The Electric Dragon
Chapter 4: A Simple Trip
After leaving Spyro with Zeke, Cole went up to the roof to talk in private. Cole pressed a few buttons on his phone, situated on his sling bag's strap. After a few seconds, Kuo picked up, "Cole, I was just about to call you, have you read the news lately?"
"Yeah, I know about the dragons."
"Wait, dragons? How do you know the monsters are dragons?"
Cole hesitated for a moment, but answered her question. "Because there's one in Zeke's garage right now."
Silence was all that was present from the phone. "How can you have a dragon in a garage and not tell me!?" She finally shouted, scaring Cole a little.
"I just- Well- We-" Cole only fumbled with the words as he started pacing around the roof. He was trying to find a way to explain to her without angering her further. But his botched speech only made it worse.
"Cole..." She said in a threatening way. Though Cole could probably take what ever Kuo dished out, it didn't stop him from being down right scared for the first time in a while. Was it man's instinct to always fear an angered woman?
"Look, Kuo, I would have told you sooner, but... It's a dragon." He said the last phrase like it would make sense, but Kuo didn't pick up what he meant.
"I know it's a dragon Cole!" she screamed back.
"Will you stop yelling at me for one second so I can explain!" Cole blurted, stopping in his steady pace.
When no response came, Cole rubbed his head and continued. "I have never seen a dragon before, and I know you haven't either. I forgot a lot of things when I saw him, okay? Some of which I'm not proud of." Cole recalled his forgetfulness of Cynder, but brushed it off for the time being. "Look, you've read the newspaper, and you know Bertrand has one. Well, the one that I befriended is friends with the other." Cole then told everything he knew about Spyro and the currently missing Cynder.
After he finished his story, Kuo sighed, "We need to discuss this further, but with Spyro here as well."
"Alright, then, come over here and we can do that."
"Not there, Cole, to many bystanders. Spyro sticks out too much... bring him to the swamp. Militia and civilians hardly go there because of the Corrupted, and we can handle them no problem."
Cole agreed and hung up. He took a deep sigh, and turned around to see Spyro standing right behind him, with Zeke not to far back. The conduit finally realized how big Spyro is. From head to foot, the purple dragon was up to Cole's chest, not counting horns, and was about 3 feet long.
A sly face was on Spyro's muzzle, "Having trouble's with your 'friend'?"
Cole ignored the jab, and said in a whisper, "What are you doing here? The Militia could spot you." He then looked at Zeke, narrowing his eyes. Zeke looked at anything but Cole's gaze, nervously fiddling with his fingers.
Spyro took a serious tone, and said, "So, we're heading for the swamp?"
"Yes," Cole said, taking his eyes off Zeke to meet Spyro's, "My friend, Kuo can help us find Cynder, and wants to meet us there."
Spyro did not question why they had to go to the swamp, nor did he want to. The thought of going to any swamp at all reminded him of home. Just thinking of home made Spyro's stomach do a flop; he really hoped nothing happened to Cynder.
Cole seemed to have read his mind, and placed a hand on his shoulder as he said, "We'll save her, I promise"
Spyro brightened a bit, and they made their way back inside the apartment complex with Cole still scowling at Zeke.
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Finding a way to transport Spyro to the meet was surprisingly not hard to do. The purple dragon was put in the back of Zeke's truck again, but this time with a tarp over him, so watching eyes don't see him. Everyone in the garage made sure Spyro would not be spotted; They didn't want Bertrand to have two dragons. The purple dragon was puzzled when Cole didn't get in the vehicle's compartment with Zeke.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked. While his head was under the tarp, he created a little opening to see Cole making no sign that he was leaving with them. He hoped Cole wouldn't leave this to himself; Being alone in a strange new world was a frightening thought.
Cole chuckled with a grin on his face, "Of course I am. But I prefer my method of mobility."
Spyro raised a brow, "And that is...?"
Cole only walked through the open garage door, and towards the opposite building. Turning back to make sure Spyro was watching, Cole then jumped up and started to scale the side. Spyro was a bit shocked on why he did this, and was still uncertain why he would prefer that to just riding on these vehicles, or 'cars'.
However, he couldn't think about it any longer, as Zeke had started to pull out of the garage, and Spyro had to hide back under the tarp.
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Getting Spyro to the swamp was quite easy. No monster popped up forcing them to take a detour. Militia did question the large package in the pick-up, but was quickly pulled away from the thought as they heard a large explosion a block away; Cole was happy to be the distraction.
While Cole fought the militia, without much of a challenge, he realized that Spyro had no idea about his powers. The conduit decided to fill him in at the swamp once they got there.
After arriving at the swamp, Cole and Zeke carefully and quickly got Spyro out of the truck and into the rugged forest. They stopped a minute to make sure they weren't followed, and prepared to head deeper through the swamp. Cole started walking with Spyro in tow, but Zeke hung back near the entrance.
"Hold up, brother," he said, gaining the attention of the duo. Cole had an idea why, but kept quiet out of respect. Spyro, on the other hand, had no clue why Zeke would have them stop.
"I think I may be able to help in a different way, while you two are in the swamp." Zeke said up front. Spyro was slightly sad that Zeke would not be joining them. He somewhat liked the man with the sun glasses; the similarities between him and his dragonfly brother, Sparx, made him feel more comfortable.
Cole only nodded and said, "Right, we'll do our thing..."
"...and I'll do mine." Zeke finished with a smirk. "Take care, brother."
He then turned around and left the damp forest. Spyro could only stare at where he had gone, hoping that Cole had an answer to what they were talking about. It seemed to the purple dragon that Zeke was going to do something beneficial to the group, but Spyro wanted the reason for his exit to be a bit more specific.
"Where is Zeke going?" He asked worriedly, but when he received no answer, He looked over to see Cole had already gone ahead. Spyro started to run to catch up, but was suddenly punched in the chest by someone. He fell back a couple of feet and landed on his back with feet in the air. He sat up looked for his attacker, but no one was there, not even Cole. Then a woman appeared in front of him, arms crossed.
She had braided dreadlocks, with specific parts partly colored with a dark red. She also had dark skin, with some make up applied to her face. Her attire consisted mostly of leather, with a black half-opened vest, and leather pants and boots. She also had several slightly torn sleeves and wore several bands and ornaments, several decorative rope necklaces, and had metal finger attachments on both her hands. Spyro had no idea who this person was, but knew that he was in trouble.
"What are you doing in my swamp?" She asked sternly, daring the dragon to attack.
"Your swamp? I had no idea someone owned this place." Spyro said confusedly. However, she thought he was being sarcastic, for what she said next.
"This is my home, and you're trespassing, monster," she replied, pointing an accusing figure at the purple dragon.
"Wait, what? No! I was just traveling with my friend," Spyro nearly shouted, becoming frustrated.
The woman looked around frantically, "I don't see anybody else, liar."
Spyro looked around as well, and Cole was still missing. the purple dragon groaned; He had to choose now to wander off?
He looked back at her with a bitter face, "Who the heck are you anyway?"
she raised her hand before her, and it started to hold a black and red substance revolving around. "Name's Nix, and it's the last thing you'll ever know."
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After Zeke walked out of the swamp, Cole immediately turned around and started walking again, thinking that Spyro would do the same. Cole knew where Zeke was going: to do some undercover work at the Militia. When Cole first knew about this, he was a bit upset, wondering if Zeke would betray him again like in Empire City. However, Zeke's info from his spy work helped in some occasions.
Abruptly, Cole heard a hard smack and a grown in pain. He wheeled around, but before he could make anything out, something wet, smelly, and sticky hit him in the back. The substance slowly started to retract dragging Cole away from Spyro and whoever attacked him. As he was being pulled in, he was able to face his enemy that he really didn't want to fight right now: a Devourer.
Perfect.