cynder, where else?" Spyro replied with fire in his eyes.

Cole shook his head and sorely said, "Sorry, Spyro, but you take one step out there and the Militia will be on top of you in seconds."

"I don't care, I have to try something, I can't just leave her out there with those men."

"We need to plan a strategy; if we just waltz right out, they could move Cynder before we even find her."

Spyro stared at Cole, wanting to just barge right by him to start his search. But Cole had helped him escape the Militia, and even kept him in his home. Reluctantly, Spyro turned around and walked back to his bed with head hung low. Cole sighed, relieved he did not have to fight a dragon. The said dragon got on the bed, laid back down, eyes still downcast, and asked, "So what do we do then?"

Cole shifted his eyes up in thought rubbing the back of his head; He saved Kuo from Bertrand before with Zeke's undercover work with the Militia. Could he find more info on the other dragon, or would this case be to classified for him to get any news on it?

Before Cole could think further of this, Zeke burst into the garage from the door leading to the apartments above. He held a newspaper in his hand. "Cole, check this out! You're not going to bel-"

Zeke stopped as his gaze fell on Spyro, awake and well. Cole turned to face Zeke with a sly smile, "Zeke, meet Spyro the dragon."

Spyro has never been called that before, but being in a world where dragons were probably less common than his world made the title understandable. Zeke, however, was dumbfounded, not knowing what do say to a fire-breathing reptile. "Hello... Spyro..."

Spyro nodded, "Hey, Zeke."

Zeke looked back at Cole, newspaper still clutched in his hand. "Cole, you have to read this, brother, it's about the other dragon!"

Spyro instantly widened his eyes in shock, with Cole being no different. The electric man snatched the newspaper from Zeke's hand and began to read:

The recent events of the meteorites brought back some strange monsters from space. As usual, the Militia has captured the one near the swamp land and has not given us any indication on what it is. However, thanks to an anonymous photographer, a clear picture can be seen on page A-2. As you can see, the mutant seems to be dragon-like, but only one incident of an attack by it has been reported, before it was captured. Bertrand then went to a press conference stating that "the mutant is being contained and studied to find where it came from." In eyewitness accounts...

Nothing more needed to be said. Spyro was speechless, and didn't know what to feel. loneliness? Anger? Frustration? Fear? Waves of emotions just pushed and shoved to be dominant inside the young dragon. Cole knew exactly how Spyro was feeling right now.

Cole's love, Trish, was captured by Kessler and was killed to make the present Cole stronger. It worked, but to the electric man, nothing could be traded for his past girlfriend. Cole immediately felt sorry for Spyro, but felt his resolve within himself as well. He now knew what to do, as if learning what happened to Cynder, opened his mind to it. Cole looked at Spyro with determination on his face. Spyro however had his head hung low again. "Spyro, I know you want to save her, but hear me out."

Spyro kept his head down as Cole continued, "Listen, whatever happens, we will save her, no matter what. And now, I have the way to do it."

Spyro looked up at Cole, with hope in his eyes, "How? What do we do?"

Cole only smirked, crossed his arms and said, "I make a phone call to a friend of mine..."