A warm summer day.
The sun was starting to set, casting a delightful orange hue over the beautiful land. A small bird chirped happily as it bounced around the ground for a while, then sprang up and fluttered a short distance, gliding down to another spot to search for an evening meal.
The little bird bounced around carelessly until stopping at the muffled sound of crashing and thudding. The bird looked up at the mountain it had landed beside, hearing a faint howl rattle from behind the stone. The thudding grew repetitive, increasing in volume and speed until suddenly, the stone exploded outward.
Flame tumbled out from the stone, groaning and gradually standing. He stared slyly into the newly formed hole in the rock surface, meeting the more aggressive stare of the one who just chucked him through what had been a wall of the cave.
"There are better ways-" he started in with one of his humorous quips as he dusted himself off and cracked his neck, "-to decline a polite offer."
The now terrified bird fluttered away in a panic as the red dragon sprinted back into the cave, holding one paw out to conjure a fireball and spinning to launch it at his foe while power-sliding to a stop. The blazing projectile connected with it's target, the jaw of an undead Troll, and staggered the beast as it exploded with great force. With Flame rejoining his friends, four young dragons now stood facing down the behemoth. Spyro, Ember, Flame and the newest addition to the friend group, Cynder.
"You good?" Ember questioned, mostly out of courtesy as she knew for a fact he was perfectly fine. She'd seen him take far heavier hits than that without so much as skipping a beat in his terrible jokes.
"Offended, few more bruises than usual, but I may yet survive." he responded with a joking grin, before turning his attention to Spyro, "So what's the plan now, boss?"
Spyro had been studying the creature since it was conjured to face them, trying to find a weakness or fault they could attack. It was too large for most elemental attacks the four of them knew, fire proved useful only in exposing more bone on it's undead body and thoroughly agitating the beast, hence Flame's temporary departure from the room.
But he had a plan forming. When the beast had reared up to retaliate, he caught a glimpse of a dark crystal tucked in its chest. That had to be what she was using to reanimate and control it.
"Flame, can you get it to rear up again?" he questioned hastily.
"You mean piss him off again?" Flame clarified, "My specialty."
"Once he does, Ember will hit it in the chest with a Comet Dash, then me. Then Flame, you'll have to be ready in case we need a third," Spyro instructed, "When we've broken through, Cynder can Shadow Dash to reach that Crystal."
Flame and Ember knelt down at the ready, Cynder backing up a bit and charging her shadow energy. Spyro signaled, Flame lunged up and flapped his wings to get extra height, the Troll bellowing and pulling back to swing. Ember saw her window and Comet Dashed straight into the Troll's exposed chest, making a good dent.
Spyro immediately followed up with a second Comet Dash before Ember had even touched down, tearing another good chunk. Both he and Ember backed up, waiting for Flame to follow up as planned. Of course, he wasn't there.
Flame was so focused on distracting the beast he apparently distracted himself and crash landed into a tumbling roll on the other side of the cave. He shook off his mishap and found himself sprawled on the ground right in front of the very villainess they were here to confront.
A dragoness a few years older than any of them, sleek silver-blue scales and a deep purple hue to her underside, wings and eyes, a slender figure with enticing curves and a fit build indicative of misleading strength. She was draped in a lightly tattered cloak shaded such a dark blue it was almost black, spiked bracers strapped to her arms and matching armor pieces on her sides and chest. Even her stance was alluring, holding herself like royalty waiting to be worshiped, as if being in her presence was a generous gift, and she was expecting to be thanked.
"Evening my lady," Flame managed to speak after blinking away his memorized stare, "You doing anything after you finish up siphoning untold magic power from an ancient, long lost, probably dangerous gemstone?"
The dragoness, who had momentarily paused her work upon Flame's crash landing, glanced down at the battered young male and smirked flirtatiously, bringing up a free paw to blow a kiss at him. Her eyes shimmered with dark purple energy, the ground between the two of them trembling before two long, skeletal arms erupted forth.
"Aw c'mon! Playing hard to get?" Flame called to her as the arms' attacks pushed him back.
"Flame!" Ember shouted from the other battle ensuing, "Quit flirting with the psychotic Overlord and get over here!"
"That's OverLady, thank you," the dragoness called back, "But if that's too hard, you can simply call me your Queen."
Refocusing on the task at hand, Flame Comet Dashed past the Troll to once again re-join the fray. As the battle raged on, she continued draining energy from the gem she'd dug up, transferring it to a smaller gem situated in the center of her chest armor. Flame nodded to Ember, both of them charging up Comet Dashes and kneeling at the ready.
Once the Troll bellowed and began charging at them, Ember signaled and Flame mirrored her movements, the two dragons dashing into streaks of fire that collided with the Troll's chest. The beast howled and stumbled backwards, it's chest shattered and exposed. Cynder saw her window and activated her Shadow element, phasing into the ground to merge with her shadow and glide across the room in half a second.
She then sprang from her shadow and lashed out at the Dark Crystal, striking it loose from it's socket. The Troll instantly went quiet and seized up the moment the Crystal left direct contact, falling backwards and exploding into dust and bones.
"Nice one!" Spyro commended Cynder as the four dragons sprinted past the defeated foe to face their true enemy.
The dragoness had finished her ritual, tightening the buckle on the satchel strapped to her side and turning to face the group with a sly smirk. Before anyone could act, she lashed one paw upward at the empty air beside her. A blinding flash of light shot through the cave, Cynder having to shield her eyes behind her wing for a moment. When she lowered her wing and readied for combat, she saw that the Dragoness was gone.
Vanished into thin air.