Spyro, Cynder, and all other Spyro related characters are property of Sierra studios.
Draco, Contrinus, Chip and Cydra are property of my co-author, Cydra.
Matt, his merc team, the NSC and related tech, the ancients/atlanteans and malefors dragon generals are mine.
CPS Chronicles
Soulless Abyss
Chapter 5: Blood Steel
Darkness...so this was death. He had avoided for ages...even by the other Elders' standards he was old, using dark magic to extend his life. Now it was ended by a feeble Shar-Khan fallen...light...words on his vision?
[Start up initiated...25%...50%...80%...completed]
...
...
[Initializing visual and audio tracking systems]
...Weapon and assimilation systems engaged and fully operational...engaged]
His vision exploded into color, overlaid with a faint green and several numbers...an LED view, a small part of his mind said. A creature could be seen in front of him, placing a crystal into his...
What kind of monstrosity was this?! This wasn't his body at all. It was some sort of mechanical golem, similar to what the humans used, only designed in his own likeness. What kind of sacrilege is this?!
The creature stepped back and seemed to notice he was awake. He said "Oh...you're awake..." his voice sounding distorted through his new hearing.
Red grabbed the creature with his new hand. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME, DEMON?" he roared.
"Er, perhaps I should tell you how it came to be," said the creature, its purple eyes spinning down its neck with nervousness, "It all started when I found these crystals..."
Ghoulwyrm had a good feeling coming from this. As soon as he finished building this dragon bot, it'll be the first in his new line of attack droids.
Ghoulwyrm finished installing several parts into the bot and was looking at the shard of crystal he had found several months previously in the shaft of an ancient facility. He had heard that the empire had bombarded Banshee base and that Malefor and Capt Lynch were dead. He then sensed something...powerful from the shard. "Interesting...I guess you're not as dead as you look," he muttered.
There were still several parts of the robot to install, but the torso was finished. The power unit was the latest part that was connected. "Hmm, I think we better test it to see if can power it," said Ghoulwyrm as he picked the crystal up with a pair of tongs. He wasn't sure what was inside the crystal, but he didn't want it spreading into him.
Suddenly the shard shot out of the tongs so violently that the tongs snapped and clicked into the power unit neatly. As soon as the crystal clicked into place, red energy rippled across the surface. Suddenly, the torso started glowing with red light and the other unfinished robot pieces started to vibrate.
Ghoulwyrm was forced to seek cover when all the unattached parts began to attach themselves, including spare weaponry and several vials of the experimental weapon nanites he had...borrowed from Banshee bases laboratories. They finally finished attaching and Ghoulwyrm slowly leaned in to look...
"So instead of releasing me from that crystal prison, you decide to use me as a windup key for your metal toy?!" shouted the robot dragon, clearly not pleased.
"It's better than being dead, right?" said Ghoulwyrm, making a good point.
Red growled and said, "I suppose, but it's hardly an appropriate vessel for me."
"Your body was a model set...and definitely dead," said Ghoulwyrm, adding, "Believe me, I'm an expert on dead."
"Well, I guess the mold's broken now, isn't it?" said Red.
"I suppose...I am your humble servant, Ghoulwyrm," said the undead dragon, bowing.
Red stopped "What was that?" he said curiously.
The three wolf cubs ducked back down. "Did it see us? I told you we should not have left the camp, Vanya," said one of them "What were those things?" asked another one. "I don't know. One of them looked...dead to me," said the third cub.
"The other one didn't really look alive either," said the first one, "Metal can't be alive, right?" "I don't know...the creatures that aided against Malefor had metal," said Vanya. "I think we should tell the elders about this," said the third cub.
A horrible metallic voice said, "You're not telling them anything, mongrels," before the undead dragon poked his head through their cover and snared them in tentacles. Ghoulwyrm pulled his captives back and said, "Look what I caught." Red smirked coldly, made even creepier by his glowing green eyes. "This new form's vision is...impressive," he said, walking towards Vanya, "Spies are younger every season."
"What...who are you?" asked Vanya.
"I am Elder Red...back from the netherworld," said Red, before being briefly confused as a caption appeared over his vision, saying:
[engage assimilation nanites Y/N?]
"Assimilation nanites? What are those?" thought Red, "Hmm, well, if they provide a painful death, go ahead."
Before Vanya could squirm free, Red grabbed the cub's face and a strange insectoid scratching could be heard. Judging from the muffled screams, it hurt. Red then noticed what looked like thin cables worming along the surface of the cub's skin. "What sorcery is this?" wondered Red.
Finally the cubs screams petered away and the cabling carried on, forming armor over the extremities and what looked like a cannon over the lower left arm. The claws on the other arm extended into lethal weapons.
Red would have lifted his eyebrow he had one anymore. "Very interesting," he said. The other two cubs tried even harder to get loose as Red let go of the now limp cub. Cybernetics covered half the former wolf's face and the visible eye had a blank vacant look. Red looked the transformed cub straight in the eye and asked her, "Whom do you serve?"
"Prime unit," intoned the cub in a monotone voice. One of the others yelled, "Vanya, what are you saying?" Red glanced at Ghoulwyrm and asked "What does it mean by 'prime unit'?" "Er, I believe that would be you," said Ghoulwyrm. He was a bit nervous now not just because of what happened to the wolf cub, but learning he had given the most feared dragon wizard in Avalar history a new body.
Red looked at his new minion. True he had mind controlled before...but his 'apprentice' had usually been his downfall in both cases. "Minion...kill them," he said.
Without a word, the transformed cub turned around and pointed her cannon at her friends' heads. One of the cubs managed to say "Vanya?" before a blue pulse blast vaporized him. The other turned and ran before another blast hit him in the back. "Mission complete," said Vanya.
"Excellently done," said Red, "It appears that there are benefits to this new body after all." Ghoulwyrm gulped. He'd handed Red probably immortality and the weapons to take Avalar in a week. "Prime Unit...suitable units are located 3 kilometers to the north," said Vanya. "Excellent," said Red, "More recruits for my army."
"Er, yes," said Ghoulwyrm, "I'm sure you'll want to test your new powers on them, Elder Red." "Elder Red..." Red paused and thought for a minute, "No, that title seems too outdated. This new body deserves a new name. I believe I shall go by... Mecha Red."
The mood in Warfang was slightly more cheerful of late, even with the threat of the Heartless hanging over the city's heads. Apparently, even holidays had alternates in other universes and Valentine's day was no exception.
In fact, the only one not in the holiday spirit was Matt. Chloe was also not in a good mood. Her dragon side had become dominant in the night and had more or less wrecked her clothes. Chris was the last one in a bad mood as he had suffered Chloe's wrath when he had walked in to give her a wakeup call just as she found out.
"Does the term 'overreacting' mean anything to you?" said Chris. "Does the term 'knock before entering' mean anything to you?" asked Chloe. "Does the term 'SHUT UP' MEAN ANYTHING?" yelled Matt, in a bad mood, and as he was still in his dragon form, this more or less silenced Chloe and Chris.
"I agree with Matt," said Draco as he and Chip walked into the same room, "What's the argument about this time? Someone left the milk out again?"
"My dragon form became dominant in the night..." said Chloe before glaring at Chris "And SOMEONE didn't knock before entering." "So what? It's not like you were human when he walked in," said Chip. There was a brief moment of silence and Chip, "Uh, when you transformed, did that mean your clothes were torn apart?"
"Yes...Matt's had his clothing enchanted to regenerate, mine hasn't had the enchantment yet," said Chloe angrily. "I said I was sorry," said Chris angrily. "Then that meant that Chris saw you when you were...naked," said Chip weakly. "I'm surprised Chris is still in one piece then," said Draco. "Only because I was quick enough to run," muttered Chris.
"Or perhaps she was holding back for you," said Chip. "Oh boy," muttered Matt behind Chloe, who's eyes went solid red before she involuntarily transformed and swatted Chip out via a wall. Luckily, her clothes were enchanted this time. "Er, well, I think I'm gonna go check on Contrinus," said Draco, "This holiday's rather infectious if you know what I mean." "Yeah," said Matt in a gloomy voice.
"Cheer up Matt, you're not the only one solo today," said Matt.
"Yeah, name one," said Matt. "Can I do two?" asked Draco. "Sisters don't count," snarled Matt. Matt glanced at Chloe and said, "I'm not so sure about that, but that's not who I had in mind. Sparx and Xephros have been trying to get dates, but, as you can imagine, they don't have real...courting skills." "Yeah...Xephros is a bit...stuck up and Sparx is...well...Sparx," said Matt, continuing before flopping back down. "I miss Kala," he said.
"Don't worry, true love always prevails," said Draco. "Really?" asked Matt. "Well, if don't count 'Romeo & Juliet', but that's more debatable. I am not that forte with Shakespearian." Matt got up and yawned. "Might as well go outside..." he said before heading to the door.
He looked outside and said, "You've gotta be kidding me." Hearts decorations were pinned up everywhere. Several young dragon couples were rubbing necks with each other. The only thing missing from the scene was a little boy with angel wings shooting heart-headed arrows from his bow.
However, there was a topper of a quite different nature. A large pink heart-shaped bubble was floating through the air. Morph was clutching the bottom of it. Matt heard Morph say, "I bet you taste like strawberries."
"Uh, Morph, I wouldn't-" started Matt before there was a very loud pop and Morph fell to the ground, trailing smoke behind him. "Hearts break with a pretty big bang," commented Matt. Matt watched for about 10 seconds before walking back inside. "Matt?" said Draco. "I'm going back to bed and having WARDEN beam down the entire ship's supply of junk food," said Matt gloomily.
Draco shook his head and said, "Poor Matt, we ought to do something for him." "Like what?" asked Chloe. "I don't know, you chucked the big thinker through the wall, remember?" Chloe looked through the hole and leaned back in. "He's fine, he's speaking German again though."
Chip stood up shakily and said in a high-pitched voice. "Not to worry, I landed on my head, and it's particularly soft today. Ahahahahahaha!" Then his head spun around and he said in a deeper voice, "Where is zat fat cow who launched me through zat wall?!"
Draco whimpered as Chloe glared and literally roared, "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" "Uh, you know Chip's not in his right mind right now, right?" asked Draco. Chloe turned and snarled at Draco who jumped back. "Just an opinion," he squeaked.
Matt was sitting on the floor of his room, moping when the wall caved in and Chip flew into the opposite wall. "What...the hell," he said simply, before peering through the hole. Chip sat up and shook his head. "Uh, was I channeling the German guy with the three-way split personalities again?" he asked.
Matt looked at the dent in the wall and at the fuming dragoness his sister was currently. "Most likely," he said. Chip picked up a picture frame that had a photo of Matt and Kala from the last time they were New York. "You know, Matt, if you miss Kala so much, I could set up a virtual reality program so you could go on a date with her or something," said Chip.
Matt turned to look at Chip. From Chip's point of view it would have been better if he had glared but Matt just looked sad before turning away.
"I know it wouldn't be really Kala, but it's the next best thing," said Chip, "And it isn't cheating either. You just have to delete when we get Kala back. Not that she'd ever mind, that is." This time Matt did glare. "No...no," he said faintly. "Well, I can't really suggest finding someone else," said Chip, "I know all that'll get me is another short flight via energy blast." "Well done," said Matt, his voice having gained an edge. "This time I am going for a walk," he said, turning human and walking out.
Matt figured he'd wander around until it was lunchtime and avoid looking at love-themed decorations. However, he instead ran into Volteer. "Ah, Matthew, enjoying the holiday, are we?" said Volteer. Matt gave Volteer an annoyed look that would have sent a plague of locust flying in the opposite direction. "Er, clearly not. Well, it has come to my concern that a merchant trope from a bordering community has been notably absent when their expected delivery was anticipated."
"Erm...you mean some merchants are late?" hazarded Matt. When it came to what Volteer was saying, you could never be too careful.
"Precisely," said Volteer, "Though their supplies are not of an emergency nature, I fear to speculate that an event unforeseen could have caused an unfortunate delay." "You mean Heartless..." said Matt, feeling his spirits take a further nosedive.
"On the contrary," said Volteer, "The abundance of light in the aforementioned community reveals a significant absence of the Heartless. Which is somewhat ironic considering the numerous objects of decor that are shaped like the Heartless' primary diet."
"Plus they have the old fort the Atlanteans built. Was nice of Morgan and Xavier to give out the codes," said Matt. "Indeed, but I feel that a guided survey should be taken to identify if a dilemma has occurred," said Volteer. "Fine. I'll get the heavy squad together. Just cause the Heartless cannot be seen doesn't mean they're there," said Matt, "I hope I can get some people willing to come."
To his surprise, Matt found that his close dragon friends were willing to help. "You guys wanna skip out on the festivities for this?" he was asking. "It's probably just a blocked path. Niagina Town is built into the side of a canyon and a collapse can easily cut it off for days. It's happened before," said Cynder.
Matt frowned. "It's never easy," he said darkly.
"You're just being paranoid," said Ember. "My paranoia has been formed with good reason," said Matt, shaking a finger "The addled one has a point," said Draco. Chip decided to stay behind in case Chloe was still grumpy about the 'fat cow' remark. "Well...I do hope it's just a smashed path. We can just fly the goods back then," said Matt.
It turned out Matt was still not sure, having ordered WARDEN to have a flight of starfuries circling as well as have a second team in a dropship. "How far to the town?" called Matt, looking down into Niagina canyon. The bottom could not be seen.
"Should be a few more miles," said Spyro, "We'll be there in a few minutes." The group flew along before the comm in Matt's ear turned on, a message from the leader of the starfury flight circling. Draco had helped WARDEN modify a comm headset for Matt's draconic form. "Sir...this is starlight 1...we have a visual on the town...no sign of activity." "No Heartless there?" asked Matt. "Negative. No activity at all to be detected," said WARDEN.
Starlight 1's pilot came back on. "Sir...I have a visual on the blastdoor for the Atlantean shelter...sealed up tight," said the pilot. At that the dragons and the marines came round the corner to see the town. The first thought that came to Matt's mind was 'ghost town.' The streets were completely deserted. He almost felt that there should be some tumbleweeds rolling around.
The marines and Techo jumped out the dropship . "I don't like this. There's no struggle, no sign of a panic, nothing," said Techo, looking into a building to see a meal set at a table. Sonya sniffed at it and said, "It's still warm. Whatever happened didn't happen too long ago."
Matt and Chloe exchanged glances and nodded at the marines. The marines all pulled out heavy duty weapons...all high caliber explosive tipped ammo. "Spread out...perimeter, on the double," ordered Matt, pointing to the two main streets.
Matt and Chloe were about to head out as well when they heard munching sounds behind them. They slowly turned around to see Morph eating the meal. "What?" he said, "I was hungry." Spyro said, "What's going on?" confused to the sudden attitude change. "It's a long story, a little nightmare that's haunted us ever since it occurred. A colony in the badlands got wiped out by an accidental mutagen release. That looked deserted too...right up till the mutants began munching on our team."
Sonya shuddered and said, "Sounds like something out of a horror movie. Then again, so does this."
"It was the reason I was on Athens colony when your captain recruited me...the colony was Sy-Yong," said Matt.
Sonya gulped. "Why don't we go?" she said nervously. "Good idea," said Matt, "And keep your eye out for anything weird." As he was turning around, Morph jumped in front of him and yelled "BOOGEY, BOOGEY, BOOGEY!"
Matt screamed and blasted Morph back into one of the buildings. "DON'T DO THAT, YOU BLOBBLY NOODLE BRAIN!" he screamed. "Totally worth it," said Morph's voice out of the hole. One of the marines said, "All clear, we missed whatever happened here."
Another said, "The shelter's been put in lockdown. Survivors must be in there." "Ok, we better go in there and check on them," said Chloe, "They should be able to tell us what happened." "Fine...Captain...get into that shelter any way you can. I'm gonna try and find out what makes a full group of people hide in a shelter," said Matt.
Matt and the dragons went out into the town to see if they could turn up any clues. Matt made an important point to keep eyes up so something wouldn't get the drop on them. The town was deserted. The gates on the other side of the town were even still locked. "Ok...this is creeping me out, big time," said Techo, nervously after five minutes.
"Me too," said Matt, "A whole town's population doesn't just poof just like that." Chloe nodded. "You're right. Does anyone know if the town guard keeps notes?" she said. "This isn't NSC territory," said Chris, "We're not dealing with fully-trained soldiers, we're dealing with, with... What kind of people live here again?"
"This place was a mix...jaguar, cheetah and wolves," said Matt, "I was here a month, Xavier and Morgan took me out of the city to train." "Ok, then you ought to know where the guards' outposts would be," said Chris.
Matt looked around before seeing a small building near the gate. "There," he said, running over to find two jaguars in guard armor. They were definitely dead if the holes in their chests were any judge and the smell of... "Plasma?" said Matt "Heartless can't shoot plasma, can they?" asked Sonya.
"Not this stuff...smells like anti-tank plasma...phased plasma rifle," said Matt, peering in to see two neat holes in the far wall inside. "Heavy duty at that," he added. "But I thought the Empire cleared out long ago," said Chloe. "I know...they use lasers though," said Techo. "Well, the only ones that could be on this planet that can use weapons-grade plasma would be Matt, which it obviously isn't, and Ghoulwyrm, if he's still around," said Chris.
"Oh no...he can't be here," said Matt. Chloe nodded. "Yeah...Matt would have freaked out by now if that was the case." Spyro peered at the holes in the town guards and said, "Besides, Ghoulwyrm breathes his plasma out as a flame. This is too concentrated and precise." Unnoticed, Ghoulwyrm was peering from a rooftop. "Master Red? They're right in time," he said.
Meanwhile, Red had figured out how to tap into surveillance cameras and was currently watching Flame and Ember. The two of them have grown since he last saw them. It apparently had been a while.
He could remember when Niagara had been built by the ancients...a special cliff town. Now their paranoia was his advantage. Old sensors that had not functioned in millennia were working...for HIM. He aimed his arm at them and a small pulse cannon folded out the wrist. "So tempting, one shot would remove you both." he muttered. But then Red retracted the cannon and said, "But no, I have a more excruciating vengeance in mind for you two. But first, I need bait."
A few marines had stayed with Flame and Ember. "So what do you think it is?" asked Flame. "I haven't any idea," said Ember, "I've never heard of any attacks like this."
Suddenly, one of the marines said, "Shush, did you hear that?" They all paused until they distinctly heard a cry of 'Help!' come from one of the buildings. The marines and the dragons turned. "A survivor?" said a marine before they headed for the large building. It was pretty secure, some kind of food vault.
Flame stopped. He could feel a chill in the air...not since he had been... "NO! STOP!" he yelled to the marines working at the door before a blast incinerated the door and the marines. "Flame? What's going on?" asked Ember, the smoke causing a lot of vision problem. "Big trouble," said Flame.
"Fang...it is nice you remember me. I definitely remember you...and your pink puff of a mate," said a distorted voice. Flame's eyes widened with surprise. "No...it can't be," he said disbelievingly. A shape appeared. "But it is...not even death can stop me," said Red's distorted voice before a laser sight appeared on Ember's chest. "But first, we should talk alone."
"EMBER, RUN!" yelled Flame. Ember dodged just in time to avoid a glob of blue plasma that made a crater where she had been. Ember quickly ran out of the building. There was a metallic snarl before Red said, "No matter, I shall deal with her soon enough. You should have taken your own advice."
Flame backed up, baring his teeth. "I'd rather die than join you again," he said. Red laughed, "Don't be boring. Everyone who says that has died," before coming into Flames vision. "As you can see, I did not escape...unharmed." To Flame's surprise, Red wasn't the same dragon mage who had first manipulated him. His body was now all mechanical, though still bearing a dark red color. His head looked just like a robotic version of Red's, only shining green optics were glaring at Flame now.
"You did this to me. You will join me...regardless of choice," said Red, his eyes pulsing with each word spoken and reaching for the young dragon.
Matt was looking at some guard notes. Apparently a wolf traveler tribe had been due to arrive but had been overdue...and that was it. Suddenly, Ember came tearing round the corner. "MATTREDISBACKANDHEKILLEDTHEOTHERSANDHE'SGOTFLAMEANDSOMETHING'SBAD'SGONNAHAPPENANDWECAN'TSTAYHEREAND-" "Whoa, whoa, slow down," said Smoldron, "I can't understand you when you're talking that fast."
A voice said, "I think the little smeghead's referring to my master." Matt's eye twitched. "Undead..." he gibbered which was all the warning the other mercs needed.
A purple lightning bolt struck down where they were standing moments ago before Ghoulwyrm flew down from a nearby rooftop. As soon as he landed, he let out a loud sonic howl. Another blast hit one of the marines in the chest, going through the armor like it was nothing. Matt looked up to a wolf shape on the roof of a building. Another pulse blast shot at him, only to explode harmlessly due to his plasma immunity.
"OPEN FIRE!" shouted Chloe as she started blasting at the figure on the roof. The remaining marines, Chris, and Techo quickly joined in. However, they may as well have been using peashooters since the plasma bursts didn't even knock the figure back. Another two shots were fired, each shot killing a marine before the shape jumped down landing in front of a third marine and shoving his hand through the guy's chest and throwing the body at Chris.
That was when they could get a good look at it. It looked like a wolf, but at least half of its body had been converted into cybernetics, giving the wolf a freaky Frankenstein/cyborg look. Matt raised his blaster, a modified MP5 submachinegun and fired into it.
There were puffs in the creatures chest for each bullet, a few corresponding with identical puffs at the back. The creature turned to look at Matt and began to walk towards him. Matt kept firing, but the wolf cyborg just kept walking forward as if it were only a slight rain shower rather than bullets being pelted through it.
Chris pulled out one of his newer weapons. "Matt, hit the deck!" he yelled before firing it. The sound was like a small tank cannon and the shell sent the creature flying back into the wall, heavily damaging it.
Despite this it still tried to crawl towards them. "Terminate...targets…" it intoned weakly.
"Ok, this thing is seriously freaking me out now," said Matt, deciding to fall back to his own personal plasma powers. He looked at the creature as it slowly crawled towards him. It wasn't even bleeding blood, more like thick oil. "Sorry," he said sadly and sent a stream into the creature till it stopped moving. It didn't even make a sound.
"Ghoulwyrm's gone," said the last surviving marine. "Ok, did he boast about anything important?" asked Matt, "I was paying too much attention to the techno-organic creature that refused to die." Ember freaked out at this. "WHO CARES? RED'S BACK AND HE'S GOT FLAME!" she screamed.
At that there was a cry from the distance. Matt gulped and the group began running towards where the cry...and Flame were. "Wait...what if the people in the bunker are..." said Chloe. Matt gulped and turned on the comm. "Guys, whatever you do, don't open the bunker. I think something's happened that-" Matt didn't have time to get a response because there was the sound of metal clanking open and then the sounds of screams before the connection went dead.
Gunfire could be heard from the bunker's direction before petering out. Any more thoughts ended as they reached the food vault and saw Mecha Red, holding Flame's face in a nasty grip. Flame seemed to be having a fit. Matt could see some of the same cybernetics forming...only more total. He growled and sent a blast of plasma that shaped into a disc that sliced the holding arm off at the elbow.
Red glanced at his severed limb as if it were a talon that needed trimming. "Hmm, interesting, apparently I no longer feel any pain in this body. This body gets more superior to my original by the minute," he said.
Matt glared. "I'm not done yet," he said and sent the disc flying back. Red saw the glint in Matt's eyes and only just ducked, the blade slicing the tops off his heads ears instead of decapitating him as Matt had planned.
"Not bad," said Red, "You're fighting style has improved. More like a dragon's." Matt stopped the plasma disc above his palm. "From you...that's almost an insult," he said. At that, Spyro and Cynder, who had circled around sent some element blasts at Red's back. "But my fighting style has also been modified," said Red. Then his back panels opened up and a large cannon emerged. Spyro and Cynder barely moved before an electro-net shot at them. Red turned. "That was it?" he said.
"What's the matter?" said Matt cheekily, "An old lizard like you can't keep up with the times?" Red turned angrily and fired something, something that went through Matt's shield...AND his armor. "Urm...ow," said Matt before collapsing.
"There, that's more like it," said Red, "Now where was I? Oh yes." He turned towards Spyro and Cynder and activated the flamethrower in his mouth. Chloe however had completely freaked out, screeching like a mauled animal and lunging at Red, tackling the large mech and attempting to rip parts off.
Red was rather surprised by this attack. Though his external armor was extremely endurable, Chloe's claws were working their way through. But then Red activated the electro net cannon again and pinned Chloe to the wall of a building with it. Luckily, Chloe wasn't bothered by the charge thanks to her dragon side, tearing at the net.
Chris and Techo however had pulled Matt out of range. "Damn," said Chris, seeing that whatever had been shot had torn into Matt's chest, leaving a nasty wound. Matt had passed out from the injury. "Wait a minute," said Techo, "What am I doing? Red's in a robot body now. An EMP should short him out easy."
Chris nodded. "Go for it...does anyone hear footsteps?" he said before they looked down the street to see a dozen or so shapes walking towards them. "Oh, hell no," said Chris.
The shapes turned out to be the inhabitants of the town, or what was left of them. They were at various stages of cybernetic conversion. Some of them simply had mechanical limbs while others looked more techno than organic.
A mix of blasts, some the plasma blast, other bursts of arc lightning that sent showers of sparks where they hit. Chris fired his Tagar-13 at the nearest, knocking its head off. The headless cyborg walked forward a few more steps before its body got the message that it was decapitated and fell over.
"This officially sucks!" yelled Techo, firing his laser rifle at the cyborgs. Sonya breathed out a stream of supercooled air that created a large wall of ice in front of and partially made of the front line of the cyborgs. "That's not gonna hold them for long," said Sonya, "You think we should make a strategic retreat?"
"Where do you suggest? Not everyone has wings. What if Reddy has an AA laser built in?" said Techo, angrily.
Meanwhile, Chloe had almost broken free of the net. As far as she knew, Red had just killed Matt. That filled her with a one-track need to tear the automaton to pieces. As a matter of fact, she was thinking no cognitive thoughts at all, having gone all bestial.
Red finally managed to get a grip on her front leg, squeezing till he heard a snap but all the broken bone did was infuriate the electric dragoness more. There was this to be said: electric dragons were not just talkative, they had thunderous tempers too, demonstrated as Chloe tore the offending arm off by biting it.
Red was more irked than worried about missing both arms now, but he realized that Chloe was probably going to get more savage before she calms down. He turned to look at Flame, who was out cold as his special concoction of nanites were working, his mate trying to wake him.
"Flame! Flame! Wake up!" shouted Ember. Flame twitched, but when he opened his eyes, they had a quite different look. "Actually, the name's Fang," he said before turning and blasting Chloe with fire.
Ember jumped back. She still remembered the dark persona Red had helped create the previous year. Red was laughing insanely as Chloe tried to fight off 'Fang' while still with her broken wrist. "Flame, stop it! You're not really Fang! Fight it off, you could do it before," said Ember.
Red laughed as Fang ignored Embers plea's as a newly formed shoulder cannon activated and began rattling at her. Ember quickly ran to avoid the cannon's shots before going around in a circle and tackling Fang off of Chloe. Chloe screamed again and jumped up, her anger temporarily focused on Fang.
Meanwhile, Spyro and Cynder were still fighting Red, who was still not out of the fight. "You'll join your human freak friend soon, blood traitor, throwing in your lot with the Ancients' descendants." "Matt is far from down, but you're going down too," said Cynder.
"And you can't call us blood traitors anymore," said Spyro, "You're not a dragon. You've forfeited your right to be one long before you became trapped in crystal."
"My sight showed my shot enter his gut. If he is not dead yet, he soon will be without a healer...a slow death perfect for him," taunted Red, nastily.
"You should be more concerned about yourself," said Cynder, "You're missing both front legs and your armor's all bent up. I'm surprised your battery hasn't given out." She paused and turned to Spyro, "Batteries, that's what powers robots, right?" "Yeah, I think so," said Spyro.
"I am powered by my magic," said Red, and at that energy linked to his fallen limbs and they shot back into place. "And I am far from fallen," he said, before firing his arm cannons at them. The two of them dodged the blasts before hitting Red with lightning and Banshee Wails.
Red staggered back before laughing. "Electricity and fear? Electricity is my blood now, you simply strengthen me...and I no longer fear ANYTHING!" he yelled, sending a pulse blast into Cynder's chest.
Cynder was thrown backwards and hit the wall with a moan. However, Red detected a bit of darkness in Cynder that was not of Cynder.
It stank of his first apprentice and even older, darker magic. "Traitor to the old ones," he hissed and extended a stabbing tool from his wrist, heading over to impale her when a purple beam hit him in the side, knocking him down.
Red's optics were temporarily knocked offline by the unexpected blast. When the static cleared, he saw Spyro, surrounded by an aura of purple light and his eyes glowing white. "You will harm no one else here," he said, his voice echoing, making him sound like some kind of deity.
"So...you, like Malefor, master Convexity," he said, staggering to his feet before a lighting blast hit him in the back, flooding his vision with 'Overload' warning messages before his limbs seized up.
However, his neck was still operation and he turned it around to see Chloe. She was still snarling like an angry beast, only acknowledging her broken wrist by keeping it off the ground. She glared at Red and bared her fangs, foam dripping from her mouth.
Red finally felt fear as a scan gave a success percentage...0%. "No...NO!" he yelled. That's when he was picked up by bandage-like tendrils. "I think that's enough excitement for now," said Ghoulwyrm as he turned invisible along with Red.
Chloe shrieked angrily as her prey faded from sight before clawing at the place Red had been and finally turning angrily as Fang yelled "MASTER!" and fired at her.
Just then, Morph walked out of the building Matt had blasted into him earlier. "Hey guys, you won't believe the stuff they've got in-" He paused when he saw the general chaos. "Can't a guy go get something to eat without something starting up?" said the blob to himself.
Fang turned snarling and sent a burst of fire at Morph. Morph quickly and literally flattened himself on the floor. "I think someone needs to take a nap," he said before morphing into Drowsy and running over to Fang.
Fang looked at the sheep-like experiment with confusion and said, "What the-" before Drowsy bleated at his face. Fang went cross-eyed before falling sideways, a drunk grin in his face. "But I dun wanna go to training mommyyyy…" he said drunkenly before starting to snore.
Just then, Chris and Techo came around. The dragons were right behind them, Smoldron carrying Matt on his back. "We need to get out of here," said Techo, "Those cyborg freaks are smashing through the ice."
Then he and Chris noticed Chloe, who was growling at them in an animal-like fashion. "Oh shit, she's gone all feral," said Chris.
Techo added "...again," before seeing the others. "Long story in another universe, don't ask. Matt's alive, Chloe," he said, adding the last loudly to Chloe who nudged Matt with a whine.
Chloe looked at Techo and was making odd sounds in her throat. "Easy there, Chloe, relax," said Chris, rubbing his hand down Chloe's neck, "Just clear your thoughts and work on remembering to speak."
Chloe winced before saying, "He's alive?" weakly before shimmering back into a sobbing human form who hugged Matt who said weakly, "Ow...kidney."
"We better get him and 'Fang' back to Contrinus, pronto," said Techo. "Speaking of which, where's Draco?" asked Ember. Just then, a hole blew out from the bunker and Draco quickly flew out of hit, clawmarks and burns all over his body. "Guys, we've got a problem. The villagers have been turned into..." he started before noticing their conditions, "Oh, you already know then."
The comm of all the teams beeped. "Sir, I am detecting a class 1 incident within the town, cybernetic drones of some kind," said WARDEN. "Yeah, that's the second unneeded warning we've gotten in the last minute," said Chris sarcastically. "Sir...NSC law indicates that the town must be liquidated at once," said WARDEN. Spyro said, "'Liquidated'?" Chloe said grimly, "Destroyed...totally."
"But these are innocent people," said Draco, "Or, were innocent people. Shouldn't we be trying to find how to undo whatever's been done to them?" "My scans indicate the nanites are some form of advanced weapon unlisted in the NSC database, probably made at Banshee Facility's labs. There is no cure," said WARDEN. Matt said simply, "No."
WARDEN said, "Then I have no alternative." With that all the coms went to recieve only. Matt's voice came over the comm. "Starlight 1...we need a liquidation strike on the town. It's hell down here." The real Matt swore and said, "Techo, we need to find out how to undo Red's hoodoo quick." "Nanite hacking's really difficult," said Techo, "I'm not sure if I can do it in time."
Draco gave Chloe an annoyed look and said, "You just had to toss the hacking experiment through a wall twice, didn't you?" Chris then heard a faint wail of incoming starfuries. "Oh no...maybe we should discuss this elsewhere?"
"Right," said Chloe, "First things' first. Matt and Flame need to be treated. Flame's probably becoming more machine by the second and Matt..." Her voice trailed off as tears started to form in her eyes again.
"You can carry me," said Matt weakly before turning to look as one of the cyborgs blew a hole in from an alley and marched in, only to be blown to pieces by a plasma burst. "I...still got it," he said.
The group quickly got to their dropship and started flying back to Warfang. However, they saw the starfuries appear and carpet-bomb the town as they left. The large explosions and flames reflected off the dropship's hull as it made a beeline for Warfang.
Back in Warfang, Matt was taken to a healer straight away but Chloe first called WARDEN. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" she yelled. "My primary programming," said WARDEN simply, "I was originally programmed for quarantine enforcement, to make sure that potential plagues could not result in the deaths of NSC citizens or their allies. You recall that I was originally positioned at a lab where Infected were contained."
"But Avalar..." began Chloe and stopped, "The NSC added them." WARDEN's hologram nodded. "A quarantine AI must not allow or by lack of action allow, the death of NSC citizens of citizens of their allies." Chloe glared. "Never again," she said.
Chloe stomped right out past Chip, not even noticing him. Of course, Chip had noticed her, having heard the entire conversation. He walked into the room Chloe left and said to WARDEN, "I appreciate the concern, if that's an appropriate term, that you feel for the Avalarians, but I feel that a less drastic measure could have been used."
"Would you have used less? The creatures took heavy tungsten ammunition to decommission, only Lt Anderson carried a weapon using such ammo. If they had reached the city they would have killed everyone. I acted when my master would not," said WARDEN. "I understand that scenario and I agree with the reaction to such a situation," said Chip, "However, I disagree that a cure for this nanite infection is impossible."
"I disagree. The nanotech is radically different even from your own system. I tried hundreds of logged virus's on the samples taken from Master Flame, has there been improvement? Matt smashed his comm camera."
"Some, but not radically," said Chip, "I've been studying Flame, as soon as he was healed and gaining Ember's permission. The nanites do multiply at an exponential rate, but I believe that if we sever their individual connections to other nanites, they'd cease to function and would be unable to attach to the host body."
"I will transmit such findings to NSC Special operations," said WARDEN. "I see, I presume you're going to be using Matt's voice again?" said Chip in an accusing voice. WARDEN said, "Mr Lynch was not acting logically. I acted accordingly and within NSC law."
"Logic is not a ruling factor in all sentient beings," said Chip, "I think you failed to take into account the emotional backlash for such a maneuver." "I will do it again. Nothing can prevent that," said WARDEN, in a cool voice. "I believe I can persuade you otherwise," said Chip, his right hand flickering with indigo electricity.
"You would not dare..." said WARDEN before a blast hit his hologram that flickered. "Warning: voice imitation software deleted..." he said in a monotone voice before glaring at Chip. "Now, how about we work on finding a way to weaponize the virus?" said Chip. "What virus?" asked WARDEN. "This one," said Chip as he uploaded the data schematics for a virus he had created. WARDEN's anger was forgotten. He was a military AI after all. "This should be simple..." he began.
Meanwhile, Ghoulwyrm and Mecha Red reappeared in the desert a considerable distance away from where they had been. Ghoulwyrm hissed in discomfort at the strong light of the sun. "Oh, grow up," said Red.
Ghoulwyrm glared. "It's ok for you. You're solar powered," he muttered before seeing an oasis in the distance and shade for Ghoulwyrm. It also had two voices raised in argument.
"I swear, if you bring up Malefor one more time, I'm going to strangle that useless neck of yours."
"At least Malefor will think well of me when he returns to power." "For the hundredth time, he's dead. Totally gone. There's nothing left. I don't know about you, but I don't want to guard an empty cave for the rest of my life."
"Blasphemy...HE KNOWS ALL!" yelled the second voice before there was a hollow 'bop' noise such as might be made by someone's skull meeting a coconut. "Ow...that was unnecessary," said the same voice, in a childish tone this time.
Red looked interested. "Now who could that be?" he asked. Ghoulwyrm rolled his eyes and said, "No one you'd want riding on your tail, I can assure you that." "Malefor will return," said the second voice again gloomily. The first voice said, "No, I went back, the whole base is a smoking crater and was crawling with Shar-Khan."
"A mere ruse," said the second voice, "He hides now but will rise up more powerful than before."
"FOR ANCIENTS' SAKE..." began the second voice and stopped as Red and Ghoulwyrm walked into view, revealing the voices owners. The two of them screamed loudly and tried to run away before running into each other. Ghoulwyrm sighed and said, "Calm down, you seen me before."
Devina stopped. "Oh no...not you again. Zyvar, you haven't improved with the millennia," she said.
Red turned. "Zyvar, I remember banishing you for experimenting with Convexity when I was still with the Elders," he said.
"Well, a lot of things have changed since then," said Ghoulwyrm, "Including my living status."
"I know, I remember when you let A ASSASSIN TEAM GET ME!" roared Devina, "I spent 3 centuries in a damn ebony gem."
"How many times have I told you? I was recently brought back to life that day. My brain wasn't working at full capacity," said Ghoulwyrm. Red was laughing his head off and stopped now. "Your master is gone. You will serve me," he said. "Malefor is never gone," said Raptor, "His might shall last forever."
Red sighed. "No, he is not. You will join me...or you will be killed...then you will join me," he said coldly.
"There is none who could be superior to Malefor. An imitation dragon shall never replace him," said Raptor. "Yeah, who are you anyways to think you can just lord over us?" demanded Devina.
Red sighed and spotted a lizard on the ground. He snatched it and used his nanites on it before showing the results. "I can do that to you as well...your choice." Devina gulped and said, "Er, what should we call you, boss?" "I am Mecha Red...your master," said Red, his eyes glowing red.
Raptor's ears perked up. "Mecha Red? As in Elder Red, the one who taught Malefor the ways to power?" he asked. "The one and only, however the humans have released the seal on the portal denying the old ones release. I sensed the taint on a young dragon in their service. We will be leaving," Red said.
"Leaving?" asked Devina, "But if the old legends are true, there will be no place on Avalar the old ones won't swallow with darkness." "Which is why Zyvar here is going to provide the means to leave this planet," said Red, glancing at Ghoulwyrm.
Ghoulwyrm sighed and seemed to stick his hand into an invisible window before pulling down a line. A portal burst into life, a grassy field on the other side. Raptor looked into the portal and asked, "How did you do that?" "I unlike you, have not been a special paperweight. I had the chance to learn," said Ghoulwyrm cheekily.
Red looked through the portal and said, "Is this another world or just another part of Avalar?" "A nice little version of Earth, you'll need time to adapt to the local magic field. But once you're ready, you can have...fun," said Ghoulwyrm. "Sounds interesting," said Devina, "But how do we know you're not just going to maroon us somewhere?" "Because I wanna go there too. I got...business there," said Ghoulwyrm.
Red glared at Ghoulwyrm and said, "You better not be pulling a trick, or I will have your flesh."
As Mecha Red was going through the portal, Ghoulwyrm said to himself, "It's a good thing I'm mostly dead flesh."
Back at Warfang, the couples were getting back into the spirit of the holiday. They had separated and gone to their own places to be with their dear ones. Draco was currently flying with Contrinus on his back. Contrinus had to ride because Draco was having her wear a blindfold. "Draco, is this really necessary?" asked Contrinus.
"Yes it is," said Draco, "You don't want to spoil the surprise, do you?" Contrinus sighed and said, "It had better be worth going through all this rigmarole." "Oh, it will be, it will be," said Draco.
Eventually, she felt Draco land somewhere. "Don't look yet," said Draco. Contrinus felt Draco pick her up and place her on something soft, like a cushion. "Ok, you can look now," said Draco. Contrinus took off the blindfold and saw that she and Draco were on top of one of the towers. From this height, they had an impressive view of the entire city and into the countryside beyond. But what was really impressive is the small table with the picnic basket and candlesticks on it.
"Oh, a candlelit dinner!" squealed Contrinus, "You planned all this yourself?" "Well, actually, Chip thought up most of it and prepared the dinner, but I set up the table and cushions up here," said Draco. "Oh, you're so sweet," said Contrinus. "I do the best I can," said Draco modestly. He reached into the basket and pulled out a bottle of champagne. "A little something before we start our meal?"
Contrinus giggled and said, "It sure would be nice after that long flight."
At this point, most men would pull out a corkscrew and use it to remove the bottle's cork. But Draco had sharp claws and didn't require a corkscrew. A little nail-digging, a little pressure and, pop, the cork flew off with a little bit of foam. Since Draco was now pouring the champagne into glasses, he didn't see the cork fly out over the edge of the tower.
Morph had managed to catch another heart bubble and was now sitting on top of it. He didn't have a care in the world until a cork suddenly fell down and hit his bubble. The bubble popped loudly, leaving Morph covered with soot. "Oh, not again," said Morph, 4 seconds before he fell down to the ground.
Sonya and Smoldron paused as they heard something falling and something squealing. "What was that?" asked Smoldron. "Oh, that's just Morph," said Sonya. "Shouldn't we catch him?" asked Smoldron.
"No need," said Sonya, "If he doesn't remember he can turn into something with wings, the fall won't harm him at all." A little while later, they heard a 'splat' and Morph's voice called, "I'm okay."
Smoldron stared for a minute and said, "Okay…" "Don't worry about it," said Sonya, "I lived among aliens for years and even I think that's weird." Smoldron nodded slowly and said, "Well, as long as there's some normality in all this." "Cling to the normality when you can," said Sonya, "It doesn't come by every day."
"Yes, dear," said Smoldron. Then he and Sonya turned back to the business at hand: planning their mating ceremony. Sonya may be stuck in the form of an ice dragoness, but every human woman wants to plan their wedding down to the finest detail. "I still wonder if we've got too much mutton being served," said Sonya, "Maybe we should provide some salmon for variety's sake."
"Yes, yes, that would be fine," said Smoldron, he had stopped paying attention to Sonya's outloud thinking several minutes ago. His gaze drifted around the room until he noticed a cardboard box that looked rather unfamiliar. "Sonya, what is this?" asked Smoldron, walking over to the box.
Sonya looked at it and said, "Oh, well, those are my old possession, before I came here." "I don't recall this ever being here before?" asked Smoldron. "Well, it's sorta recently arrived," said Sonya, "The last time Matt's crew was here, before they left after Malefor's defeat at Banshee Base, I asked NegaMorph to try and claim my old possessions. Apparently, it wasn't easy due to me being declared dead. He had to hunt through several NSC colonies and I understand that both theft and pricy bargaining was required."
Smoldron sniffed at the box and said, "May I see them?"
Sonya thought for a few seconds before saying, "Might as well. If you're going to be my mate, you might as well know."
Sonya walked over to a small pile of things. The first was a old semi-rusted helmet. Negamorph had found it in Dante's Freezer, presumably it had come off when Avarona had first taken over. The next picture was of a family standing in front of a colony building.
Smoldron looked at the picture and asked, "Was that your family?" "Yeah. Mum and Dad. We were farmers on a frontier colony near the badland sectors." said Sonya. "After raiders started hitting those places, Dad saved up and sent me to train as Disperse international at Central Station. Said he wanted his little girl to be able to look after herself should anything happen."
Smoldron looked at the picture again and said, "I'm not that great an expert on human matters, but I have a feeling they'd be proud of how you turned out." "Yeah...I'm sure they would be...Dads apparently in the colony militia there." said Sonya. She picked up the picture carefully and put it away.
Then Smoldron spotted some kind of recorder. "What's this?" he asked, poking at it. The device burst into life and a type of picture appeared. A person was standing in front. "Good morning...the search was called off today for the USS Maelstrom Star which has been missing for the last month in Badland sector 6..." Smoldron jumped as the screen jumped forward. "...among the lost is Lt Sonya Adams, one of the heroes responsible for the destruction of the Ganadas Raider force."
"Its not your fault..." said Sonya sadly. The final image had a different date in the corner. "...the USS Maelstrom Star was found today after 3 months on the missing list. One survivor was located, Sergeant Matthew Lynch. He is currently facing charges of negligence regarding the loss of the rest of the crew and Captain Neilsson has pushed for further research into the reason Mr Lynch gave. However Sonya adams parents have openly defended the Sergeant who claim that his story that she died defending the rest of the crew could not be false. However..." the comm cut off at that. Smoldron turned to see Sonya sniffing sadly. "See? They were proud of you." he said, putting a wing over her shoulder.
"I guess so," said Sonya, "It's just hard to think that I'll never see them again." "Well, at least they raised you," said Smoldron, "I never knew mine." Sonya nodded, smiling weakly. "Yeah...least we've got each other." Smoldron and rubbed his neck against hers and said, "We'll always have each other."
Elsewhere, Spyro and Cynder were flying over the fields outside Warfang. The moonlight provided more than enough illumination for them to see. "Brings back old memories, doesn't it?" said Cynder. "Yeah, back when we thought Malefor was gone for good the first time," said Spyro, "It sure was nice to be able to have some time alone to ourselves. Unlike these days."
"Don't worry, Spyro," said Cynder, "We'll have that chance again. If we could defeat Malefor twice now, we can do it again for good." "What makes you say that?" asked Spyro. "Because you're the one that inspired me to defeat him the first time," said Cynder, "I would have never been able to defeat him without you." "Nor I you," said Spyro.
Flame and Ember's evening was set somewhere somewhat less romantic. Flame was still healing so he was staying in the hospital wing of the BladeStorm. The good news was that he was currently more organic than techno and getting better all the time. Flame was lying on a hospital bed while Ember was standing right beside him.
"I'm sorry our day didn't go out as you hoped," said Flame. "It wasn't your fault," said Ember, "It was all Red's fault." "Yeah, how could I have been so foolish to join up with him before?" groaned Flame.
"Don't blame yourself," said Ember, "Red was to blame for all of it. Everyone else has forgiven, why can't you forgive yourself?"
"Because I was such a fool," said Flame, "I'm still a fool." "Yes, but you're my fool," said Ember, nuzzling Flame. "Uh, won't you get infected?" said Flame. "You're healing now so those nanite things shouldn't be spreading," said Ember, "Anyways, I don't care."
A mixed ending…flame is saved but Red is back and nastier then ever and with a few new…tricks. Join us next time.
