It was dark as Spyro, Cynder, and Shigi were flying over the Ocean, and Cynder was becoming annoyed with Shigi's constant sniffing of her neck and tickling of her throat. However, she did not tell Spyro of this, as she was secretly enjoying it just as much as Shigi was.

"How the hell are we supposed to know where the zeppelin base is? It is pitch black down there," yelled Cynder.

"Don't worry, we should see the lights from the fires they use to keep warm and navigate," Shigi stated loudly. "The Dead Marshes are very unstable. You sink if you make the wrong move. Go off the paths made by the troll warriors, and you sink and drown, definitely."

The view below was not a pretty one. The trees were an average of one-hundred feet high, their dead limbs covered with strangler vines. The air was uncomfortably damp.

"Hey, guys, I have great night vision," shouted Cynder, "I'll try and find us a path to land on." Cynder's eyes turned red, and she became able to see all living things, from mice to flying foxes, down below. Cynder located a path which was most likely used by the trolls, as it was wide enough for a small horse-driven cart to ride on and just the perfect size to land on.

"I found a path. Let's go." Cynder dove down, head first, Spyro following.

"No! Don't land on the path," shouted Shigi.

Cynder straightened herself, pounding her wings to keep herself suspended in midair. "But you said all terrain but the paths are hazardous."

"We are not going to land on the paths. We're just going to follow them to the zeppelin base. You never know who or what may be using the paths."

"Good point," said Spyro. "What do you suggest we do to save energy? If we fly the whole way there, we'll be exhausted, Shigi."

"Land in the trees and climb our way to the base using the path as a guideline. If we hurry, we should reach the base before morning. If we do that, they'll be blind, which will give us the upper hand."

Spyro and Cynder landed in the trees and began to leap from tree to tree as though they were flying foxes. On one of the trees, Cynder landed at an awkward angle and nearly threw Shigi off. He grabbed her wings and saved himself, his heart pounding. "Ah, Cynder! You nearly threw me off. You wouldn't hurt me, would you?" he said while tickling and kissing her neck.

"Not unless you double cross us. In which case, your entrails will become your ex-trails. I will rip out...," her voice trailed off as she thought of another threat, "pain…lots of pain."

Helix was on the balcony, enjoying the view of Avalar. They saw the zeppelin wrecks outside, and Helix calmed his nerves by remembering the low casualties of the previous raid. The two turned to the door, having heard footsteps approaching, and saw Jeenie entering.

"Hey, Helix, you've got to get ready for your show tomorrow, little brother," she said.

"Please don't call me that, sis." Helix replied. "I'm just enjoying the view. Plus, what the hell am I supposed to say to the crowd? I mean, the concert hall in Warfang was cool, but, in that beer hall with all those moles, cheetahs, and fire dragons staring at me, I can't help but think I won't be funny." He began to panic, his breathing heavy. Jeenie came nearer to him and wrapped her wings around him, placing her head on his shoulder.

Helix could not hold in his laughter, and let out a chuckle.

Jeenie blinked and pushed herself away from him. "What's funny, bro?"

"You haven't hugged me like this since I was half your size. Venus was a baby who could hardly talk."

"Helix, I'm so glad that you're taking me, Dasha, and Pyro to be your roadies. Denji didn't have much sense for danger and adventure" her eyes watered, and she began to whimper. "I can't believe he had to go to war and get himself killed. H-he was about to be a father! And Volteer had to send him to the defense force to die."

Helix rubbed the top of her head. "Hey, sis, if you're still upset about Volteer and his actions, you can go speak to him. I bet he's in the council room right now, plotting the next move. You should have a little talk with him."

Jeenie's eyes ceased their watering. She put her head up and smiled. "Thanks, bro. You are my hilarious compass." She giggled sinisterly, licked his neck and rubbed his side as she walked past, sliding her tail over his scales. "Could you keep Dasha and Pyro company while I have a little talk with Volteer?."

Helix nodded. "No problem, Sis."

"Just keep an eye on them and let them touch your face and rub against your belly if they wake up. They love physical contact, and especially you, cwazy uncoo." she giggled. With that, she turned on her heels and headed out of the room with a smile on her face. She shut the door calmly behind her. The moment the door contacted with its threshold, she took off at a run down the spiral staircase and to the council room.

Just before the door, she ceased her running, her heart pounding madly in her chest. She tiptoed to a familiar crack in the door and peeked through.

Volteer was leaning over the table, examining a map before him. Hunter was seated beside him at his left, his eyes focused on the map. Terrador was beside him, while Chief Prowless and Cyril sat to the right of Volteer, their backs turned to Jeenie.

"What do you propose we do about the trolls in Dante's Freezer and the Tall plains?" Volteer questioned.

"Well, Your Excellency, we cannot do anything major without Spyro and Cynder," Hunter stated. "They are the vast majority of our fighting power."

"What of that troll, Shigi?" began Cyril, concerned. "Can he be trusted with our heroes?"

"Spyro and Cynder are too strong to be defeated by a single troll commando, even if he does double cross us," explained Volteer. "However, it is a long shot. He seemed very determined to eliminate the base at the Dead Marshes. If the three return, they will all be honored."

"You're far too trusting, Volteer," Terrador sighed.

"What about this Helix O'Van Sea and his sister, Venus, I've been hearing about?" questioned Chief Prowless. "We could send them to the Tall Plains. It's a relatively easy task—simple enough for the two of them to handle if they bring along some more skilled comrades."

It was this moment that Jeenie chose to be the proper one for her entrance. Her voice was dripping with poison and hatred as she spoke. "Why did you have to send him to die?"

Volteer was caught off guard, jumping several inches from the floor. "Jeenie! What are you doing here?" he questioned nervously.

"Why did you send him to die?" she repeated.

"I had to send Denji to defend, you know that. It was his duty as one of our defenders, he was well aware of the risk of death, and he was one of the many lost," he shook his head.

"I'm a widow with two newborns because of his death. Because of you!" she growled, tears spilling from her eyes like rain.

"Do not act as though you are the only widow here, Jeenie. Four other dragonesses lost their husbands in that raid, and yet you are the only one who is behaving in this way. The others understood their husband's loyalty, and accepted it. They knew he would give his life for his people, and, although they were upset that he did, they made peace with it. Why can't you?"

She took several unsteady steps toward him, her entire being shaking with each chocked breath she took.

Volteer continued, attempting to hide his growing fear. "I did not wish for Denji to die. He was a brave dragon, you know that. If I had my way, he would still be with us, as well as all the other brave souls lost in that raid."

"It's your fault!" she screamed, her voice coarse. She threw herself forward onto him, knocking him to the floor. She withdrew her claws and tore at his face, ignoring his kicking her lower ribs. He slashed his arms uselessly at the air, unable to make contact with her scales. He managed to land one powerful scratch to her shoulder before she was thrown from him by Terrador.

Her claws were painted red with his blood, which had spilled onto the floor. Hunter and Cyril supported their leader's head on Cyril's forepaw and pressed their paws to his bleeding face, blood oozing between their claws. Prowless was dashing through the hall as speedily as his injured leg would allow, calling for a medic to be summoned.

"You monster," Terrador shouted over Volteer's moans of pain. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"He killed Denji!" she shrieked. "He killed my husband. It's his fault I'm alone. It's all his fault!"

Jeenie remained there, sobbing as several doctors entered the room and began to tend to Volteer's wounds. After around half-an-hour, the electric dragon had recollected himself enough to whisper into Cyril's ear, "Let Jeenie return to her children, she's suffered enough."

"But, Vol—"

"Do it…" he mumbled, slipping into unconsciousness.

Cyril turned to face Terrador, who stared at him quizzically. Cyril nodded his head, and Terrador removed himself from Jeenie

"Return to your children," Cyril instructed her. "But if you ever touch Volteer again, he shall not be so forgiving. You should consider yourself lucky."

Jeenie sprang up from the floor and dashed out of the room. She fled down the halls as though all of Hell were behind her until she found an empty, dark room far from the inhabited parts of the temple. She locked herself into the room and cried until she could no longer.

Dasha and Pyro were snoozing beneath Helix's wing, which was supporting his head with his arm as he thought of some newer jokes. It was then that Venus entered the room, a smile on her face as he looked about the room. So proud one would have guessed the temple was made of gold through her eyes.

"Hey, Bro," she greeted him loudly.

"Shush, Dasha and Pyro are sleeping," he whispered to her. "What are you doing back here so late?"

"I just got the best lay ever on the rooftop," she laughed. She narrowed her eyes and searched about the room. "Where the hell is Jeenie?"

"She went to confront Volteer, and asked me to baby-sit."

Venus shook her head. "Why did you let her do that? She's gonna kill him."

Helix shrugged. "It's her choice to make, not mine."

As if on cue, Jeenie appeared at the threshold, carrying a bucket of bubble gum ice cream in her paws. "Hey, everyone," she greeted them. "I got this ice cream from the freezer. Let's eat it and visit the heavens."

"Oh, man, I hope you didn't kill Volteer," Venus said.

"Nah, I didn't do a thing to him," she replied. She dropped the ice cream and slid it along the floor towards Helix. "On second thought, you guys can have this. I'll just keep my babies warm and go to sleep. You should too, Helix, You're the funny man of the dragon realms and tomorrow night you must live up to that."

"Yeah, sis," he said. "But I'm running out of material."

"You can make vaginal jokes about me if you want, I don't mind. Remember when you saw my 'ring of fire' after I gave birth?" she smiled.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I chucked and the hideousness of it will haunt my dreams forever."

Jeenie sighed. "Oh yeah, I've heard that before." She rolled her eyes. "Now, move so I can be with my children."

Helix rose from the floor and took several steps away as Jeenie took his place. She circled her children with her tail and rested her head near them.

Helix smiled at Venus, who had began to scarf down the ice cream as quickly as possible. He hurried over to her and took the tub from her hands, filling his stomach with the sweetness. However, he could not shake the disturbing feeling that Jeenie had been up to no good. His eyes caught sight of several broken and missing scales on one of her shoulders. The wound was obviously fresh, as he could see the indentations in her skin where her scales once were.

He turned his eyes to Venus, who was giving him an odd look, a foolish smile plastered to her face.

"Venus, stop looking at me like that, it is freaking me out," Helix said, frowning.

"I'm just smiling because I'm happy," she explained. "Now, let's go to sleep, if I eat just an ounce more of this stuff, I'm gonna explode." She pushed the ice cream away and collapsed onto the fur below her. Helix settled himself beside her and she wrapped her wings tightly around him and placed her head on his neck, and the two drifted off to sleep.

He awakened an hour later, disturbed from his sleep by Venus's whispering to herself during her slumber. "Cyril, keep that chilly tongue inside me."

Sister, you truly are a female rapist,' he thought, shaking his head.

The two dragons, Spyro and Cynder, with Shigi on her back, were climbing through the trees toward the zeppelin base, using the path they found as a guideline. Shigi, absolutely terrified by the thought of falling, was holding the bones of Cynder's wings and wrapping his legs around her gut.

Cynder sighed. "Shigi, that had better be your pistol poking me," she said, frustrated.

"No, that's my member," Shigi giggled.

She sighed again, shaking her head as she threw herself onto the next tree. "I'll just take that as a compliment."

Continuing on for a few minutes, Spyro stopped in his tracks, waving his tail to signal Cynder to stop. "Look," he yelled, pointing a claw forward and turning to Cynder. "It's the zeppelin base."

Cynder narrowed her eyes and caught sight of the zeppelin base, hidden among the trees. Trolls were patrolling every square inch of the base, preventing any obvious infiltration.

"By the gods, how the hell are we supposed to get in and plant the TNT?" Shigi asked.

Spyro and Cynder shrugged in response. Shigi turned again to the base, examining each square inch carefully. After a while, his eyes widened. "Cynder! I have a good plan," he exclaimed. "What if Spyro and I distract the patrolmen by making a lot of noise in another part of the compound, and you sneak in and plant the explosives inside the ammo stash? If you do that, we could simply fly away and the whole base will burn to the ground."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," Spyro said, nodding his head.

Cynder thought for a while. "Well…okay." She smiled. "But what are we going to do about the zeppelins?" she pointed a claw towards two of the dangerous war machines, which were stationed just outside the base.

"When the ammo blows, they'll be gone too," Shigi replied.

With that, Shigi moved onto Spyro's back and they went their separate ways: Spyro and Shigi to the south side of the base while Cynder positioned herself near the ammo storage, Shigi's bag, overflowing with TNT, hanging around her neck.

Shigi and Spyro rested themselves on a secure path, positioned so that their backs were to one another's. Spyro used his electric orb ability, causing a fluorescent yellow light to pierce through the darkness.

This diverted the trolls' attention towards the two, as they came running to investigate. Cynder waited until majority of the trolls had left before she snuck past the remaining trolls and located the ammo dump. She planted the charge, used her shadow breath to light it and ran like all of hell was behind her.

Meanwhile, Spyro and Shigi were barely holding out. A large circle of trolls with daggers had accumulated around them, some pulling rifles and other weapons from their backs, but not before they were killed by the two. Spyro held them off with his electric abilities, while Shigi did the same with his rifle.

"I hope that dragoness of your planted the charge, or we'll be saying 'hello' to our maker." Shigi gasped, the very wind knocked out of him.

"She's never let me down before," Spyro replied, swinging his tail to knock over a brave troll who decided to charge him. "Remember, she and I—"

Shigi interrupted, "Yes, yes, the two of you killed Malafor, I know."

As if on cue, Cynder emerged overhead, casting orbs of Fear into the crowd, immobilizing the trolls. She tossed herself into the crowd and tore at the enemies with her claws. Spyro jumped in and did the same. After a few moments, the trolls were all dead at their feet.

Spyro turned to Cynder, his breathing heavy. Cynder turned her eyes to his and smiled. He approached her slowly and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Oh, Spyro," she said, rubbing his back.

Shigi rolled his eyes. "Come on you guys, the explosives will blow soon. We have to get out of here unless you want to be fried along with all these imperial bastards."

The two separated and Shigi resumed his place on Cynder's back. The three flew away in haste, as quickly as their wings could take them, until they reached a large tree some distance away from the base. They perched on the branches of the tree and waited for the spectacle.

First, there was a small explosion, a sphere of fire absorbing the western side of the base. Following was the rapid fire of the guns, firing off round after round. After that, the fuel tanks went, sending flames sixty feet into the air and igniting the zeppelins.

Shigi cheered. "Hah! Make fun of my name now, won't you?"

Cynder and Spyro laughed, keeping their eyes focused intently on the flames. "It's good to see the trolls go out with such a bang," Cynder said.

They remained there for a while, basking in the glory of the flames. Soon enough, Shigi became antsy. "Come on, you two," he said, fidgeting, "we should head back now."

The two turned to him, nodded, and headed off into the night and towards the temple.

As they flew over the ocean of souls, Shigi began to question the dark dragoness. "Do you think the whole dragon race will trust me now, Cynder? I have fought alongside the heroes of the dragon species, after all."

"Shigi," Cynder began. She took a deep breath before she continued. "We were wrong about you. You are truly a capable warrior. Just don't try anything sexual with me and the other dragons like you did with Helix's sister, Venus."

Shigi chuckled. "Yeah, she was in heat. I could tell because of how needy and swollen her sex was, and her lube tasted like mango."

Spyro and Cynder cracked up, Spyro sputtering slightly with his wings.

They were flying high above the land, the moon shining below them, allowing them to see the Tall Plains. "Cynder, Shigi, we have to sleep," Spyro said. "Just four hours will do; we'll just wake up when the sun rises."

Shigi yawned. "Yes, I'm quite tired from all that action." He removed his cloak and alarmingly noticed red odd ooze on it. "Eww! There's red ooze on my cloak."

Spyro shook his head. "Ah, don't worry. We'll wash that off when we get back to Avalar. For now, let's just sleep."

They landed at the top of a cliff, several yards away from the edge. Shigi rubbed his arms, suddenly cold after taking off his cloak. "I'll go get wood so we can start a fire." He turned and headed off into the wooded forest near them.

Cynder settled onto her side, ready to sleep. Spyro laid beside her, wrapped his arms tightly around her, and began to lick her neck.

Cynder licked her lips. "Spyro?" she hesitated, forming her words slowly. "Do you think I would make a good mother?"

"Come on, Cyn, of course you would," he whispered. "You would make a good mother because you would never leave your children, no matter what. Just like how you never left me. You could have ran at any time, but instead you stayed with me until the end when we defeated Malafor." He gave her reassuring kiss on the cheek.

Shigi then emerged from the woods with a pile of twigs and sticks in his branches. He caught sight of Spyro and Cynder snuggling, smiled, and shook his head. "Lovers, I brought our wood, could you just light it already?" he said, placing the wood on the ground and organizing it into a neat pile.

Spyro lifted his head and lit the logs with a thin flame from his lips. Shigi sat on the ground, crossed his legs and warmed his hands in the glow of the fire. "I won't be sleeping tonight, but it would be nice if you stayed quiet."

Cynder lifted her own head. "Why won't you sleep, Shigi?"

"I have nightmares," he replied. "Bad memories that haunt me back while I sleep. I just get the feeling that I'll be having another one tonight, considering all that's happened today. I would much rather stay up then endure any of those nightmares."

"Oh," she replied. "But you can come over here with us and share warmth."

Shigi turned to them and noticed the sexual way Spyro's paw was curled around his lover's waist. He shook his head. "No thanks, I don't like threesomes. I'm more of a missionary guy."

Cynder sputtered. "What? No! Come closer to us, we trust you."

Shigi smiled and walked over to them, sitting near their feet. "No, Shigi, come here, near us. We'll climb under your cloak and you can sleep against my underbelly," Cynder said.

Shigi rose again and rested himself between the two of them. Spyro grabbed Shigi's cloak and spread it over the three of them. "Don't make love under my cloak," he muttered, "I don't want to wash anything off in the morning."

When the sun rose, Shigi was the first to awaken. He opened his eyes slowly and rose from his back. The fire was out, the coals still smoking slightly. Cynder had an arm wrapped around the two of them, and Spyro was snoring slightly as he slept. "Come on, you two," he said, shaking their shoulders. "We have to get to Avalar. We'll be heroes! We'll get laid!" he shouted.

Cynder chuckled. "Alright, Shigi, let's get up." She shook the purple dragon awake, who coughed before opening his eyes.

The three rose from the grass. Shigi placed his cloak over his shoulders and hopped onto Cynder's back. The dragons took several steps backward before they dashed forward and took off over the cliff in the direction of Avalar, which was around three hours away.

It was midmorning as the O' Van Sea siblings were enjoying what remained of their ice cream. Jeenie was lying on her side with Dasha and Pyro snoozing against her underbelly, her tail wrapped around them. The two children were cuddling one another, sharing their warmth.

"What exactly did you do to Volteer?" asked Venus.

Jeenie shrugged. "I don't know what exactly the damage was, but I can tell you it will take him awhile to heal completely."

Helix, uncomfortable with this conversation, changed the topic. "So…I hear that if Cynder, Spyro, and Shigi make it back alive, they will be knighted."

"Yeah, and Volteer will have bandages all over his face to show everyone the bastard he is," Jeenie laughed.

Venus turned to Helix, who looked exceptionally displeased. "Have you decided what kind of jokes you're going to tell your audience tonight?"

"Oh, vagina, war, and a few childbirth jokes," he replied, more at ease.

"I'm sorry you saw me give birth…" Jeenie apologized with a smile. "… But I needed you for the support, as you already know." She turned to face her children. "Or I would have died having these two miracles." She kissed them both tenderly on the top of the heads.

"I can't believe I saw that gaping, stretched opera house of yours," Helix lamented. "It will haunt me forever. But it will make a nice joke for the show."

A few minutes later, cheers and hollers emerged from the cheetahs and moles outside. "Hang on, sisters, I'll check it out," Helix said as he rose and made his way over to the window. He leaned his head over and made out the three soon-to-be heroes among the crowd. "Holy crap, they made it back!" Helix shouted, surprised.

"Who made it back?" asked Jeenie.

"Spyro and Cynder—with Shigi on her back!" he exclaimed. "What the fuck?"