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 8: Dark Secrets

Since the gangs close call with the dark one warriors during their egg transportation, Morgan and Xavier and agreed that the lynches should learn some advanced techniques using their Shar khan powers.

However, they were re-calculating this in the face of the new craters Matt was causing. "Ok, we'll try it again," said Morgan, "And this time, try not to make a big mess."

Matt rolled his eyes. "This is harder then it looks...the last time I managed it, I was nearly blind in one eye cause an alternate Malefor had tried to slice my face off." he said, readying a plasma orb that formed into a shaky dart shape.

Xavier peered over the hillock he was behind. "Careful, you're losing...DOWN!" he yelled, ducking down as the plasma orb shot off and blew a old wall up. Chloe, who was filing her nails, didn't even look up at the sound of the blast. "You're wasting your time," she said, "Teaching Matt to be stealthy is like teaching a frog to fly."

Xavier looked over at her with a smile. "And what was your excuse, my dear?" he said. It was worth noting that not all the new craters were of Matt's doing. "I don't know, maybe there's sunspots' screwing up the magnetic field or something," said Chloe.

Matt was sniggering at this. "Yeah...what about yesterday...WOW!" he said, dodging a lightning bolt. Morgan and Xavier watched with embarrassed looks as the two lynch siblings started fighting. "This...is not going well." admitted Morgan. Xavier scratched his chin and said, "You know, this all seems incredibly familiar to me."

"Yes, old friend. It is." said Morgan, pulling out a amulet on his neck, made from blue gem material. It glowed faintly. "You really think the order will have changed their attitude?" he said. "Hard to say, we haven't heard from them in quite a long time," said Xavier.

"Yes...I understand that the maps have literally been re-drawn...with alot more cracks." said Morgan, before the two stepped aside to avoid a wild shot. "Maybe sooner rather then later." said Xavier tactfully.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Warfang, Spyro and Sparx were trying to have a conversation. Emphasis on 'trying' since Matt and Chloe's blasting could be heard all the way over there. "Its not so bad, bro. You didn't get killed or anything." Sparx was saying to Spyro who was lying with his head on his paws, glumly.

"But Cynder's gone, she's gone..." moaned Spyro. "Yeah, I know, that's probably the 13th and 14th time you've told me," said Sparx. "You'll find her again. You did last time. Hopefully this time there'll be less pirates." said Sparx.

"You really think so?" asked Spyro. "Hey, it's not like she's evil again," said Sparx. Spyro glared at Sparx who backed up a bit. "Hey...I'm not saying she'll go all dark side again but..." he said and stopped under Spyro's glare. Spyro got up and said "I'm going for a walk. Maybe it'll help me sleep?" he said in a dull voice before he and Sparx winced as another explosion was heard and a surprisingly intact piece of earth with a flower landed outside.

"He really needs to get his mind off of her," said Sparx before looking up to see some masonry falling towards him like a bomb strike. Spyro walked down the street gloomily. most of the population were awake for obvious, loud reasons. Ember and Flame were awake, talking to Negamorph who looked a bit twitchy from lack of sleep when they saw Spyro go by. "Losing Cynder's really gotten to him. I suppose you guys have an idea to get her back?" said Flame.

NegaMorph yawned loudly and said, "Splash her with holy water and call me in the morning..." He then dozed off for a few seconds before half a statue crashed down nearby. His eyes shot open and for a second seriously concidered going and shooting Matt, if only so he could sleep. "If I go to talk to Spyro, will you knock me out?" he said in a tired voice.

Flame and Ember looked at each other before Ember said, "Depends, what can knock you out?" "I don;t care." said Negamorph darkly before turning and walking after Spyro. "Spyro...how are things?" he said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Miserable," said Spyro gloomily. "Yeah. I know how you feel." said Negamorph, remembering how he had felt when he had 'lost' Silvia. "You know what I do when I'm upset?" he said.

"You blast the person who's upset you?" said Spyro. Negamorph winced as another explosion was heard. "Its works better then you think." he said darkly. "I don't want to have to resort to destruction to make me feel better," said Spyro. "You never know." said Negamorph, his left eye twitching. The explosions seemed to have stopped for now. "Maybe he's finished?" said Negamorph before a smoking boulder landed on him.

The next morning, Matt went to the mess hall in the ship, finding NegaMorph with bloodshot eyes staring at the wall. "Man, you look wasted. You sleep well?" said Matt.

NegaMorph started giggling in a disturbingly Matt-like fashion. "Nope, didn't sleep a wink. But I bet you slept like a log, didn't you?" he said before pulling out an axe and swinging it at Matt. Chloe came in to see Matt run by wordlessly, saving all his breath for escaping the sleep depredation crazed negamorph right behind him. She sighed and turned to walk out again, bumping into spyro as she left the ship.

"Hi Spyro, feeling better?" asked Chloe. Spyro sighed "As well as I can be." he said gloomily. "Listen, I know it seems bad right now, but it actually looked much worse than when you were captured by Malefor," said Chloe.

Spyro sighed again "Cynder told me what would have happened. I feel like I failed her." he said and jumped back as Chloe snapped "Don't be stupid." "But it's my-" "No, it's not your fault, there's nothing anyone could have done, now shape up before I bury you in a sand pit," snapped Chloe.

Spyro looked angry for a second before backing down. "Yeah...you're right." he said. "Cynder won't want me moping about...we'll find her...what the?" he said as a bang was heard up ahead. He and Chloe ran round the corner to see several dragons opposite Negamorph and Matt.

"Oh, great, what now?" groaned Chloe. Chloe's complaint drew the attention of two more dragons. "There's another one of those home-wreckers," said one. "I think she's the one whose lightning bolts destroyed my windows," said the other. Chloe turned to look at them icily. "It was Morgan and Xavier who said we had to train." she said. One of the dragons glaring at Matt and Negamorph said "You...humans have caused nothing but trouble since you came."

"That's not true," said Spyro, "They've also helped us on many occasions." "...fixing problems they caused." said one of the other dragons. Matt glared "At least we actually helped fixed things." he retorted. One of the dragons snarled at him and said, "Is that an accusation, human?" Chloe could sense Matt gearing up for a smart comeback and muttered "Please don't..." and winced as Matt said "It's an observation."

The dragon snarled and snapped at Matt's head with his teeth. Matt jumped back and tried to ready one of the new melee shields Morgan had tried to teach him, instead causing a wall of semi-energised plasma to hit the dragon. Of course, this incited the other dragons to attack Matt.

Chloe and Spyro ran forward to help and by the time that Morgan, Xavier and the eldars had arrived it was on the verge of turning fatal. "CEASE THIS AT ONCE!" roared Cyril while Morgan checked the dragon who had been burnt by Matt's failed shield. "He'll be fine..." said Morgan.

"It was an accident," said Matt, "I was trying to make a shield, but it just blasted instead." Xavier said "I believe you...but this cannot continue. We have to do something." he said. Cyril nodded in agreement. "Next time, you or your opponent may not be so lucky." He said.

Matt was wondering what they meant by 'him' when he looked at his own hands. The top layer of skin had been burned off, leaving reddened skin underneath. Cyril nodded and said. "There is a small group of dragons and other beings called the Order of Light that helped dragons and before they vanished, shar khan control their powers. They may be able to help you."

"I'll go with him," said Spyro, "Maybe they'll be able to tell us how to bring Cynder back." Morgan said "I'm sorry, Spyro...This is something the lynches must do alone." Spyro looked downfallen at this as Matt said "Hey...on the bright side...when we come back we can help you nuke Malefor."

A little later, Spyro was taking a short walk at the edge of the city. Sparx was tagging along and was trying to cheer up Spyro. Sparx said in his cheerful tone "You'll find Cynder again, bro. I'm sure she's fine."

"I really hope so," said Spyro, "I'd hate to think that-" He paused and said, "Do you hear that?" The two of them could hear laughter nearby, and not the nice kind. Two teenage dragons, a poison and a ice dragon were at the side of the street they were on and had apparently were talking about something amusing. Spyro and Sparx went closer curiously.

"So you think she really got kidnapped or did she go willingly?" asked the poison dragon. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if she went on her own," said the ice dragon, "I always had a feeling that she'd go crawling back to Malefor." Sparx winced at this and said "Easy, bro. They're just idiots." in a surprising show of tact.

"Personally, I don't see why Spyro would want to hang out with the likes of her," said the ice dragon, "Then again, he does keep pretty weird company like those humans or those things with too many limbs or eyes." "Probably kept her for some eye candy," said the poison dragon, "I know I wouldn't mind having some of that tail."

Sparx winced as Spyro growled at this comment, making the two dragons turn to see them. "Well, speak of the devil," said the ice dragon, "Or should I say the devil's toy?" Spyro said "Take back what you said about her." in a voice of barely contained rage. Sparx gulped as he was the first to notice a familiar aura appearing faintly. "Spyro? I think you best calm down." he said in a worried tone.

"Or what?" said the poison dragon, "Does the big tough purple dragon have a soft spot for turncoats?" Spyro seemed to snap at that, lunging at the poison dragon, his scales turning a familiar black and his eyes turning a frightening white, before knocking the poison dragon across the street. Sparx quickly flew off to find some help. He had seen how destructive Spyro's other half could be.

The first person he came across was NegaMorph, who was tired out from the lack of sleep last night and chasing Matt with the axe, so he was leaning against a wall and snoring loudly. "Hey...hey, wake up." yelled Sparx, before being temporarily cut off when he flew too hard into Negamorph and got stuck. "Eurgh...Hey, blob...erm...Negamorph. You gotta come quick." he said, trying to wake Negamorph up.

NegaMorph was in too deep a sleep, and even if he wasn't, his snoring drowned out Sparx's voice. Sparx sighed, muttering "He sleeps heavier then the guardians." before flying off to find someone else.

Dark Spyro however was currently venting on the two dragons. The poison dragon was slumped out cold but his ice dragon friend was not read to go down easily. He spat a ice blast at Dark Spyro's back while he was beating the poison dragon up.

However, this only shifted Spyro's attention to the ice dragon and blasted a convexity beam at him. The ice dragon yelped as the blast narrowly missed him, the explosion showering him with sharp shards of rock. "Hey...hey. We didn't mean it." he said, desperately, trying to back up as Dark Spyro walked towards him, the poison dragon groaning behind him.

"No one insults Cynder like that," growled Dark Spyro, his voice echoing with dark power. "Please...please." gibbered the ice dragon, stopping as his back banged up against a wall. Dark Spyro opened his mouth to ready a convexity beam and stopped as Matt, Chloe, Morgan and Sparx came round the corner. "Spyro...don;t be nuts." yelled Matt.

"Yeah, that's his job," said Sparx, pointing at Matt. "Yeah, that's...HEY!" snapped Matt. Chloe muttered under her breath, "I wanted to say that..." Dark Spyro turned and hissed, "They must pay..."

Sparx had explained what had happened when he had found Morgan first. The Lynches had followed when Morgan had ran by. Morgan said carefully "Is this what Cynder would want?" Dark Spyro stopped snarling, hesitating for a minute. Chloe said carefully. "You don't wanna kill that guy...no matter what he said. You're better than that."

Dark Spyro's anger seemed to be slipping and Matt put the final nail in that, "Remember what Ignitus told you how you were different from Malefor. Destruction does not become you."

That was the final straw and the dark colour leeched from Spyro's scales. The ice dragon took this chance to scramble over and began to say "He just attacked us for no reason." only to back down from the Lynches glares. "The Council will hear about this incident," said Morgan, "And they'll decide the punishment for you two. As for Spyro, it would seem that we have another member for our 'pilgrimage'."

The next day, Morgan had finished explaining what had happened, Spyro and the Lynches present. "...and the Order was well known for teaching dragons to control problems such as this. They can teach him to control his darkness." finished Morgan.

"Such methods of self-control and temperence will be a great aquisition to our advantage to ensure the discontinuation of internal confliction," said Volteer. Morgan shared the confused look of the group and said "Yes?" hoping it was the correct answer.

"Very well, I approve of this juncture for the hopeful success of our campaign," said Volteer. Matt reqognized this "He means 'good luck'." he said to Morgan.

The trio had walked out while Morgan went to check the records for the Orders home. "It'll do the experiments good to get out the city for a bit. I think they're going stir crazy...and they haven;t been sleeping well recently." said Matt.

"Uh, are you sure about that?" asked Chloe, "The Order sounds a little...distrusting, and the experiments are known to flounce first impressions." Matt looked confused at Chloe who said "I did a bit of research on this 'Order'. Apparently they fell out with the eldars of their time around the time the Atlanteans arrived."

"Oh great, they're not another 'anti-human' group, are they?" asked Matt. "It never said." said Chloe. "Well, they cause ant bother to us and the gang'll kick their asses." said Matt.

"I'm afraid that's not the case," said Morgan, who was standing behind them. This cause the Lynches to jump. "Why must everybody do that?" snapped Matt. Morgan grinned and continued "Only you three can come. If only for the fact that if we turn up with a small army they may not welcome us."

"I suppose that would be true," said Chloe, "Besides, they may not be really impressed with the experiments, especially Morph." Matt's eyes glazed over as his mind supplied a list of the disasters Morph could cause in a place like the Order. This took a few minutes given the lists length.

However, the experiments didn't exactly share Matt's opinions. "Oh, c'mon!" cried Draco, "We're as well-behaved as the next bunch of aliens." "What about the time you put plasma mines in my birthday cake?" said Matt, accusingly. "I thought it would have been a nice surprise," said Chip. "Especially since you slip a mine under so many seat cushions," said Draco.

"I told you, that was the spiderbots." said Matt, annoyed before putting his foot down. "You're not coming. Ok?" he said. "Sure thing, Matt," said Contrinus. "And we're not taking a ship, so no tagging along," said Matt. "Rats, he's onto us," said Morph. "Shut up, Morph," said Draco.

Matt looked at them and walked over to a intercom. "Techo? Be so good as to take the control crystal out of the controls, thanks." he said before turning it off and smirking at the experiments.

Morph just pouted and muttered something under his breath. "You know I can speak Tantalog," said Matt. Matt and Chloe turned to leave and Chloe leaned close and muttered "You really think that'll work?" Matt shrugged "Probably not, but this way nobody can blame me for not trying it."

Matt then decided to change the subject. "So, how far is it supposed to be?" he asked. "Its supposed to be really far away. Its clear on the other side of that damn volcano." said Chloe. "And since we're having to flap our wings there, it'll take about...a day's flight to get there?" asked Matt.

"I suppose. Hey. At least you had a years practise." said Chloe.

The flight however turned out to be quite tiring, especially as the group had to bypass the volcano. Chloe flew closer to Spyro who looked even more down. "Hey...what happened to those jerks was their own fault. Hell, I'd have done the same to them if they'd bad mouthed Matt cause of Draconus." she said.

"That's different, you and Matt are expected to act like that. But I'm supposed to be the peacekeeper. How can I keep the peace when I lose my temper like that?" asked Spyro. "Hey. Nobodies perfect." retorted Chloe.

"They expect me to be," said Spyro sadly. "Then they expect too much from a kid." said Chloe sagely. "It's not only that," said Spyro, "I'm supposed to be different from Malefor, I can't give into destructive urges like that."

"Your...best friends been kidnapped. We all know how you feel about this and you'd have to be a robot not to feel some anger." said Chloe, rolling to fly on Spyro's other side. "I guess so," said Spyro, "But I'm afraid the other dragons will turn on me if I keep acting out of emotion."

"Please. From what I hear from matt, the eldars wouldn't turn on you." said Chloe, in a casual voice. "But the crowds might," said Spyro. "Then, they're idiots." said Chloe simply. Spyro sighed and said, "I hope you're right." Chloe grinned and joked "Of course, if it all goes like that, you could join the crew."

Spyro shook his head and said, "No, I can't leave Avalar. I don't just belong here, I'm needed here." Chloe sighed and was about to reply before Matt called out "Does that glow ahead look familiar?"

Chloe looked ahead to see a yellow-orange light appearing in the distance. "Is that another lava stream?" she asked. The group flew ahead and saw the groud drop away. They were flying between two of the floating sections of Avalar. Ahead could be seen the remnants of what looked like a smaller town-sized version of Warfang, teetering on the edge. "Oh, don't tell me that's the order." said Matt. Xavier said "It is..." in a small voice.

"Great, guess we'll have to root around the ruins now," said Matt.

The group landed in the central courtyard of the old city and looked around. "Hello? I am Morgan of the order of Shar Khan. I seek the order of light." yelled Morgan, turning back to his human form. When no one responded, Chloe added sarcastically, "Maybe you forgot the secret password or the secret knock."

Chloe looked around. She was getting the feeling someone was watching her, or knowing the lynches luck...something. "I don't think we're alone here." she said, turning back to human with Matt. "Yeah, I'm getting that same feeling back on Sy Yong," said Matt.

The group slowly walked forward and a second later a fireball landed in front of them. At the same time the doorways and rooftops became very crowded as various dragons, wolf and cheetah clan and even a couple of apes came into view. "Ah, crap." Muttered Matt.

"Order of Light, we come in peace to attain clarity of mind and heart," said Xavier. One of the group, a wolf female spoke harshly "You are not welcome here, Shar Khan and neither is the purple dragon." "Er, perhaps I need to be a bit more specific in why we're here," said Xavier.

The wolf spoke again. "We know exactly why you have come and you won't use any more of our amulets to cause death." The group noticed that all the non dragons were wearing dragon amulets with a shard of blue crystal in them.

"Now wait a minute," said Spyro, "Let's not fly off the handle." "We've heard enough from you," said the wolf, "We've had enough of your abusing our knowledge. You will learn nothing from us and no one else will know how you met your doom."

"I repeat my previous observation of 'oh crap'." said Matt, reaching for his ion blade when their would-be attackers stopped as an earth dragoness flew into view and landed. "Silverfang. Is this any way to treat visitors?" she said in a kind, elderly voice.

The wolf turned and said, "Oh, Sage Gemmenite, I didn't expect you to want to deal with these intruders yourself." "I do not want to 'deal' with them at all. Our feud with the Atlanteans was millennia ago. Those we had grief with are dead. Their descendants need not suffer as well." said the earth dragoness. She turned to see Spyro before adding "And the dragon of destiny deserves more respect then violence."

Matt grinned nervously and said, "Right, Dragon of Destiny, very important, shouldn't kill him or friends." Gemmenite turned to look at Matt who whimpered "Just an opinion." "Er, yes, my friends and I would be really grateful if we could receive the special training this place is well known for," said Spyro.

Silverfang immediately said "Absolutely no..." and was interrupted by Gemmenite who said "Of course." she said before looking at the Lynches. "These two are most definitely in need of amulets judging from their aura's." she added, causing the two Lynch siblings to glare before looking at Spyro. "...and I can see the pain in your eyes as well."

"Yes, he has recently lost his, er, closest friend and it's taking its toll on him," said Morgan, "Only the other day did he go into a convexity rage when he overheard two dragons insulting her."

Spyro winced, his mind playing the worst scenario out and was surprised when Gemmenite said sadly "Losing someone is always hard. You are welcome here...but please...hand over your blades until you leave. This is a place of peace."

Chloe nodded and said, "Fair enough," before taking out her ion blade and putting it on the ground. Matt shrugged and unclipped his own blade as Morgan also did the same. Gemmenite nodded and two of the watching group came forward and picked the blades up, taking them away. "Welcome...It is a shame you cannot see our home as it once was." said Gemmenite. "Yeah, planet-splitting earthquakes, what can you do?" said Matt.

Gemmenite said sadly "We were not expecting such an event. Such a loss." Her tone more or less shut down any response Matt had. Gemmenite said "There are rooms for you near the south wall."

After the travellers had been escorted to their rooms, Silverfang decided she needed to have a word with their most exalted sage. Gemmenite looked up as Silverfang approached her. "You object to my decision regarding the Shar Khan." she said simply.

"These Shar-khan are no different from the rest," said Silverfang, "They just see the amulets as weapons. They are not to be used for war." "You know as well as I am what is currently loose in this world. The Shar Khans enemy is returning. They will be needed again." said Gemmenite in the same infuriatingly calm tone of voice.

Silverfang just growled in response and Gemmenite said, "I can tell that your feud with them exceeds far deeper than misusing our amulets." "Why do you extend your anger upon the dragon of destiny? One who almost died saving our entire world." continued Gemmenite.

"Because he didn't save it in time," snapped Silverfang, "He could have prevent this place from becoming the ruined shambles it is now. He could have prevented my village from being destroyed. But instead, he slept away while Malefor upheaved our world and would not repair the damages done."

"That was meant to be. If he had not slept, he would have died and your village would still be destroyed. Blame does not return the ones we love." said Gemmenite, sadly.

"You think I could forgive him as easily as that?" snapped Silverfang, "If he were as great as legend said he would be, he would have not left the world shattered into so many pieces." Gemmenite sighed and said "Nothing I can say will make you see reason. If you cannot forgive, at least show them the respect due to guests."

Silverfang snorted and said, "Housing them won't be too hard, given how there are so many vanishings." Gemmenite actually looked angry at that. "That is enough," she snapped.

Silverfang paused and said, "I am sorry, master. I overstepped my boundaries." "Please...Leave me." said Gemmenite, curling up on herself in sadness.

Meanwhile, in another part of the town between two more intact buildings, the shadows had started to spin around one point until they joined together to form a spinning vortex.

After a minute the experiments from the crew fell through, followed by Negamorph who stepped through and re-sealed it before saying. "See? I told you I could do it...wait a minute..."

Draco looked around and said, "This is where the Order of Light live? This place looks majorly underfunded." Negamorph glared at Draco and picked him up...by the throat. "You do realise that maybe there was a good reason Morgan didn;t want us tagging along?" he growled, shaking Draco.

"Are you a little curious?" wheezed Draco. "Not really...You really think anyone arriving with a person that can control shadows will be popular at a place with the name 'Order of Light'?" said Negamorph angrily, also pointing out the large problem in the gangs plan.

This was sadly where it all went wrong for the stowaways as Negamorph picked Morph up, bashed him on the floor a bit...the threw him out of the alley into the main street.

There was a scream from the street and Chip peered out. "NegaMorph, I believe you just struck a female pedestrian of the lupine variety with your irksome counterpart." The victim who's face had interrupted Morphs journey to the building on the other side of the street pulled him off and looked to see who had fired gibbering globs at her before seeing Negamorph. "DEMON!" she yelled.

"Well, here we go again," said NegaMorph in a tired voice. He spotted some guards coming and said, "Don't worry, we can escape them in time."

A little while later, the five of them were inside one of the facility's cells. Chip glared at Negamorph and said in a bad impression "Don't worry, we can escape in time." before adding "Has Matt been giving you lessons?" "You want me to put out that eye of yours?" retorted Negamorph.

The door opened and Matt and Morgan walked in, followed by Silverfang who said in a annoyed voice "Are these yours?" Matt looked rather embarrassed. "Yeah, they're like dogs, you know. They follow me everywhere." Morph immediately went, "Arf, arf, woof." "Shut up, Morph," said Draco.

"Why did you have them attack me with...that individual?" said Silverfang, looking at Morph. "I'm sure there's a REALLY good reason." said Matt, glaring at the group in the cells.

"Trust me, you spend more than three minutes with him, you'll want to toss him too," said NegaMorph. Morph then started rubbing his hands on his head, producing a high-pitched squeaking sound that was very annoying.

Silverfang, to her credit lasted a whole minute before conjuring an ice spell and freezing Morph solid. She said to Matt "The eldar will hear of this intrusion by your followers, Captain." she said, adding Matts rank sarcastically.

Matt turned and glared at the experiments. "What does it take to leave you guys behind?" he said. Morph, who had managed to unthaw in a relatively fast time, started counting on his fingers and said, "Uh, some bubblegum, a flock of ducks, a socket wrench, a bag of horseshoes, some flypaper, a big ball of string..."

Draco used his ice breath to freeze Morph again and said "Alot." in summary. Matt sighed and began banging his head on the doorframe while Morgan said sternly "You were very foolish coming here. Eldar Gemmenite is well in her rights to expel us now."

"In my defense, I knew better than to come," said NegaMorph, "I was just outwitted into bringing them here." Morgan said angrily "No excuses. We must just hope the eldar is not too upset over this."

"If we get barbequed for this, Morph goes first," said Chip. "Elder Gemmenite is an earth dragon," said Chloe. Chip blinked and said, "Ok, so Morph gets squashed first."

Matt was walking through the town towards Gemmenites quarters to apologise for the experiments when he bumped into Spyro. "Is it true? I heard Negamorph and the others came." he said. Matt sighed "Bad news travels very fast."

Spyro sighed and said, "Why couldn't they have just stayed?" "That's what I've been asking myself for the last..." Matt paused and checked his watch, "8 minutes." Spyro said "I'll come along too. Apparently Gemmenite is gonna teach me personally so I might as well help put across that your experiments friends aren;t dangerous." Matt nodded and added "Just annoying."

There was a distant scream of frustration, followed by an explosion and Morph yelping in pain. "Very annoying," amended Matt. The duo arrived at Gemenite's quarters to see Silverfang standing outside, practically emitting smugness in spadefuls. "Oh look, Spyro. Its the high priestess of smartasses." said Matt in a cheerful voice.

"Keep joking, halfbreed, I'll be the one laughing at the end of this," said Silverfang. "Nah...I don't think so, dog features." said Matt, walking by her with Spyro who stopped when Silverfang glared at him before walking off. "Man, she really seems pissed at you." said Matt, casually. "I know, and I've never even met her before," said Spyro.

Matt looked at the door to Gemmenite's quarters and was about to knock when Gemmenite was heard saying "Come in." Matt gulped "Thats creepy." Matt and Spyro walked in. Gemmenite's quarters were heavily decorated with precious stones of all kind, which would make sense considering her name.

"I understand several of your friends followed you here." she said. Matt gulped and began to apologise only for Gemmenite to say "Please. Curiosity is hardly a crime. I must ask however that they do not enter the town temple." she said, actually making Matt go speechless. He had expected to be yelled at.

"Um, sure, but I probably should mention that two of them are boneless blobs so bars won't keep them back," said Matt, "However, they can regenerate from anything you could throw at them and feel free to blast them."

Gemmenite smiled a bit at this. "That will not be necessary. Now...I would like to teach young Spyro alone. Please leave." she said. Matt sighed "Ok..." before grinning "I'll just go find Silverfang and tell her the good news."

Gemmenite sighed as Matt left and she said, "You'll have to excuse Silverfang. Her life has been...difficult." Spyro said "What happened to her?" Gemmenite sighed "Her village was a obstacle in Malefor's path after he was released."

"I see," said Spyro, "Then why is she being angry with me?" "She blames you for not saving her people...for sleeping when she thoight you were needed. She does not understand why you had to sleep." said Gemmenite, sadly.

Spyro sighed and said, "I do feel regret for not being able to help then." "There was nothing you could have done, young one." said Gemmenite. "I know, but I still feel guilty," said Spyro. "Such feelings of grief is what your darker side feeds upon...and this is what I will teach you to resist." said Gemmenite.

As soon as he was out of Gemminite's 'office', Matt went to find Silverfang. He soon found her on a street corner, appearently trying to patch up a crack in a wall. "Didn't realize masonry was part of the security job around here," said Matt.

SilverFang turned with a smirk. "Have you not got belongings to prepare?" she said. Matt grinned "Nope..." he said and relished the way Silverfang's grin froze in place before vanishing slowly.

"I believe you were mentioning something about a last laugh last time," said Matt, "I think it actually belongs to me now." SilverFang actually growled at that and snapped "Your people have brought nothing but misery to this world. Hopefully Eldar Gemmenite will see sense before it is too la..." and was cut off as a scream was heard down the street from the direction of the entrance to the town catacombs.

Matt looked in that direction and said, "What was that?" Silverfang didn;t answer, instead running in the screams direction. Matt ran after her and they both turned the corner to see a young cheetah being dragged towards the catacomb entrance by a human figure.

"Hold it right there!" shouted Silverfang. The figure merely glanced at her before pointing its arm at her and shooting several energy blasts from its wrist. The only thing that saved Silverfang from being turned into so much mince was Matt tackling her to the floor. The blasts themselves boew several dozen holes in the masonry behind the two. The figure continued its fire for a second before, satisfied that it had put the intruders off, continued to drag its victim into the catacombs.

However, the moment its back was turn, a plasma orb shot out and collided with the back of its head. Matt had enough experience with dark one warriors to know that all this was likely to do would be to piss the warrior off so was surprised when it neatly removed the targeted head. The warrior was thrown onto its front and melted into nothing. Silverfang and Matt slowly approached where the warrior had been before Silverfang went over to the Cheetah kid, hugging it. "Oh boy..." said Matt.

"How did you know how to kill it?" asked Silverfang. "Would you believe that was a lucky shot?" asked Matt. Silverfang glared at him before grudgingly saying "Thank you." before stepping into his path as Matt walked towards the catacomb entrance.

As Matt was about to go down, Silverfang called, "You can't go down there." "He was taking the kid down there. There's probably more...and you can bet they'll be annoyed." said Matt and tried to walk past again.

"It is forbidden to go down there," said Silverfang. Matt finally conceded. "Why don't we go tell your boss about this then? he said sarcastically. "Ah, the old corrupted labyrinth bid," said Matt, "I only saw those kind of things in video games... which you would know nothing about."

Gemmenite listened with a serious tone after Matt and Silverfang had told what had happened. "The Dark ones? Below our home?" she said, sounding genuinely shocked.

"Yeah, they've been popping up everywhere," said Matt, "Particularly where it's nice and dark. Your catacombs would probably seem like a 5 star hotel to them." When he got blanks stares, he said to himself, "I have got to stop using outside references."

Gemmenite said "The only entrance isd in our town. They could not have gotten in without us sensing them. They must have already been in there." Matt said "We have experience with these guys. We could go take a look."

Gemmenite drummed her claws on the ground as she thought. "Well, the tunnels below are too small for dragons to move through, at least for fully grown ones. Not to mention, your kind was bred to deal with these demons," she said, "Very well, you may go down, gather up a team you think can help you."

"Guess Negamorph n co'll come in useful after all." muttered Matt before saying "We'll need someone to show us around down there. We don't wanna get lost down there." Gemmenite nodded "Silverfang will accompany you."

"I'm coming too," said Spyro, "I need to protect this place." "Uh, did you miss the part about the tunnels are too small for you?" asked Matt. "Not quite," said Gemmenite, "He has not grown enough that he cannot navigate the tunnels, but he shouldn't go down there until his training's complete." "Ok, how much long does he have to train?" asked Matt. "He's only had one session," said Gemmenite.

"Ah." said Matt, uncertainly. Spyro however said "I'm not going to let those things take anyone else." in a final tone of voice. Gemmenite sighed and muttered "The certainty of youth." before saying "Very well...but remember...never listen to whatever the dark ones offer you. The price is always too high."

"Yeah, so don't try for any gold fiddles," said Matt. The others only gave blank stares. "This is more fun when someone's around who gets it," said Matt sulking.

The Catacombs themselves were not as Matt expected. They reminded him of when He, Spyro and Cynder had still been after the Soul gems and had entered the gem mine at Munitions forge, only neater. "This is where the crystals for our amulets grow." explained SilverFang.

"So that's why you call it sacred," said Matt. "Indeed." said SilverFang before leading them further in. "But this is the main reason." she said as they walked into a much larger cavern.

The group paused as they looked at the large wall. On it was the depiction of a large keyhole, though there didn't seem to be any door. Also, the keyhole didn't look carve, but more like it emerged from the rock.

Matt was the first to recognise it. The NSC made sure anyone who had anything to do with the military could recognise one of them. "Great. Now we have a more urgent reason to chop those Dark one guys to bits." he said. Morgan was next to tag on and muttered something in atlantean. "This is very bad." he said in english.

"So what? It's just a rock carving," said Draco. "Its a bloody keyhole. Heartless can...I dunno how they do it but if they get to this, the whole planets buggered." said Matt bluntly.

"So what? They use this place to unleash a tectonic force that would destroy the planet?" asked Chip. "No, they use it to reach this world's heart, and I don't mean the core," said Chloe, "And when they take the heart, the world will disappear into darkness."

"Poof...just like that." said Matt, snapping his fingers. Morgan said "The Dark ones used it several times during the war. Nobody knew what happened. Even the wormhole would seal." he said, before turning to Silverfang. "This cavern must be sealed completely at once."

"Uh, not when there are prisoners to rescue we're not," said Contrinus. Matt nodded as Spyro noticed Silverfang looking at another entrance on the far side of the cavern. "Hey...are you ok?" he said. Silverfang said "This was not here the last time the order came to this place." she said.

Matt looked at the entrance and asked, "What's down there?" "A bag of rubies says that's where we'll find the people they've taken," said NegaMorph. Silverfang walked in first, followed by Matt. It seemed like a cave-in had opened up this tunnel. However, as the group walked in, their footsteps suddenly sounded metallic. Matt shone his wrist-comps light to see a steel floor before shining up to see burnt out lighting and rust covered walls, with doors at equal intervals leading to empty rooms.

"Is it me or does this place look like a jail?" asked Contrinus. Morgan wiped some rust off a wall to reveal Atlantean writing and said grimly "Its not you. I thought this place was just a story." "Hmm, I bet they didn't keep just pickpockets and robbers down here," said NegaMorph.

"According to the stories I heard, a single Dark one command ship was shot down before their defeat. The survivors were caught and imprisoned in an underground facility in barely habitable conditions." said Morgan, picking up a depleted Atlantean arc pistol.

"You think they're still here?" asked NegaMorph. "I have no clue. Nobody knows how long the Dark ones live for." said Morgan. Suddenly the shadows seemed alot deeper. Morgan finally said "The dark ones we face have probably just used this place as a useful headquarters. I can easily reboot the central computers and then we can locate where the kidnapped people are...We may even find Shale." he said.

"That could take a while," said Chip, "We don't know how big this place is." "In that case, we'll have to split up," said Morgan. Matt and Chloe looked at each other. "You sure thats a good idea?" Matt said. Morgan said simply "Even the smallest atlantean penal facility is a mile across. This is a maximum security prison...it would have had room for an entire population of security."

"I don't know, that could give whatever here the chance to pick us off one by one," said Chloe. "Dark one armour is susceptible to dragon magic...another reason the Shar khan needed amulets." said Morgan. "I will go with the Lynches. Spyro...go with us. Silverfang...as you can use Dragon magic, you will go with the experiments. Stay together and out of anywhere with a red helix symbol on the door." said Morgan.

"Uh, do I really have to go with the experiments?" asked Silverfang. "They won't hurt you," said Matt, "They're friendly that way." Morph had taken a coin out and was using it to rattle the bars of a cell. Both the Lynches said "Cut that out." Matt added "...but sometimes you have to make sure they don't get bored."

Silverfang forced a grin and said, "C'mon, you little guys..." before adding under her breath, "Before I do something regretful."

The experiment group slowly headed through the tunnels. It was clear something had gone terribly wrong in the facilities final days. Burnt out turrets were on the roofs and they saw skeletons twice with broken neckbones. "Something really wanted out," said Chip.

There was a groan suddenly from a side corridor. "Ok...what was that?" said Draco, weakly. Silverfang tilted her head and listened carefully. A few moments later, the groan came again. "I know that sound," she said, "It's Shale."

The group ran down to see that some of the cells showed signs of havoing had visitors recently. Only one was currently occupied. A teenage earth dragon around Spyro's age was barely conscious in there. He opened a bloodshot eye weakly and looked at them before closing it again. Silverfang said faintly "By Fenris...what was done to you?"

"Nothing enjoyable, I can tell you that," said Contrinus, "We need to get him out of here." Shale's eyes shot wide suddenly "No...he's here...He'll get you too." he said in a frantic, paranoid voice.

"Do we want to know who 'he' is?" asked Draco. "The dark ones leader...he...he took the others...changed them." gibbered Shale. "That doesn't sound good at all," said NegaMorph, "And I bet he's not too far away." "He's coming...he's coming." said Shale, before curling up on himself and whimpering.

"We better tell Matt about this," said Chip. "Uh, I think he may have already found out for himself," said Draco, pointing at some Wyvern Heartless as they were appearing.

Meanwhile, Morgan had led the way into a large facility. Lines of the crystalline computers were everywhere. Morgan walked up to one and touched a shard, making a holographic screen appear. "Hmm...strange." said Morgan, thoughtfully before making the lights turn on. A figure was illuminated next to him. "Greetings." said the newcomer before punching Morgan so hard he flew into the far wall.

Matt and Chloe immediately turned towards the newcomer and drew out their ion blades. The newcomer was wearing a scarlet version of the dark one warrior armour but without the helmet. "Ah...New shar Khan. It is always a pleasure." he said in a polite tone before several red ion blades emerged from the gauntlets on his arms. "I am WarMaster Xodrin of the Amethean Navy. You call my race, 'Dark Ones'." he said.

"Had a feeling you were with them," said Matt, "Let me guess, you were the captain of that ship they shot down." "You could say that. I was spared your anscestors cowardly 'final solution' by being a guest of this wonderful facility." said Xodrin, apparently not bothered. "Did you ever ask who fired first in the war...who was the real 'invaders'?" he said. Morgan said weakly. "Don't...listen."

"We didn't come here to listen," said Chloe. "We came to kick dark butt," said Matt before the two of them pulled out their guns and shot at Xodrin. Xodrin sighed and raised his hand, palm up. All the positron rounds stopped dead in the air. "Please. I defeated this technology mllennia ago." he said, before shooting the orbs back to the guns. Chloe was knocked backwards. Xodrin looked up to see Spyro come in saying "What was tha...?" and had to duck as Xodrin fired a bolt of black lightning at him that blew a hole in the wall behind him.

"Oh, a purple dragon," said Xodrin, as if he was looking at an interesting specimen in a zoo, "I haven't seen one of those in ages, literally." He continued "I remember dear Malefor. Full of fire and brimstone." he said before looking closer. "Oh my...such inner pain. You shouldn't bottle it up." he said, his eyes starting to glow.

Spyro winced as he felt a dark force try to penetrate his body. It showed on the outside too, with a dark smoke snaking over his skin. "Thaaats it...let it all ou...ARGH!" he said as Matt stuck his ion blade into Xodrin's back. Surprisingly this just made Xodrin annoyed as he backhanded Matt flying.

Xodrin glanced down at the ion blade that was now protruding out of his chest. "You missed," he said, "Have you forgotten? I'm a heartless wretch." He pulled the ion blade all the way through before hurling it at Matt. Matt barely ducked it before wincing as Xodrin got close and dove his own wristblade into Matt's chest.

"You know, most of my kind prefer to fill another's heart with darkness and then remove it to become one of our minions," said Xodrin, "Me, I prefer to do it manually."

He turned to see Spyro now in his Dark Form. "As you can see...I got good at it." he said before stepping aside to let Matt fall to his knees and saying to Dark Spyro. "Kill him."

Dark Spyro snarled and started towards Matt before stopping. "I don't think I need to make myself clearer, but I see I shall have to try," said Xodrin, "I want you to end this Shar-Khan's life brutally with either your claws, fangs, or any other means."

Dark Spyro got close to Matt who simply sighed before turning to face Xodrin and saying in his echoing voice. "No." Xodrin glared and his eyes glowed with the same white as Dark Spyro's. "You WILL obey me. Kill the hybrid."

Dark Spyro winced slightly before glaring back at Xodrin and saying, "I said NO!" He then opened his mouth and fired a blast of convexity energy at Xodrin. Xodrin seemed surprised before the blast sent him flying across the room and through the wall. Chloe came round to see Dark Spyro in front of Matt and drew her gun. "Back off from him." she said before seeing Matt's injury.

Chloe nearly lost it and would have attacked Dark Spyro before Dark Spyro said, "Help Matt, I'll keep Xodrin busy." Chloe looked surprised for a second before nodding and helping her brother up. Xodrin however stepped back through the hole, looking a bit dazed. "I'm a bit annoyed." he said casually before sending a blast of energy at Dark Spyro.

Spyro countered with a shield made of convexity energy before shooting another blast at Xodrin. Xodrin was ready this time, slicing the blast in the middle with his blades, both halves flowing around him. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to spit?" he said.

"He was raised by dragonflies," said Matt before throwing another plasma orb at Xodrin's head. Xodrin deflected the orb easily, making it hit the roof which began to crack. "Well, I'd love to stay and brush up on my combat skills but I got places to go." said Xodrin before concentrating. A second later, a burst of what seemed like shadows shot out, knocking everyone down. Xodrin looked around at his unconscious adversaries and shrugged, blasting the doorframe as he left.

Matt got up first and noticed the seemingly empty doorway. "Ha, the idiot forgot to lock us in," said Matt as he ran for the door. However, when he attempted to pass through, a wall of shadow appeared in the doorway.

Morgan was already awake. "He sealed the doorway. We're not going anywhere." Matt walked over and checked Spyro, who had turned back to normal when he had been knocked out. "I guess this solves the mystery of the missing people." he said.

"Indeed," agreed Morgan, "Which is why we need to get out of here as soon as possible." "Yeah, and how are we gonna do that?" said Matt sarcastically.

Meanwhile, Silverfang and the experiments had their hands full trying to keep the Wyvern Heartless at bay. Silverfang blasted a wyvern heartless with a fireball and turned in time to see another lunging heartless blasted by Draco. Negamorph cut a attacking heartless in two with his lockblade, only for the heartless to vanish and a unconscious wolf cub the victims who had been fuelling the heartless fall at his feet in its place.

Shale had gotten over part of his fear and was blasting any heartless he saw in a way Matt would have been proud of. Pieces of rock were firing like shrapnel, causing the Heartless to back away from him.

However, for every heartless the gang brought down, several more were waiting for a chance and the gang were in a dead end corridor. Suddenly, the heartless stopped and began to vanish back into the shadows in the walls.

"Why'd they leave?" asked Contrinus. "I'm not complaining," said Chip, "We probably ought to take these people back up to the surface. It's not safe for them down here." Negamorph nodded and turned on the radio in his 'web of lies' tek-pak to call Matt. However all he got was a distorted whine. Draco was listening in and said "Well...thats never good."

"Right, looks like some of us will have to go down and fetch them," said NegaMorph, "The rest should take the captives back up top." Draco, Chip and Contrinus immediately began helping the still dazed ex-captives down the corridor. Shale however said "I'm coming with you. The creature behind this is still loose."

"It's not going to be easy, kid," said NegaMorph, "Not to mention you're still weak from being held here." "I'm coming." said Shale in a final tone of voice. "Your funeral," said NegaMorph, "And it'd probably be mine too if it is."

The group headed down the tunnels towards where the Lynches and Morgan had gone, stopping when they saw a blastdoor that had been blown off its hinges. The blast looked new but the red helix symbol that Morgan had warned them about was clearly visible.

"I think I got this," said Morph. He walked forward, spat on his hands, and rubbed them together. He then held out his hands and called, "Open sesame!" The door didn't move. Negamorph glared at his 'brother' and slapped him. "Usually doors are attached." he said before looking at the symbol. "...but I don't want to meet what tore this open."

"Whatever it was, it's probably going to be standing between us and the humans," said Silverfang in an uncharacteristically concerned voice.

The group nervously carried on until they came across the door apparently blocked by pure blackness. Negamorph looked at the shadow barrier, impressed. "Good craftmenship for a barrier." he said before hearing Chloes voice from the other side "Negamorph? Is that you?"

"Chloe? Are you guys ok?" called NegaMorph. "Most of us are but Spyro's still out cold and Matt's been stabbed bad. Some...dark one called Xodrin ambushed us and kicked our asses." said Chloe's voice. Silverfang and Negamorph noticed that Shale cringed at the name.

"Must be the boss here," said NegaMorph, "Don't worry, we'll get you out." Morph opened his mouth and NegaMorph clamped a hand over it. "With something other than 'open sesame'," he added. "Ok," said Morph, taking out his keyblade, "I'll open it with this." "How?" asked NegaMorph, "There's no keyhole."

Morph shrugged and poked the barrier that began to glow before vanishing, revealing the room beyond. Morgan was kneeling by Spyro, checking him for injuries while Matt had been leaned against a wall, his own injury quite visible. Chloe looked like she hadn't slept for weeks from sheer worry. "I gave him all the medi-nanites I got...but its not working." she said.

"He's been stabbed by an ion blade, it's not so easy to recover from a wound like that," said Morgan, "He'll need an amulet to fully activate his healing metabolism." Silverfang's expression didn't change as everyone turned to look at her. "We will not have our amulets used for war...and they cannot simply be given to you for a few minutes. They align to their owners." she said.

"I think we have to take a chance anyways," said Shale, "Xodrin is not easy to beat. We'll need all the help we can get and Shar-Khan are better-suited for fighting those things." Silverfang turned to glare at Shale before Matt said faintly. "I saved your butt."

Silverfang growled slightly and said, "Well, I suppose I do owe him for that. And my honor would be tarnished if he died before I repaid him." She said "Bring him. The amulets are not here...they are stored near the keyhole."

A little while later, the group was trying to judge the best way to get to the amulet room. "Well, it should be on the other side of this wall, but there's no door there," said Morgan, "So we'll have to go around and- NO WAIT!" NegaMorph took the initiative of sending a barrage of nega-blasts at the wall, blowing a large hole open.

Negamorph said "There. Instant door." before noticing Silverfangs and Morgans horrified gazes. "That...is a sacred room." said Silverfang while Morgan said weakly "The wall...this facilities priceless." NegaMorph shrugged and said, "Nothing lasts forever."

Silverfang and Morgan looked ready to rip Negamorph into small bits when Chloe said "Brother needing help." in reminder. "I know what'll make him feel better," said Morph, "How about I sing a song?" "NO!" shouted Chloe, NegaMorph, and Morgan.

The room beyond had several wooden storage racks full of the same golden amulets without the crystal shards. Silverfang looked suspiciously at the group before walking to another section of wall and touching a apparently innocent stone, making a archway appear. She walked inside to where several blue crystals were and broke some shards off.

"Huh, doesn't seem that hard to make," said Chloe. Silverfang gently inserted the first gem into its amulet, before going over to Matt and putting her hand on Matt's wound. Matt's blood trickled over the crystal, causing it to glow with red light.

Silverfang gently put the amulet round Matt's neck. St that the gem glowed brightly and Matts eyes rolled into the back on his head. Chloe seemed concerned before Silverfang explained, "He's fine, the healing knocked him out so it would work faster." Suddenly, there was a loud bang that seemed to come from the keyhole chamber. "Oh great, I bet that pitch-black creep's trying to break into the keyhole," said Chloe, getting up. "No," said Silverfang, "You need your amulet first."

Chloe sighed. "I'll be fine." Morgan nodded and turned to the morphs. "Come...I suggest we prevent finding out exactly what happens when the dark ones open that lock." he said. The trio ran through the tunnel into the keyhole room and immediately had to duck as a hail of energy bolts impacted around them. Four more of the warriors were standing defensively round Xodrin, who was setting up a device near the keyhole.

"These guys again? Where do they keep coming from?" asked NegaMorph. "Most likely more prisoners." said Morgan, before pulling out his ion blade. "Stop Xodrin. I will handle his...friends." he said before jumping up and deflecting a bolt from a warrior back into the chest of its shooter before sending another flying with a blast of high pressured water.

NegaMorph fired his fangs at the gaps between the other warriors' armor, hoping for at least a temporarily-debilitating hit. The warrior hit made a gurgling and dropped to the floor. Their armour was less covering then the other warriors the gang had faced before. However, when Negamorph turned his attention towards Xodrin, the warlord did not seem too worried, or even impressed. "My, you are a interesting lifeform, if a little ugly." he said, pressing a final icon on his device which then began pulsing.

"Oh no, there is no way I'm letting this planet fall into darkness," said NegaMorph, his Lockblade appearing in his hand. Xodrin yawned. "Oh please...you blade holders seem to pop out the woodwork but if you wish. It'll take a while for the lock to open." he said before sending a blast of his arc lightning into Negamorph, using the blade like a lightning rod.

NegaMorph was thrown backwards and into a wall. "I know that wasn't powerful enough to kill you," said Xodrin. Negamorph got up unsteadily and had to dodge another blast that blew a hole into the rock. "...but that was." finished Xodrin, a energy blade extending from his other gauntlet.

Then Xodrin heard a high-pitched battle cry and turned slightly to see Morph charging at him, morphing into Butter as he went. Xodrin merely took three steps to the left and Morph slammed into the rock wall.

"Good grief. Is this all the Shar Khan order can scrape together? However did you win?" he said, readying another burst of lightning to hit Negamoph, before a burst of yellow lightning shot out and began to twist wround him like a tentacle, electrocuting him.

Xodrin was briefly stunned, but soon pulled himself together to see Chloe, an amulet glowing around her neck. He managed to raise his blade in time to block a nasty downward slash that would have cut him in half. "Hmm...good form." he said causally. Chloe's eyes were glowing nastily. "You tried to gut my brother." she growled.

"I've tried to gut a lot of humans, hybridized or not," said Xodrin. Chloe growled and backed up to aim a decapitating cut, only for Xodrin to kick him in the chest, sending her rolling. "I'll say this though. The atlantean military must be desperate to send kids to war." continued Xodrin, smugly.

Just then, Morph, who had reverted to his normal form, unpeeled himself from the wall. He was rather dizzy from the crash and stumbled about, waving his arms to regain balance. Unintentionally, his Keyblade popped into his hand and he happened to bring its tip to Xodrin's ankle.

There was a flash of sparks and Xodrin hopped on his foot in pain, long enough for Chloe to punch him in the face. "Oof...those damn keyblades..." he muttered, before seeing his device activate. "Ah well...times up." he said.

The device started to secrete darkness, which was floating towards the Keyhole. "Oh no, you don't," said NegaMorph, swinging his Lockblade to chop at Xodrin. However, when it was briefly pointing at the Keyhole, a beam of red light shot into it, causing the darkness to back off for a second.

Xodrin actually laughed and pointed to where the others were all passing out, wisps of the shadow from the device around them. "You got a choice...stop me or stop the device. No time for both." he said, adding insult by turning off his blades and backing towards the exit.

Morgan, who was busy with the last of the warriors, shouted, "There's a slim chance you'd be able to beat him before that thing corrupts the Keyhole. Take care of it, we don't have time for him."

Xodrin laughed again and took out another device he threw at the wall, a shadow portal opening. "I don't think so, hybrid." he said, stepping in. NegaMorph growled for a second before calling, "Morph! Use that key on that Keyhole!" Morph looked at the keyhole and poked his blade at it, a white beam shooting out and hitting the lock. There was a click from it...followed by another click as the darkness tried to get into it.

NegaMorph immediately turned on the device generating the darkness and brought his Lockblade down on it like an axe. While the device was not damaged, there was a beep and the black smoke stopped flowing out, allowing the keyhole to lock with a final click. Morgan breathed a sigh of relief as the Lynches, Shale and Silverfang came round before going pale as a tinny vice from the device said "Konoch, vinide, sechnoch, ashnide."

"Er, is that a countdown?" asked Morph. "Yes...grab the others and run." siad Morgan urgently. "But the sacred caverns," protested Silverfang, "We must protect-" She was cut off when Morgan grasped the side of her neck, causing her to topple over unconscious. "How did you know the Vulcan Nerve Pinch?" asked Chloe. "The Vulcan what?" asked Morgan.

"Less talking, more running. Back into that compound." said Matt. The others turned and ran for it, Morgan carrying Silverfang. They had barely made it back into the amulet room when a deafening explosion was heard and about 30 tons of rock collapsed in front of the keyhole. "Well, at least there's no chance of those guys messing with that thing again," said Matt.

Morgan however was knelt down by Spyro. "We need to get him back above ground. He should not be unconscious." he said.

Although Gemmenite was overjoyed to have her son back, she put her personal feelings aside when she saw Spyro's condition. "Do you know what caused this?" she asked.

"A dark one attempted to corrupt him. In the insuring fight we were all rendered unconscious for a short while. Spyro however did not awaken." said Morgan. "I had feared as much," said Gemmenite, "Spyro is now in mortal combat with his dark side. He will remain in this state until one of them is victorious."

"Will he win?" said Matt, looking at Spyro. "Only if his will is strong and his heart is pure," said Gemmenite. "Can't we help in any way?" said Chloe. "No, like the test that determines Shar-Virk from Shar-Khan, this is a battle he must do on his own," said Gemmenite, "All we can do is wait."

Spyro looked around at the area he was in. It reminded him of the arena where he had fought the fake Cynder when attempting to reach the chronicler. As he stood there he got the terrible feeling he was not alone.

Spyro looked around and spotted what looked like a copy of himself. However, this copy was exactly like his dark form, with darkness swirling around it and white eyes shining out. "Its about time you showed it. Its time I got rid of you permently." said his dark form.

Spyro shook his head and said, "This can't be really. You can't be you, I'm you." "No...You created me the second you stepped into the well of souls all those years ago." said his dark form. Spyro glared back as he realized what he was looking at. This was the manifestation of all his dark and destructive desires, a creature that only exists to cause pain and mayhem. "You do not belong here," said Spyro sternly.

"Wrong. You can't live without me." said his dark side before firing a blast of convexity at Spyro. Spyro dodged and countered with a blast of fire. The flames hit Dark Spyro directly, only for the flamers to not even harm him. "Hah...You cannot defeat me so easily." Dark Spyro taunted.

Spyro thought carefully. If this really was his dark side, he'd have all the same powers that he did. That would also mean his ego would probably be larger as well as a strong will to fight as hard as he could. "Let's make it interesting," said Spyro, "No more breath attacks. We fight physically; claws and fangs, strength against strength."

Dark Spyro smirked "And why should I fight fair?" he said before attempting to blast Spyro again. Spyro dodged and rolled along the ground until he was close to his double. "The same reason I should fight fair," said Spyro before aiming a slash at his rival's eyes.

Dark Spyro roared, rearing back with several neat slash scars on his face now. "You'll pay for that." he said before saying "Its so sad what happened to Cynder, isn't it?" he taunted.

"As if you care," said Spyro, "You're probably glad that it happened." "Oh no, I found her company quite pleasing...though I was only...what does your human friend call it...a 'back seat driver'?" said Dark Spyro as the two adversaries circled.

"And you'll remain that way as long as I'm here," said Spyro. "Well, we'll have to fix that, won't we?" said Dark Spyro, grinning nastily. With those words, Dark Spyro leapt at Spyro, the two rolling across the arena until Spyro was stuck locking eyes with his dark counterpart. A dark mist began to flow onto Spyro.

Back in the real world, Spyro made a weak groan in his sleep and his scapes started to darken. Matt snapped at this "Dammit, this isn't some shar khan test. Are you sure there is no way to help?"

"Unless you're capable of astral projecting, I very much doubt it," said Gemmenite. "What about how Chloe got into my head last year when Draconus took control?" said Matt. Gemmenite pondered that for a few seconds and said, "That could work, however, you are aware of the potential consequences of that spell, correct?" "Chloe told me what Draconus tried to do. If the body or dream self dies, its game over." said Matt.

"Right," said Gemmenite, "So it should not be considered lightly." "He did the same for me...so I owe him one." said Matt, before turning to the other present members of his crew. "Nobody has to come." he said. "I can't come anyways," said Morph, "I'm not allowed in other people's dreams, court order." Chloe stepped forward. "I'm definately coming...you need a chaperone." she said.

"I might come, but knowing me, I'd just make the nightmare worse," said NegaMorph. "Someone needs to stay and make sure Dark Spyro doesn't try to do what Draconus did." said Matt. "I shall stay here," said Morgan, "I should be able to restrain Dark Spyro enough, at least enough for additional help to step in."

"Ok...So, how does this wo...?" began Matt before Gemmenite sent the spell at him and Chloe, knocking them both out.

Back in Spyro's dream, Spyro felt like his strength was being drained away. "Don't worry. I'll look after Cynder." taunted Dark Spyro, before a plasma and lightning bolt sent him flying.

Spyro looked up to see Matt and Chloe standing there. "Figures she'd use that same spell," said Matt. "What same spell?" asked Chloe. "I'll tell you later," said Matt. Dark Spyro got up, hardly damaged. "Huh...calling for back up. Can't face me yourself, you weakling?" he said.

"Oh, we're mostly referees," said Chloe. Dark Spyro snarled and streamed a beam of Convexity in the ground in front of the Lynches, making a barrier. Then he turned to his benevolent counterpart and said, "Let's have no more interference, shall we?"

He got a shock shortly after as Spyro had already got a run-up and he was in time to see Spyro tackle him. Again they were sent rolling across the arena, almost over the edge of the pit Dark Spyro had made.

Spyro spotted the oncoming edge of the pit and dug his claws into the ground to stop the rolling. Dark Spyro rolled over the edge though. Matt and Chloe finally decided to abandon pretence, turning dragon to clear the pit and changing back to grab Spyro's forearms.

However, thought Spyro was not quite adult-size yet, he was still pretty heavy for a human to lift, genetic enhancing or not. However an extra weight was because Dark Spyro was holding onto Spyro's tail, a look of fear on his face.

It was all Matt could do to keep himself from falling down, let alone pull the dragons back up. "Chloe, a little help?" he said in a strained voice. Chloe grabbed Spyro's other arm. Dark Spyro however said "Please...don't let me fall...you can't exist without me." he said in a fearful voice.

Matt considered for a minute. If this was like the Shar-Khan test, then Dark Spyro's death would mean that Spyro would become corrupted. However, full-blooded dragons' corruption tests might work differently from part-dragon's.

However the simple fact was that with Dark Spyro's weight added to Spyro, meant that they wouldn't be able to hold onto him. Already their grip on Spyro was slipping.

"If one of you started flying, that'd be really appreciative," called Chloe. Dark Spyro's gaze darkened. "If I go, I'm taking him with me." he said and started to claw his way up.

Of course, this concentrated the amount of weight, causing Matt and Chloe to skid forward slightly as they were being dragged closer to the edge. "If I go, you all go with me...your friends will die, Spyro." said Dark Spyro, coldly.

Spyro glared back at his dark doppleganger and said, "No, no one dies because of you, today or evermore." He then shook his body, nearly taking Matt and Chloe over the edge, but it had the effect of making Dark Spyro lose his grip.

Matt and Chloe pulled Spyro up and looked down to see Dark Spyro falling into the pit. After a minute, cracks of light seemed to appear over Dark Spyro before he exploded into a black mass of energy that shot back into Spyro.

Matt and Chloe braced themselves for Spyro to turn dark and turn on them, but nothing seemed to happen. "I...I can feel him there...but he's no longer on control." Spyro said thoughtfully before adding "...and he never will be again."

The Lynch siblings said nothing for a while before Matt piped, "Good, now, how do we get out of here?"

Darkans However was not having a good day. Cynder had proved extremely resilient to his corruption and Malefor as he was, wasn't in any state to offer any advice. "If I have to put up with her smartass attitude one more time, I'll..." he muttered before a voice said "...or what, Darkans?" Darkans span to see "Lord Xodrin." he whimpered.

"Er, I'm so relieved to see that you're alive and well," said Darkans. "You left me to rot in that clammy worm dungeon," growled Xodrin. Darkans backed up, nervously. "Erm...what you gonna do?" he whimpered. Xodrin walked forward with his ion blade out then said "Well...I'm pleased I taught you so well." he said with a grin before looking at Darkans. "A war leader now, I see. I wondered who the council would send to secure the gates opening." he said.

"Yes, I did have to flee in order to amass our army. The Council decreed it," said Darkans, "After all, in your absence, someone had to take command." Xodrin may not have been a mercenary, but his bullshit detector was going off the scale. "How pathetic," he said, slamming Darkans into a wall before grabbing him tightly by the neck.

Darkans gasped for air. "I assure you...there was no time to get you out." he said in a choking voice. Xodrin turned to see the heartless Malefor come in. Xodrin grinned "Now thats impressive. Your own work?" he said, loosening his grip enough to allow Darkans to speak.

"Yes, one of the most powerful dragons on Avalar, completely ours to command," said Darkans. "I presume you made sure his heart did not presume a Nobody. From what I hear, the Thirteen are still around...the last we want is more running around." said Xodrin, walking around Malefor who was standing there like a robot awaiting another order.

Darkans' smiled faltered for a microsecond but he quickly said, "Of course, I made sure there wasn't any Nobody formed. What kind of Armethian would I be if I didn't make sure of such?"

Xodrin sighed "You know that you're a very bad liar." he said, pinning Darkansa again. "I met one of your enemies and got a good look at his memories. I presume you have corrupted Miss Cynder?"

"Er, I'm working on it," squeaked Darkans. "How disappointing," said Xodrin, tossing Darkans aside, "Even in captivity, there's no true command but mine." "First off, you are thinking small. Did you not look at her past memories? She is far more useful with just a personality adjustment." said Xodrin, adding "Show me to her."

Darkans led his commander to the cell in which he had been keeping Cynder in. Cynder turned to look at them. She had been chained in place with 4 Dark one warriors constantly aiming at her. "Who's the new guy?" she said and went wide eyed in pain as Xodrin sent a blast of the lightning to arc around her head. "Your new master, thats who." said Xodrin, smirking.

Oh no. A dark one warleader on the loose and it looks like Cynders in trouble. Tune in next time.