(Minutes before…)
(Back, on the way to Warfang…)
Spyro and Thorr were flying at full speed back to the city. Things at the Great Dam seemed to have calmed down, as no enemy attacked after Talvot's defeat. As they flew, a horde or flock of gargoyles came after them.
"I'll take care of it," Spyro exclaimed, "Fire blast!"
Spyro breathed out a powerful ball of fire that went towards the enemies and exploded, reducing them to ashes.
"Piece of cake," Spyro said.
"Watch out Spyro!" Thorr yelled at him as he pointed behind him.
Another great horde of gargoyles, with spectral ape riders surprised Spyro for a minute.
"Earth Storm!"
A shower of rocks and leaves rained down on the small army, several were trapped and crushed by the storm while the rest fell in a long fall into the woods.
"I owe you one, Thorr," Spyro thanked him.
"It's nothing" the guardian excused himself, "Come on, the city is ahead and our companions may need all our help"
The dragons hastened the flight. Once the woods ended, they found the valley leading to the city beset with enemies: more ape wraiths, ground and flying grublins, orcs, and trolls. It seemed that the previous war was just the appetizer and that army was the main course.
The Trolls were pounding on the doors incessantly, struggling to get inside. Thorr would not allow it.
"Wrath of Nature!"
His powerful attack only drove the Trolls back, but there were more coming towards the gate.
"Wall of Flames!" two voices shouted.
Two fireballs knocked down several enemies while creating a barrage of fire that knocked the others back.
"Flame! Johnny!" Spyro yelled as he landed next to them on the wall, "Wow, good idea to slow them down."
"We didn't stop them all..." Jhonny concluded when he saw that some of them were going through the fire even hurting themselves, "Plan B. Thorr, we need rock walls immediately: command the earth dragons"
"Understood" he answered and he flew towards his group that was waiting for him at the foot of the walls.
The earth dragons formed a defensive line at each end of the city. The army was closing in as the mole-controlled cannons tried to keep them at bay. All together they hit the ground below them and huge rock walls rose up that barred even the Trolls from passing.
"Be careful!" Thorr yelled at them, "The enemy is also sneaking underground!"
Spyro, Flame, Johnny and Ray also heard that and descended to the plaza, where several orcs and ground grublins were starting to come out of the ground and several dragons were facing them. For Spyro, he now had an advantage: he had grown up and now more of his companions and dragons were helping him.
"There you go, Spyro!" Jhonny yelled at him, hitting a grublin with his claws.
Spyro used his tail and sent him flying so hard that he even flew over the rocky wall.
"Here now!" Flame yelled as he smashed a couple more grublins, "That was a good shot."
As they finished off the last remaining minions, an electricity dragon came rushing in and looking nervous.
"Generals!" he yelled, "A dark enemy has penetrated the defenses and is in the cellar. He has turned the guards to stone."
"In stone?" asked Jhonny, "Damn, we better stop it"
A banging sound on the wall alerted them: the Trolls were trying to break down the defense.
"That wall won't last long with so many Trolls hitting it" said Ray, "You take charge of defending, I'll go and face the thief"
"Are you sure Ray?" Spyro asked, "If I turned you to stone..."
"Do you trust me?"
"Of course we trust you. But if you need help…"
"Don't worry, if that were to happen, I know I have to run away and fight another day"
Jhonny approached him and said:
"A lot of caution, mate. We will defend the city until you return."
Ray nodded and they all hurried over. Then, he headed towards the main warehouse of the city, where he had collected the most spiritual gems to resupply the armies. In the open (or, rather, collapsed) gate, there were a couple of stone statues in the shape of dragons that were shocked and defensive.
"So I wasn't kidding, these are the guards…" Ray thought, but he entered anyway.
The place was full of spiritual gems distributed in rows and by colors for differences between those that were to heal and to recover mana. There were also a few shields just in case the moles needed them. In the center of the room, a Dark One was disrespectfully stuffing several gems into a chest.
"Those gems don't belong to you" Ray told him, "Now give up or I'll have to destroy you"
The Dark One turned. He had one less eye and snake marks on his body, from his neck hung some kind of stone with a shape a dragon had never seen before. His name was Zidxar.
"Wow, another dragon that wants to become a statue..." he mentioned.
The dragon raised his head, pointing to the strange stone that he hung around his neck. Instinctively, Ray moved to the side and hid behind a pillar to avoid looking directly at the amulet as it glowed.
"So... you know a little about my ability..." Zidxar inquired, "But don't think you can escape... Medusa's Serpent Burst!"
The snakes drawn on his body like tattoos came to life and attacked the pillar where Ray was hiding. They were not normal: because when biting the marble it turned into stone. One of them caught up with Ray on the wing. The pain passed almost immediately, but that wasn't the worst: his wing was now slowly turning to stone.
Now exposed, Zidxar attempted to use his amulet once more. Ray, who had no cover anymore, just tried to close his eyes. By the time he got them open he seemed like he wasn't affected by it.
"It's not that easy," Zidxar explained, "Don't think you can escape with your eyes closed. Look to you"
Ray looked at his back left leg: he was slowly turning to stone and his right wing was almost completely turned, he didn't have much time to defeat him.
"You won't be able to beat me without looking at the Medusa emblem even a little…" Zidxar laughed.
"When he shows me the emblem, that's when he doesn't want to attack me..." Ray thought as he discharged all his electricity into the parts of his body that could still move, "I have to be faster than the effect..."
"Very well... let's advance your conversion into a statue..."
"Okay, then I must accept this competition. I will not allow you to take the gems without stepping over my petrified corpse…"
"If you want this…"
Ray braced himself as Zidxar exposed the emblem. With his mana maxed out, his electricity allowed him to be faster and see the enemy's movements in slow motion. Just as he was about to shine the emblem again, he hurriedly jumped.
"Quick Lightning Bolt!"
Ray moved quickly as the amulet's glow unleashed the terrible power of him again. At that moment, Zidxar closed his eyes to contemplate his well-done work. When he opened them, Ray was behind him, but his body had turned entirely to stone.
"Well, it seems that was useful..." he began to say, but then, he heard something crack.
Zidxar looked at his amulet: an electric charge surrounded it and was breaking it. The next second, it fell to pieces. Immediately, Ray and the guards at the entrance returned to their normal selves.
"Wow… I almost thought I didn't make it," Ray told him, "But I always trust my speed. Now, without a weapon, it's time to end this…"
"Damn, if that's what you want…" Zidxar raged, "Medusa snake storm!"
Maxing out his mana again, Ray counterattacked:
"Lightning Multi-Blade!"
A swift slash of a series of bolts cut off all the snake heads and pierced Zidxar without him noticing at first. Then he fell down.
"You're very fast..." he told him as they disappeared into the ashes of the shadows, "Well, I don't care if I die, at least I accomplished the mission..."
"Mission?" Ray asked confused.
He couldn't ask any more, for the Dark One disappeared into the shadows as he did with the chest. Fortunately, he seemed to not have taken a large amount of spirit gems, but he was somewhat afraid that the gems were only a second prize for Malefor…
(Meanwhile, on the walls…)
The armies were retreating.
"Looks like we won this battle," Flame commented, "It's great. Don't you think so, brother? Hey? Spyro?
But Spyro was somewhat worried: it wasn't the first time he saw the dark army retreat, the last time that happened, the golem of the depths almost destroyed the city. Looking in the direction of the Malefor mountain, everything seemed to be in order.
"Do you think the golem or the destroyer will rise at any moment?" Jhonny asked.
"That's what I'd like to know," Spyro replied, "I wouldn't want us to be caught off guard."
"Something tells me that Malefor is planning something different. If he were in the realm, we could feel his presence, but he… is not there and cannot summon either of those two monstrosities without his presence "
"It seems that this war is still far from over... how will my daughter be?"
Jhonny held up the twin of the other gem that Meadow had given the Skylanders a few minutes earlier. At that time, it did not shine like the other.
"They have already passed their test and have obtained the scroll," explained the guardian, "We must trust that they will bring help before things get darker."
(Meanwhile, in the realm of darkness…)
"Finally," Malefor said, "The electricity mana I needed from the guardian. And a few spirit gems… Zidxar was a good receptacle after all."
The five stolen mana (Ether, Fire, Earth, Ice, and Electricity) were integrated into Malefor along with the stolen gems.
"It's very little, but it will do," Malefor said to himself, "For now, I'll only be able to sleep for about three days and the rest of the humans will continue to fight... their darkness is impressive and when the last one falls, I'll finally wake up..."