Death...destruction...flesh yielding to something stronger...pain...winds whipping around...death...destruction...SCREEEEE!

Marshal woke suddenly, his sleep, and the dream within, disturbed in the most unexpected manner. Thinking about the dream he was having, he could hardly remember it, at least what it exactly consisted of in any real way. But that last bit, that last sound that came through. It sounded so real.

"SCREEEE!"

That was because it was real, at least if that last screech was anything to go by. And Marshal believed, wholeheartedly, that it was, particularly since it sounded so close, and thus caused his eyes to go wide in shock.

The screech did not seem to have woken Spyro or Cynder, at least that is what their still bodies were telling Marshal as he looked about their camp widely.

The camp looked exactly as they had left it the night before, except the fire which was mostly burned out by that time.

"SCREA-!"

Marshal's head whipped towards the direction of the newest screech, while at the same time he noticed there was a difference. The screech did not finish as they normally would.

Was it cut off? And if so why? Was it the rider or maybe something else? These thoughts ran through The Wind Dragon's head so fast it almost did not register.

At the same time as the thoughts ramped up, so did his magic. It was not the most noticeable change, but it was there: The calm air started to shift with a breeze, the peaceful forest became tenser, and the warm coals flared up ever so slightly as an increase of air was forced into the area.

These changes were a minor shift caused by Marshal's magic, but it and the actual effects were enough to wake up the sleeping couple and cause them to be concerned. Long hard earned experience had forced them to be able to notice changes in such things at any moment.

Marshal was more concerned about the now silent forest, his mind running a mile a minute trying to think of a what might be happening, and how he might be able to figure it out.

"What's his problem?"

"Don't know, maybe he heard something."

"Want to ask?"

"Think you could get his attention?"

Cynder shrugged and shot off a quick burst of some Fear at the on edge dragon.

The Red-Blue, loud sounding, energy wave struck Marshal Full force. It got his attention alright, but not in the way it should have.

Instead of freezing, cowering or something along the lines of show fear, Marshal Tensed, shifted into a fight stance and jolted his wings. The jolt sent out a strong pulse of Wind energy in all directions.

The Pulse not only acted like a Radar Pulse for Marshal telling him what was around him it also acted like an actual gust of strong wind, disturbing the coals and staggering the Legendary Couple. Marshal was heedless of the disturbance the Pulse caused. Instead, he was more interested in the Radar effects.

First, Nothing, then Something. Something from an angle and with only seconds to spare. The seconds was spent dodging left and then trying to get away from the debris kicked up by the exploding carcass of the deadwing he just dodged.

The explosion did more disorient Marshal than the debris; the explosion also threw the couple off balance and their ears ringing.

For Marshal the disorientation was almost fatal thanks to the sudden arrival of the next attacker, this one an alive and very scared Ape. The Ape was not even aware of Marshal or the couple at first; it just had the fortune to land on the disoriented Marshal pile driving the poor male into the ground and disorienting him even further.

While Marshal was doing his best trying to imitate a cartoon character hit over the head, the Ape and the Couple were trying to get over the shock of seeing each other. And then arrived the Next Participant on What The F is Going on!

Thankfully the next arrival seemed more interested in the Ape, Considering it sprang from the trees and tackled the ape killing with a swift strike of its claws it after only a few second Wrestle. Once finally at rest, the Couple were finally able to get a look at the newly arrived and slightly bloodied dragon.

It was the same dragon that had helped out Marshal the day before. The one had not told them about and thus not realizing he was probably friendly the Couple got into a fighting stance just in case.

The Black and White dragon looked up from its most recent kill, first at the Couple then it looked at Marshal after the unlucky dragon let out a groan. He looked for a bit; then his face twitched slightly, and he walked over to Marshal. Before the Couple attempted to Jump to Marshal's Defense, the instead froze at the sight of the S-shaped horns on the new dragon started glowing Bluish Green. The glow seemed staked down The dragon's right side to the corresponding paw which was lightly placed onto Marshal's head.

Transfixed at the sight of something they had never seen before, the Couple does nothing but watch as Glow traveled down the right foreleg and onto Marshal. The glow slowly started covering certain parts of him, mainly the head and where the Ape landed on him. Before long though the glow retreated to the Glowing Horns, but what it was meant to do it seemed to have done.

As the unnamed arrival backed off Marshal, blinked rapidly before standing up, saying as he went, "What was that? Not only was that the strangest five seconds of my life, but that second bit has got to rank as the most pleasant and most uncomforting feeling I have ever felt." And then Marshal looked up, first seeing the shocked expression on the Legendary Couple and then other familiar Dragon before him, who seemed to have a slightly perplexed expression on his face. "Oh, hello again...and I guess I should thank you for the help again."

Spyro took a half step forward, "You know this dragon, Marshal?"

Marshal's face did a half scowl, "Not really, he just sort of came to my aid yesterday, sort of out of nowhere it seemed like. Other than that I got nothing."

"So he's a good fighter and can apparently heal others...good to know."

Marshal looked at Cynder slightly curiously but before he could ask about the healing, the dragon in question spoke up, "Should, not, have, felt, uncomforting, though."

That got all three looking at the Broken Speaking Dragon; he looked back while sitting.

For Marshal's First mental reaction he almost went with He Tarzan, We Jain? Thankfully he caught it fast enough before it slipped through and was able to crush the thought. Instead, he responded with a shrug, and "I wouldn't know, maybe I'm just weird. I've been there before. You got a name? Mine's Marshal, this is Cynder and Spyro." He pointed to the female and male respectively.

The question dragon seemed to look long and hard at them, almost weighing the options of giving them the information they wanted. In the end, he gave in.

"Cypha."

Marshal raised an eyeridge at the short answer but shrugged after little to no time, "Well then Cypha, Thanks for the double save."

Cypha nodded but did nothing else.

After a moment of Silence Cynder lets out a sigh, "Not much of a talker. It's alright. But we need to get moving. Know any Cities nearby?"

Cypha let out a rumble before he nodded, and without a further word, expanded his wings and took off. He circled the clearing once and headed off in a direction not too dissimilar to what they had been flying the last few days.

The three other dragons looked at each other for but a moment before taking off after him hoping he was leading them to a city and not deeper into the forest.

Flying without a word got boring quickly and seeing as their new guide did not seem interested in talking either the Marshal flew a little closer to the Couple and started chatting.

"So...any ideas on the new guy?"

Cynder Snorted, "Not much more that we have of you."

Marshal first Hummed in agreement before responding, "Fair enough. So, how about this, we ask each other questions. I already had one you go."

Cynder looked over at Marshal more like he was slightly nuts, she could not rule out the thought, but thankfully Spyro was the one who responded. "Alright then, how about you explain why Cynder's Fear Shriek seemed to cause the exact opposite effect on you."

Marshal got a thoughtful look on his face, "Fear Shriek? Is that what that was?" He shook his head slightly, "Sorry, all I got was a loud noise, thus the shock that there was something close by about to attack."

Cynder's look changed to one of slight worry, "That's it? No sense of dread, no feeling like you're about to die, no feeling like your head might explode?"

"I'm going to guess that's what typically happens when you hit a target." The nod of confirmation was quick to come. "Yea I got none of that. Well, my ears did ring slightly, but the explosion was much worse on that."

"That can't be right...unless It's no longer working?"

Marshal shrugged, "Maybe? Maybe not? It's not like we have a library right now to try and research this."

"But if I'm losing one of my Elements…"

"How about this, as we fly try hitting different animals we come across with your Fear and we can try and see what is going on."

0000000000000000000

Cypha looked back at the dragons he was guiding briefly, but soon shook his head. He did not care at all what the three strange dragons were doing. The random bursts of noise were getting annoying as the day pressed on, though.

The Blue energy was strange too; he had yet to see anything like it. But then again, what did he care. Getting the three of them out of the forest so he could have his pieces was all he wanted right now.

The oversized bats and the hairy creatures riding them were annoying, but he was usually able to avoid them. And then these three showed up, and the annoying creatures started coming out of the woodwork. Could rarely go a few days without having to do something about one. And Their numbers were only getting worse.

He just wanted the forest to be nice and peaceful again...like it was before the ground itself decided it was going to try and kill everything. If only that would work.

The sound of wings drawing closer caught his attention, breaking his internal monolog and getting him to look at the source, it was the Purple one.

"Hey, it's starting to get close to dark, Think we can find a place to camp for the night?"

Cypha almost said no, he wanted these three gone as quickly as he could manage. And besides flying at night was one of the better ways to fly without being noticed. The problem was that he did not think they would not be able to see as well or go as long; they sure did not look it.

So instead he gave a simple nod and drifted slightly to the right towards a clearing not too far ahead that would be able to hold them.

0000000000000000000

Marshal observed the rather grouchy female as she tore through her share of their meal that night. It was easier watching her than trying to watch Cypha tear through his entire dear, raw, and using the bones as toothpicks when done. That was a sight he could have done without.

Cynder had tried all day to get her "Fear Shriek" to work as it should, and the more it did, not only did she get aggravated her but also upset.

That "element," how it's been working, the color changing, I wonder? Need to do this right...sorry in advance…

Marshal stood up from where he'd been laying, his share of the meal completely gone. His thoughts had been going almost none stop for awhile now; he just hoped he did this right and was on the right mental path. If not, things were going to be bad.

As he walked towards Cynder, he looked briefly at Spyro, who was a bit away from Cynder knowing she would want some space, and subtly shook his head, hoping he would understand what was about to happen. He got no response, but Spyro was watching him like a Hawk.

Once he felt close enough to Cynder, just outside of easy strike range, he spoke up. "You know Cynder if one of your 'Elements' is failing. What does that say about the rest." That got him a dirty look. "I mean they could start failing too." Wrong direction, becoming depressed. "Or it could also say that those powers aren't yours." Closer. "Heck for all way know someone could have only felt sorry for you and decided 'Oh look, Dragoness alongside the purple dragon, can't have her dragging him down let's let her use something off the wall for now.'"

Is that growling?

"Maybe we need to keep a closer eye on you. Who knows when someone will have to pull your weight as well."

Yes, that was growling...from two teenaged dragons.

"Or heck, maybe your Wind will start going next and I'll have to find a way to let use it. Just so you have some sort of ability fight with."

The boyfriend was ready, and the Girlfriend was almost there.

"Heck, maybe we should just call it quits. Keep you away from the fighting, without your Fear you're already ¼ weaker; I'm not sure I'd even want you near the fighting."

"Is that what you really think!" There it was. "You think it won't be enough! Then how about you get a taste of it!"

With no further prompting or response needed, Cynder Stood quickly and let loose a Red blast of energy, hitting the not even trying to dodge Marshal full blast.

Marshal felt the response instantly: His mind sped up, his body froze, his magic tensed, his eyes dilated, his ears rung, his thoughts grew angry, but the deepest response was the rise in Real Fear, Primal Fear which made his spine shiver and made him want him to run, to hid under the closest thing he could find, to hide from the "abomination" before him. But he did not, through force of will and ingrained instinctual belief that running caused fear to rise, to beat it was to face it.

But that is not want Cynder saw, what she saw was Marshal standing firm, returning the 'hateful' look and after just a little bit. It took the little wind out of her sails; She had wanted him to fear her fear, her hatred, She had wanted him to run away to have to come begging back for her forgiveness, she had thrown that with all of her willpower, to get him do such things. But it looked like it had failed, it really had not worked.

But the tone in which he spoke did have the condescending, almost angry portion of before; it was kind, controlled and friendly, "And that, right there, was what I was looking for."

Cynder almost started to cry in her response, "What? The obvious sign of failure. The true lack of my ability to ever be useful to those I care about." Her collapse to the ground was slow and showed her feelings perfectly.

Spyro started to move closer to Cynder, wanting to comfort the one he genuinely cared for as well as protect her and destroy the one who had caused this, But strangely it was Cypha who stopped him, with but a shake of his head.

Marshal's tone never wavered, it was calm and comforting, he even lowered himself so that he was even with the Cynder, "No Cynder, that is not what happened. What happened is that it worked. Your Fear Shriek worked..."

Cynder's Head swung around, looking at Marshal dead on, her cry in response was almost heart wrenching "How! How could it have worked, you did nothing but stand there, you didn't even flinch!"

Marshal almost reach out, to hug her, to try and comfort her, but he could not. "That is because I have to fight fear for a very long time. I learned some time ago that to run from fear is never the answer, but to face it head on. And more recently my response to fear has been to fight, to strike down that which scares me." He moved his head so that it was right next to hers, his slow controlled breathing evident. "Even now that Fear your Fear Shriek gave, I am fighting it. If I wasn't, I'd trying to hug you, to comfort you."

Cynder shuffled backward slightly, confused, her eyes dark and ready to drop. "But...But how? How can you fight it!? Nothing I've hit with it has ever been able to do that."

"Simple, nothing you've hit with it, responded the same way to fear. They quake, cower, or run. But not everything responds that way. One thing to always remember with Fear, is that to move on in spite of it is consider Bravery, but to ignore it is just plain crazy. Any rational being will only be able to take so much before they too would give in to their fear. All this means is that when using your Fear you'll have to use many shrieks before their mind gives in and it works again. All you have to do, keep fighting, don't given into your own fear, make your enemy give to theirs."

Cynder did start crying then. Marshal, Cynder's Magic entirely broken by then with a combo of it wearing off and Cynder no longer wanting him to feel the fear, moved up and hugged her, rubbing her back trying to comfort her.

She accepted the support but did not calm down. But when Spyro came over and transferred her to his comforting and protective arms she started to calm. It was slow, but it was there. It took time but eventually she calmed down, and she cuddled deep into Spyro's Embrace as they laid down, she did not want to leave him. And he was not about to let her go.

Once she was calm, though, Cypha asked a question that had been bugging him, "Red, Fear. What, Blue?"

The couple looked at them, then back at Marshal with Spyro promoting, "Now that he asked, I agree. While trying for the day the attacks kept becoming more Blue, and then that last one was fully read."

Marshal sighed, "I was thinking about that for awhile. I noticed not long after we started. My guess is based on what my Wind Sense kept picking up; I know strange that I picked it up, as well what the effects kept looking like."

He had their attention, so he kept on with his rather thrown together theory.

"Every time you would let loose, it always sounded like...well a Shriek, like a loud noise that would scare someone or disrupt one's thinking. It was always a noise, one that had an energy wave and disrupted the air around it like a physical attack. But the attacks weren't really meant to harm or were underpowered so when they hit the animals reacted as they would to a loud noise, on edge, look a few would simply flick their ears not care. At one point I saw it did affect physical objects, but it was more in the way of a pressure wave, quickly dissipate and not all that much. Closer range would probably do more.

"If I had to truly guess, what you've been throwing around all this time Wasn't Fear, But Sound And the blue could be just its Natural Coloring. The Fear portion could have been the after effects of your corruption coming through and it only now wearing off because of the Dark Master defeat. It could be that you are no longer drawing on that portion of yourself because you no longer need it. It could have been you putting all you Fear against the Dark Master into an attack the only way you could. Or it could have simply been a natural Power of Sound reliant on your mindset to be pulled forth. I just don't know."

Cynder was silent for a bit before sighing, "Th-That's still better that we thought was happening. I'm not losing Fear; It's probably just turning into its rightful Power: Sound. I-I think I work with that...It's one less thing Dark annotation that bastard would be able to say he gave me. I...I almost wonder if my other powers will turn into something else..."

Marshal shook his head slightly, "I...Don't think so. Would almost doubt it. I mean, I'm a Wind Dragon, and I've never been exposed to Dark Magic as far as I'm aware. Not only that But everything you have...is something naturally Occurring, the same with Spyro. Heck there almost…" He Snorts before continuing, "...They Can almost Be considered Required Elements of life."

The both look at him with a What the F*** look but he motions for them to wait before saying anything, "Now hear me out. Spyro's power make sense: Fire, Ice, Electricity, and Earth. All Four are needed for life more or less. Fire for heat. Ice can be a thing of Water but also representing the opposite of Fire, Cold or Scientifically speaking the Lack OF heat. Electricity, Energy, everything needs it to work. And Earth, we literally live on, and all need it to survive. Like I said the same could be said for the other four as Well.

"Wind, Poison, Acid if you want to call it that, Shadow, and Sound.

"Easiest is Wind; it's as natural as our breath, Wind is simply the Air moving around us, without we'd all die as we would literally not be able to breathe.

"Poison is a little harder, but it also has to think of being called Acid, both break down the world to a degree but Acid also has a lesser known item called a Base which counters it and if done right can create clean water and both are natural elements which cause some things to live correctly, we have some of the strongest Acid in our Stomachs to break down our food. Back to poison, not all poison is actually bad either; Herbs are an excellent example of this. Believe it or not but when used what they released can be considered a Poison to some things but in the way it reacts with our bodies it helps us. Next, we have Shadow."

Marshal lifted his paw so that it was the fire created a long Shadow with it, and he motioned to it. "You literally cannot have light without Shadows. Shadows show you where The light does not touch, it hides things that should not be seen or doesn't want to be seen. Without Shadows A hunt is not a Hunt, and how things look would entirely different. Some of theorized, in roundabout ways, That our Shadows, are connected to us to be without would mean we are no longer truly whole.

"Lastly Sound. Without Sound, well we wouldn't be having this conversation. Without Sound, we would even have ears, and thus the many beautiful things it the world would never be Heard, for we would not hear at all. And even it was actually Fear; like I said 'Bravery is not the Absence of Fear but merely the will to carry on in spite of it.' It is our Fear that lets us live, that makes all things live, for without Fear why would you eat, why would you sleep, why would you do anything."

At first, he only got stares then Spyro Shuddered, "Remind me to never let you talk about those kind of things with Volteer or Cyril, you three would go off on a conversation that could very well make the entire world turn on its head."

While Cynder sort of nodded in agreement, Marshal Shrugged in indifference, and Cypha glassed over eyes finally blanked completely as he fainted away from information overload.

All three noticed and smiled lightly.

Cynder then looked back at Marshal, "Marshal…"

Marshal smiled a bit more, "Give it time. It would probably be better to save it for morning anyways. If he's passing out, we should probably get some sleep ourselves."

The two nodded in understanding and accepts and were soon off to sleep with the Wind Dragon not far behind. It was the most pleasant sleep the three of them would have had in some time.

AN: I'M BACK! After fighting with this A-hole of chapter for hover a year and a half, I was finally able to muscle through the damn block. Strange enough it came from thinking on characters, and a 5-hour energy drink. And once through it only took eight hours. But who cares how it came around, I was finally able to get it done.

I'll admit I DID NOT intend for it to become as long this. The exposition at the end is probably where the most of it came from but there is no way in hell I'm getting rid of it. I did for a damn reason! And even it is longer, I like this FAR more than its original incarnation, the clunky and she amount of time NOTHING happened...I got around that with some Perspective swapping mixed with time jumps! Will probably do more of those to be honest. Look back at my original draft there is way to many paragraphs that go along the lines of they flew, nothing happened for the day, the landed. I'm trying to fix that and have more than enough ideas on that.

In future I am hoping it won't take me as long, this chapter really was being a roadblock, mainly in how am I going to get it moving forward and still stay in line with the original. The next several should be much easier for myself, at least that is the hope We will find out.

Characters:

Cypha belongs to Syphon Aura. He'll probably be sticking around for a bit.

I'm actually a bit curious if anyone will be able to figure out why I called this chapter Wonders of Nature? Let me know! So until we meet again, Happy Reading!