Chapter 8: The Defender of Avalar
We made all the preparations we needed, convincing my mother to let me go on a "trip" with my friends was a bit tough, especially after the city nearly got destroyed, but with a little convincing, I managed to get her to agree.
We had all agreed to meet at the city park after packing our supplies and saying goodbye to our families, we all knew this was going to be a long trip, and we wanted to be as prepared as we possibly could be.
Kevin and I were the first to make it to the park, we both had backpacks full of extra clothes, food, water bottles, and other such items. "So… you ready for this?" I asked Kevin, "I mean, we're about to got to an alternate dimension, not exactly a thing many people get to claim to do," I added.
Kevin shrugged, "I just wanna get this over with, after our brawl with the world's ugliest dragon I think I'm looking forward to passing out for the next… say… couple months?" He said half jokingly.
I shook my head, "Well we'll have plenty of time to relax after we get that Purple Dragon Morpher," I said.
Soon enough, the other half of our team showed up and… holy crap did Dean have a big bag! The thing was almost as big as he was! How much crap did he pack?! "Whoa Dean, you raid the whole Walmart before coming here?" Kevin asked.
Dean laughed it off, "You can never be too prepared dude, you'll be thanking me when we have to rough it for a night or two, I got enough tents in here for all four of us," He said rather proudly.
Kevin rolled his eyes, "I doubt we're going to be staying for long dude, we're just going to bust into Spyro's bro's tomb and snagging a morpher, not taking a vacation," He said.
Jess decided to interject, "Come on guys don't fight, we don't know how long we're going to be there, it never hurts to be a little prepared," she said. She had a pretty good point, it was better we were ready for anything, we had no clue how long this would take, nor what even awaited us in the Dragon Realms.
Leaving it at that, we all teleported to the Dragon Temple, where Spyro was right there waiting for us, "About time you four showed up," he said, "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up," he added.
Kevin chuckled, "Come on Spyro, we wouldn't bail on you like that," he said, causing the old purple dragon to have his own little chuckle.
He then produced some kind of weird looking crystal, "Travel between the realms is almost impossible without the special crystal like this, mages use them to travel to their nexus realm, I managed to grab one before going into hibernation, I figured I'd need one just in case," He explained.
He then pointed it to the far side of the room, suddenly a portal just appeared out of nowhere, Spyro then handed the crystal to me, "Use it to return to the temple once you have the Purple Dragon Morpher, simply picture the dragon temple in your head and point it to where you want the portal to appear, and you can return home," he explained.
Why did I have the sinking feeling I'd end up losing this thing? God would that suck! I placed it in my backpack before we all made our way towards the portal, "Remember!" Spyro said before we stepped through, "The tomb your looking for should be a short distance from where you appear! But be on your guard, there's no telling what will be waiting for you there! Be careful, and may the Ancestors look after you," He said before we all stepped through.
Suddenly we found ourselves in some kind of swamp land, it sure smelled like one at least, nice. "Alright, let's go snag ourselves a morpher!" I said, Spyro had said the tomb wasn't too far from where we were, perhaps Kevin would be right and we wouldn't need to spend too long here? Knock on wood.
We all trudged through the swamp, which was about as pleasant as you'd think, god I was going to need new shoes after this, and pants… the joys of being a Power Ranger am I right? It wasn't long before we found what I assumed to be the temple we were looking for, just sort of sitting there in the middle of the swamp for some reason, you'd think the brother of the legendary purple dragon would get a little more respect than this?
The tomb was your typical brick set up, however, two bronze statues of dragonflies sat at both ends of the entrance, how random. We all stood there for a good five minutes, not one of us really wanting to set foot in a tomb.
Kevin finally got fed up, "Fine! I'll do the grave robbing!" He said before walking over to the tomb, Kevin disappeared into the inky blackness beyond the doorway, a few more minutes passed before suddenly, "It's not in here!" Kevin called from the tomb.
My heart hit the floor, "What do you mean it's not in there?!" I asked in a mix of shock and terror.
Kevin walked out of the tomb, "Nothing in there but a really tiny coffin dude, someone must have made off with it," he clarified.
Well this was just fantastic! Some jerk stole the morpher! Now what were we supposed to do? "Perhaps it's in the Dragon City of Warfang?" Theorized Ignitus, Warfang? Well it was about as good a lead as any, problem though, I had no idea how to get there, like… at all. "You forget young ranger, you have someone in your head who knows the way quite well," Ignitus said in a slightly mocking tone, dude I get it your in my brain, no need to be a jerk about it.
So with that, I told the others we were headed for Warfang, Ignitus subconsciously lead the way, like some kind of mystical GPS, and my was it a long walk. With every step, I hated this little adventure of ours more and more, god why did someone have to make off with the morpher? What exactly did they think they were gonna do with it anyway? Blow away the Dragon Realms' Halloween party?
Dean seemed to be the only one not hating life right now, dude was walking like fatigue was just a silly thing that only mortals worried about, "Dude, how much farther?" asked Kevin, "My legs feel like they're about to explode!" he whined.
"Warfang is still quite a distance away" Ignitus informed me, "We still have to cut through the valley of Avalar," He added.
I sighed, "Sorry Kev, Ignitus says we still have quite a hike ahead of us," I said, causing Kevin to groan in disapproval.
Dean turned himself around to face Kevin, walking backwards now, "Come on man, you need to work out more," he teased the Blue Ranger, Kevin's only reply was flipping Dean off, "Oh now that's uncalled for man," Dean said before turning himself back around so he was walking forwards.
However, suddenly out of nowhere, something snagged Kevin in the leg, sending him upwards before he found himself dangling upside down by a thick rope, "Guys! Help! Get me down!" Kevin said, flailing his arms around trying to get free.
"Boss! We got one!"
Suddenly out of no where a bunch of… baboons of all things came bursting from the undergrowth, like a bunch of furry ninjas. Each one was adorned in makeshift armor, they were joined by a very large baboon, who seemed quite pleased he had snagged Kevin, "One out of four ain't bad," he said in gravely voice, "I don't know what you four are or where you came from, but I know that dragon stink anywhere," he added.
None of us knew what was happening or why we were being attacked by a bunch of monkeys in armor, "Any ally of those overgrown lizards are an enemy of the ape armies! Kill them!" The large baboon ordered his underlings.
Well, while we haven't found the Purple Dragon Morpher, we did find a fight, yay? Jess, Dean, and I, all took fighting stances, "Can any of you get to Kevin?" I asked.
Dean nodded, "Leave it to me," He said.
I nodded back, "Jess and I will take the apes, you get Kevin free," I ordered everyone, and with that, the apes launched themselves at us, wild and crazed, claws and teeth bared. I kicked one right in the head sending him tumbling into a tree.
Before I could even think of my next move another ape attacked, throwing surprisingly graceful punches and kicks, I wasn't used to fighting something that actually knew martial arts, and got caught with a powerful haymaker knocking me down, the apes wasted no time in capitalizing, piling on top of me, I tried to fight them off but the numbers game eventually won out, "This one has some fight in him!" one ape commented with a laugh.
The apes held me down, with another brandished some kind of gnarly looking sword, mangled and slightly rusty, "Hold him still," the sword wielding ape said, readying himself for the killing blow, I tried not to show fear, out of some odd need to not look weak in the face of death I guess…. However…
Suddenly a purple blur knocked the ape right on his ass, everyone stopped in wonder to see the stranger that had decided to join the fray, "Oh no!" one of the apes holding me down whined, "Not him again!" he added.
I looked again to see the stranger closer and there was no mistaking what he was now, he was clearly a Power Ranger, but one I hadn't seen before, his outfit was not unlike the rest of ours, aside from the golden chest armor he wore over his purple suit, his helmet's mouth area was slightly jutted out more, and it was obvious said helmet was meant to resemble Spyro, he held a long silver blade in his hands, with purple markings across the blade and a purple gem in the middle of it, the hilt resembled a dragon head, with the wings serving as a cross guard.
The mysterious ranger then struck a pose, "I am the Defender of Avalar! Champion of the dragon realms! Power of Aether! Purple Dragon Ranger!" The stranger said in a young male voice, striking another pose.
Well, looks like we found the Purple Dragon Morpher, it seems that this guy had somehow found the thing, and was using it to play vigilante or something. The Purple Ranger wasted no time in kicking the apes asses with surprising efficiency. Striking each ape down in one move, it didn't take long for him to clear them out.
The largest ape began to back away, "You haven't seen the last of us Purple Ranger! We'll be back!" He said trying and failing to hide how scared he was before bolting into the swamp lands.
The Purple Ranger then threw his sword into the air, cutting the rope that held Kevin in the air, sending him crashing onto the hard ground. The rest of us just sort of inched towards the new ranger, "Uh… hi… we-" I began, trying to introduce myself to the new ranger, only to be cut off when he pointed his sword right at my throat, making me stop right in my tracks.
"Who are you? What are you doing so close to the Valley of Avalar?" He growled.
Jess decided to answer, "We're… we're the P.. Power Rangers… w… we came here looking for the Purple Dragon m.. morpher," she stammered.
The Purple Ranger weirdly sounded with a feline like snarl, "Well you came in vain!" he growled, "I will not surrender it! The apes attack my village daily, I need this power to defend them! I will not let you take it from me!" He protested.
Oh great, he wasn't willing to play ball, Dean tried his hand next, "Look man, it doesn't have to be like that, you can come back with us and-" He began, before a growl from our purple friend cut him off.
"I will do nothing of the sort!" He snarled, "I'm needed here, I suggest you tell whoever sent you that your traveled in vain, I have no interest in any of you or whatever your mission is," He said. Of course he was being difficult, because nothing can ever be easy for us can it? The Purple Ranger then leaped into a tree, "Do not follow me! Or else I will strike you down! So swears the Purple Ranger!" He said before vanishing.
Kevin got up off the ground, "Someone sure has a flair for the dramatic," he commented, "So what do we do now?" He asked.
Jess stepped forward, "We can't just leave! We need that morpher!" She said.
Dean sighed, "We just need to get him to listen, his world is in just as much danger as ours, if we can just convince him," He suggested.
Kevin shook his head, "Dude's a loon, we're better off just ripping that thing off his wrist and finding someone less nuts," he countered.
Dean then turned to me, "You're the leader Dylan, what's your call?" he asked me.
On one hand, Kevin had a point, the guy was clearly not interested in helping us, but still, convincing him might be our best option, he was familiar enough with his powers to be an asset to the team, "We go with Dean's plan, we find him, and we convince him, and if that fails, then we can take the morpher off him," I said.
Kevin rolled his eyes, "Sure! Let's recruit the maniac that held a sword to your throat! That will end well!" he complained, it was my plan Kevin, if you didn't like it then that's your problem, besides, I know if I can just get the guy to understand then he'll change his tune.
Later…
The Ranger had mentioned the Valley of Avalar, so we all assumed that was the best place to start looking for him, I had a sinking feeling we'd end up having to fight him, especially after the not so subtle warning he gave us before leaving, but we had to try, the fate of two worlds was at stake here!
It took a while to even get to said Valley of Avalar, but when we reached it, it was a refreshing change from the dingy swamp we had found ourselves in prior, but it wasn't all that impressive, just a typical, boring valley.
I could see a small village in the distance, complete with straw huts, this was what the Purple Ranger deemed worth dooming both worlds for? Whatever, we all began to approach the village, figuring it was a good place to start, however we didn't even get two feet close before we suddenly found ourselves ambushed again.
However, instead of apes, we found ourselves surrounded on all sides by what could only be described as cheetah men, although their hair was much longer than the typical cheetah, making them look more like bobcats, they were all dressed in tunics and brandishing medieval weaponry, and judging by the looks on their faces, they were poised to use them on us at the drop of a hat.
One of the cheetahs slowly approached, spear pointed right at my head, "Who are you? What buisness do you have in our Valley?" The cheetah snarled.
I rose my hands up, trying to show I wasn't armed, "Dude, relax! We aren't here for a fight, we're looking for someone, a Purple Power Ranger… he mentioned the Valley of Avalar so we figured he'd be here," I tried to explain, I didn't know if these guys would even know what a Power Ranger was, but I really wasn't looking to start a fight again.
The cheetahs kept their weapons on us, "We know not of this "Purple Ranger" you speak of! We will not ask again! Leave or die!" The cheetah warned us. It seemed that I was right in assuming these cheetahs didn't know what a Power Ranger was, but it wasn't exactly going to do us any favors either since Chester Cheetah here seemed quite poised to run his spear tight though my stupid face.
"Wait!" One suddenly said, "Look! His wrist!" He added, pointing to me.
The Cheetah with the spear looked at my wrist, eyes widening when he saw my morpher, "The Dragon symbol of fire!" he exclaimed. "From where did you get this?" He asked me.
I decided to try telling the truth, hoping to god he'd buy it, "The Purple Dragon gave it to me, he sent us here to find the Purple Dragon morpher," I explained.
This caused the cheetahs to lower their weapons, "Any friend of the great Purple Dragon is a friend of this village," He said, oh thank god! I was not ready to fight off an entire village of giant kitty cats right now.
However, one cheetah didn't seem to agree, "We can't trust them!" one said, he looked quite young, slender, he wore a purple tunic with matching hooded cape, a sword sheathed at his side, "Look at them! They're apes!" He added, oh come on dude! Really?
The cheetah turned to the other cheetah, "Enough Zenith!" the cheetah barked at his paranoid friend, revealing his name to be Zenith, the cheetah then turned to me, "You must forgive my son, he is loyal but very mistrusting," He explained, revealing that he was Zenith's father, "Come allies of the Purple Dragon, you look quite worn from your journey, especially the blue one," He said.
Kevin did look a bit out of sorts, then again, being hung upside down for a good couple of minutes and having pointy sticks pointed at him was enough to make anyone a bit crabby.
We all followed the cheetahs into the village, it wasn't much to look at really, just a bunch of straw huts and such. Zenith's father lead us into a specific hut, where a rather old looking cheetah sat in front of a burn pit of some sorts, currently unlit but still holding a few charred logs in it. "Darvis, who are these four? What are they?" The old feline asked.
The elder feline was orange in color, his face sagged and wrinkled, a scar ran across his right eye, his robes were tan in color, with a paw print buckle holding it in place, Zenith's father, Darvis I guess, got on one knee, "Forgive me Chief Prowlus, but these creatures claim to be of the employ of the Purple Dragon, they bear the symbols of the dragons," He explained, giving the elder cat a name, Prowlus.
Prowlus looked us over with his aged eyes, "What brings you to my village?" He asked quite sternly.
"We came looking for the Purple Dragon Morpher," I said, but realized they probably had no clue what a morpher even was, "A device like this," I said, showing off my morpher.
Prowlus got up from his spot, and slowly trudged his way over to me, using a walking cane which upon further inspection was just a large tree branch, the old cat then grabbed my arm, studying the morpher closely, "Ah… I heard rumors years ago that Spyro was creating such devices," He commented, "You claim that a fifth is here?" He asked me.
Dean decided to answer, "Well, kinda, we ran into someone who had found the Purple Dragon Morpher, he claimed to be the "Defender of Avalar", so we figured he'd be here," he explained.
The chief's eyes widened, "You think one of my villagers has acquired such a device?" He asked us.
We all looked at each other, before answering, "Well, maybe, we don't know for sure, we're just following the only lead we have," I clarified.
Prowlus nodded, "Very well, but for now I urge you to rest, I will inform the dragons of Warfang you are here, I'm certain they will be quite interested in your presence," He said, "Darvis, show our guests to their chambers," He instructed Darvis, Darvis did so, leading us out of the hut.
Later…
The hut Prowlus had given us was quite small, but I didn't exactly plan on staying long so it wasn't that big of a deal really, there wasn't much inside the hut, a simple cot and burn pit at the center.
Suddenly our morphers beeped, a hologram of Spyro appeared in the center of the hut, "Rangers, what's your progress? It's been a few hours, have you found the morpher yet?" He asked.
We all just sort of looked at each other, none of us really wanting to be the one to break the news to the purple dragon, but eventually, Kevin decided to be the one to break the news, "Well, yes and no," He said, "We found the morpher, but it's kinda already been… claimed," he clarified.
Spyro raised an eyeridge, "Someone's already picked it up? How?" He asked.
I shook my head, "No clue, but he wasn't exactly willing to join up with us, the dude seemed to fancy himself some Defender of Avalar, or something, we're currently looking for him in some cheetah village," I explained.
Spyro sighed, "I was afraid of that, you have to convince this person to join us, removing those powers from someone is almost impossible, it's part of why I scrapped that morpher, I wanted to give my rangers the option to walk away it they wished to," He explained, I head Kevin groan, knowing he wasn't too keen on the Purple Ranger joining the group. "You need to find that ranger! And quickly, I don't know how much longer Malefor or his forces are going to lay low, and I don't want to leave your world defenseless longer than I have to," He added.
With that, the hologram vanished, this was a right pickle wasn't it? Now we had to convince the Purple Ranger to join the group, which wasn't going to be easy, the dude seemed to want nothing at all to do with any of us.
However, we didn't get much time to think this over as we heard someone cry "Apes!" from outside, all four of us decided to leave the hut and see what the commotion was about, only to find an army of apes lead by that same big ape from before, he was face to face with Darvis and the rest of the village, "I'll give you one last chance Cheetah, surrender the village or watch it burn!" The ape grunted.
Darvis snarled, "We'll never surrender to you or your ilk Grave," He said, revealing the ape's name to be Grave, such weird names in this world I swear.
Grave smirked, "You can't fight us all off feline," he said, before suddenly knocking Darvis to the ground with a cheap shot, "Especially when you let your guard down like that," Grave laughed.
"Father!" Zenith cried, rushing to his father's aid, I couldn't watch this anymore!
I rushed forward, putting myself between Zenith and Grave, "That's enough! Back off or else!" I demanded.
Grave laughed, "Well look who it is! Did you forget already how our last encounter went? Your little purple friend isn't here to save you this time whelp!" Grave cackled.
I noticed Zenith look at his sword out of the corner of my eye, for what reason I had no clue, but I couldn't focus on that right now, I had an ape to humble, "Well, last time I didn't get the chance to do this!" I said before going into my morphing stance. "It's morphin' time!" I called out before the others joined my side.
"Legendary Dragon! Power of Red Fire!"
"Legendary Dragon! Power of Blue Ice!"
"Legendary Dragon! Power of Green Earth!"
"Legendary Dragon! Power of Yellow Electricity!"
The giant ape laughed, "Nice outfits, but they won't help you against me!" He snarled before knocking us all back with one huge right hook, it felt like getting hit by a dump truck! But I was quick to my feet again.
I turned to the cheetahs, "Go! Get to safety! We'll handle this over grown monkey!" I said, the cheetahs did so, hiding themselves in their huts.
All except one of course, "I'm not abandoning my father!" cried Zenith, of course he was going to be difficult right?
Dean grabbed him by the arm, "Come on man! Let us handle this!" He said, but Zenith swatted Dean's arm away.
He then drew his sword which upon further inspection, looked exactly like the one the… Purple Ranger was holding… wait… he… he can't be, "I can defend myself! This is my village!" He said before uncovering his right arm, revealing a morpher, "And I'm going to defend it!" He said before bringing the blade of the sword to the gem on his morpher, "Legendary Dragon! Power of the Purple Dragon!" He called, revealing that Zenith was the Purple Ranger.
He morphed into that form, "I told you not to follow me Power Rangers!" He growled, oh boy, looks like we were getting that fight with the Purple Ranger a lot sooner than we thought.
Grave meanwhile, found the whole thing hilarious, "So the Purple Ranger turns out to be a little Cheetah whelpling? This is too much!" He laughed.
Zenith didn't take too kindly to that, "I'll show you who's a whelpling ape! HIYAH!" He said, leaping into he air, his sword sparking with a similar energy to the energy that formed on the Mega Zord's sword, "AETHER BURST!" He cried, sending the purple energy right at Grave, who grunted as it made contact.
But he quickly recovered, "Nice try Purple Ranger! But you'll need more than that to beat me!" He said before decking the Purple Ranger right in the face, sending him right into our waiting arms.
However Zenith quickly pushed us off him, "I don't need your help! Stay out of my way!" He admonished us.
You know, I've had more than enough of this overgrown kitty cat's attitude, "Look!" I growled, "Whether you like it or now furball, you're a Power Ranger, and so are we! And Power Rangers fight together! You can't take this guy alone! Let us help you!" I said.
Zenith snarled, "I don't WANT you help!" He roared, one again pushing me aside, however I wasn't backing down, I needed to convince this little twerp to work with us, and I wasn't taking no for an answer.
I grabbed him by the shield, bringing his helmeted face up to mine, "You need our help! Look around you Zenith! These guys are going to destroy your village, everything you've ever known and loved! What kind of "Defender of Avalar" leaves his village to rot all because he's too prideful to accept the help of his fellow rangers?" I asked him.
"Ahem," Sounded Grave, "If you two lovebirds are done with your little quarrel, I have a village to destroy," He said.
I turned to Zenith, "Come on dude, whatever petty little grudge you have with us isn't worth sacrificing your people over, we can take him together! What do you say?" I said, really hoping I'd get through to him, I knew even morphed I wouldn't be able to take him on my own.
Zenith thought it over for what felt like an eternity, before finally, "Fine! But only for now," he relented, it was a start at least.
"Sword of Flame!" I said, summoning my weapon, "Alright monkey boy, playtime is over!" I said, readying my sword.
Zenith and I both slashed our swords downwards, sending a mix of fire and… whatever Zenith's element was, right at Grave, who found himself knocked on his ass along with the rest of his little army. "Give up now Grave!" I said before being joined by the rest of the Rangers, "You can't take all five of us!" I added.
Grave slowly got up, clearly rocked from that last hit."You… you little… I'll kill all five of you! RAAAAAH!" He said before charging us like a madman.
I stood firm, "Alright guys, bring 'em together!" I instructed everyone, looking to form the Legendary Dragon Blaster.
"Ax of Earth!"
"Daggers of Lightening!"
"Lance of Ice!"
"Sword of Flame!"
The Legendary Dragon Blaster fell right into our hands, however, Zenith slapped his own sword onto the top, "Purple Dragon Sword!" I called as he did so, the blaster sparked with purple energy, as we all got ready to fire it right in the face of that ugly son of a bitch.
"Legendary Dragon Blaster!" All five of us called, "FIRE!", the blaster shot it's elements right at the ape warlord, he cried in pain as the blaster made contact, he fell to the ground, motionless, oh man… I think we killed him…
However, his apes helped him to his feet, revealing he was more dazed by the attack than killed, "You haven't seen the last of us Power Rangers! We'll be back!" One of the apes snarled before they all retreated.
I couldn't help but smirk, watching those wannabe conquerors run away with their tails between their legs, "Good job team! Those baboons never knew what hit 'em," I exclaimed.
However, "There, we drove them out! Now leave!" Zenith yelled, well I guess it was a bit much to hope blasting Grave in the face would be enough to convince him to join us.
I didn't know what else to say to him, he was so set in his ways I doubted I could reason with him, however, "Zenith?"
We all looked to see Zenith's father back on his feet, Zenith fumbled around a bit, not sure how to explain any of this to his father, "Father… I… I can explain!" He stammered.
Zenith's father approached him, "Son, why didn't you say anything? They came here for something you had the entire time?" He asked.
Zenith growled, "Because I don't want anything to do with them! I use this power to protect our village! And they want to take that away from me! From US!" He protested.
Darvis shook his head, "Son, what they fight for is far more important than our village, Prowlus told me that the purple dragon created these morphers to stop Malefor when he rises again, if they fail, we lose far more than just our village," He explained.
I decided to step in, "Look, I get you want to protect your home Zenith," I began, "But right now… all of our homes are at stake, the best thing you can do for your village, is help us stop Malefor," I said.
Zenith thought it over for an agonizingly long amount of time, come on man, was it really that hard of a decision? "Alright, I'll join your group, but only to keep my world safe, I have no interest in being your "friend"," Zenith spat, well… at least we got him to join up… that had to count for something right?
Well now that that was dealt with, time to head back, we all headed for the hut we had been offered, where our stuff was and by extension, the crystal we needed to head back to the Dragon Temple, however, when we opened the door, we found everything in tatters.
Clothing and supplies laid sprawled all over the floor, backpacks torn to shreds, and worst of all, no sign of the crystal Spyro gave me, "Oh no no no no! You can't be serious!" I said, tossing clothes aside trying to find the crystal, dammit the apes must have raided the hut while we were fighting Grave!
Zenith approached, "What is it? What are you looking for?" He asked, of course he had no clue what it was I was losing my mind over, but the others seemed to have a general idea.
I sighed, "Spyro gave me a crystal used for transporting between worlds," I said, "And the apes took it," I added, we were now stranded in the Dragon Realms, I knew taking that crystal would bite me in the ass…
A/N: Uh oh! Looks like our heroes are trapped in the Dragon Realms! Can our heroes find a way back? Or will the Human Realms remain unprotected?
Finally, I was able to add the fifth member to the group, Zenith being a cheetah was something I had planned from the start, I wanted at least one Ranger to represent Spyro's world, and I thought it would add a nice dynamic to the group.
Update: 8/25/18: Research is important kids, had to change "Convexity" to "Aether" due to learning "Aether is the proper name for the element intended by the developers of TLoS. (It's even referred to as such in the game's code) Ya learn somethin' new everyday.