TLoS: Challenge of Hearts (Chapter 25)
Chapter 25: Mateship Rivalry
"So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Ember asked Flame who both were walking down the corridor away from their now shared room.
"I don't care as long as it's not what Volteer got me to do."
"Surely it couldn't have been that bad, if it turned out that we were going to be parents then we wouldn't have had to do anything else but wait. But I'm happy we still get to live our lives instead of being tied down the whole time."
"I think I'd rather go through the tests again than cart around food and other things for you all day." Flame and Ember stepped out the main gate of the dragon temple. "And if I was doing that we'd spend more time away from each other than together."
Ember sighed slightly. "I guess you're right. But we'd spend the nights together."
"All I'd do is sleep since I would've been running around all day. You'd be the one wide awake and full of energy."
Ember sighed as she leapt from the temple gate and took flight over the forest, with no particular destination other than 'away' in her mind, with Flame following closely behind. "I still feel sorry for Spyro and Cynder."
"Why do you feel sorry for them? We had to do the guardian's 'consequences' too you know."
"Yeah, I know. But knowing what they're going into, I wouldn't mind watching to see their reactions."
"Like yours was when we found out what we had to do?" Flame joked towards Ember, who immediately glared at him in return.
"Like yours was when you first struck me?" Flame now only could manage a sheepish look of apology.
"You know I had no choice. Besides, I let you win in the end anyway." Ember rolled her eyes. "Not my fault I couldn't bear to see you in pain."
Both Spyro and Cynder walked into the training room, finding the entire area void of everything but Terrador, standing at the far end of the room. "Hurry up you two." He called down the empty room, causing somewhat of an echo for the two young dragons, causing them both to almost double their step-rate at the sound of him. Momentarily they both sat down just before the earth guardian, making sure to leave a three foot gap between each other. "Alright, now, I am going to say this once, and believe me when I say that no matter what damage you do, there is a life gem waiting for you both." Spyro and Cynder glanced between each other, wondering what he was getting at. "Unless you don't follow the rules. In which case, your partner will not receive the gem."
"So what is the rule? And what are we doing anyway." Spyro asked.
"You both are to have a sparring match in full contact. No powers may be used against the other." This caused both Spyro and Cynder to look worriedly between each other. "And if you go easy on your opponent in any strike after the opening minute, your partner shall not receive a life gem to heal themselves with afterwards."
"Then how long are we fighting for?" Cynder asked, worried about striking Spyro without restriction.
"Until one of you can't continue." That almost ended it for Spyro. He never wanted to even think about fighting against Cynder during the war, let alone fighting her now. But, to make it seem like a fight to the death was almost cruel by the earth guardian, as if trying to force the past back against the two of them.
Spyro looked towards Cynder who didn't seem so phased by the idea of fighting against him. Sure, Spyro could pick up distinct hatred from Cynder's expression of the idea, but in the end, what choice did the two have?
"Are there any questions?"
"No, I will not fight her." Spyro stood forward. "I don't care what happens, but I refuse to fight against Cynder just like during the war. I can't do it."
"Then I guess that leaves Cynder with two choices. She can go ahead with what I have stated, or, you can both leave and I'll inform Cyril that the task has not been completed."
"What, so you mean I fight Spyro while he does nothing?"
"That is option one, correct."
"Why are you making us do this?" Spyro questioned with ire.
"Because since you both have no regard for breaking the rules, I wonder that if in pitting you both against each other maybe you can understand that no matter how much you want to do something, you will always have to face challenges to reach what you desire. Yes, this may be a little extreme, but, in the entire sense of the lesson I'm trying to teach you, nothing is ever easy."
"We both know that nothing is easy." Spyro continued
"And yet you wasted little time in breaking the rules. Was that easy for you?"
"No, it wasn-"
"Then my point stands." Terrador interrupted the purple male. "No matter how you look at it Spyro, there is no other way around problems that you will face in your future. If Cynder turned out to bear young from your actions then it wouldn't be easy for her to birth it. It wouldn't be easy to raise it, and it certainly wouldn't be easy to watch it grow up and leave you both after the first two years of its life." Terrador took a step forward and turned Spyro around with one arm. "Now, you can either ignore my advice and avoid this little issue now, having to hide what all us guardians know you're both doing, and take punishment for doing so in the first place. Or, you can deal with it now and be free to do whatever you wanted whenever you pleased for as long as you lived within the walls of this temple. The choice is yours Spyro, Cynder. If you want to talk it over and try to reach an agreement, then you have five minutes. At the end of which I will ask for your decision and act accordingly." Terrador turned around and walked to the far end of the room, leaving both Spyro and Cynder to their thoughts, and each other.
"Spyro? Why is this such a big deal to you?"
"Because I don't want to fight you Cynder. The last time I fought against you was when Malefor had control over you. And I never want to have any memory of that moment again! And doing this will only bring back memories of what you were, and I don't want to know what you were because I love you for who you are now."
Cynder lowered her head. She was never happy with her past, she only wished that she had a chance to forget it all and move on with her life without having a scenario turn up that left the memories clawing at the back of her mind. "Spyro, you know that I'll never be like that again. The only person who has influence over me is you. Spyro, if you can't do this, then I won't force anything onto you." She took a step backwards and lightened her tone slightly. "Besides, I think it could be a little fun."
"What about this could be fun Cynder? Do you actually want to have a match against me?"
"No, Spyro. It's not something that I want to do, I just think that it would be interesting to see which one of us was actually stronger."
"You can't answer that by having us fight against each other. You know that I don't want to hurt you so I'd lose no matter what happened."
Cynder took a step forward. "Spyro, Terrador was right, there are no easy steps in life. If we want to become closer sometimes we need to step back and do something that isn't normal to us." She nuzzled against Spyro for a few moments before pulling back again. "What is ten minutes of torture for the rest of our life here of happiness? I know it's not an easy thing to agree to, or a good thing to say, but, this is the only time we have to do this for the rest of our lives."
"But I-"
"Spyro, please. If you're not going to do this for yourself, do it for me."
Spyro sighed. What choice did he have? Although he morally objected to the prospect of attacking Cynder purely due to the fact that they were mates, it was something she wanted to do, just because of what they'd be free of in the future. "Alright. I'll do it. But never again will we speak of this moment after it's done. I don't want to remember what you were."
"Then you never shall."
Spyro turned around and Cynder walked to his side, making their way to the far side of the room where Terrador was standing, arranging weight blocks for any dragon who decided to train on their own. "So, you two have reached a decision?"
"Yes, we'll do it." Cynder spoke.
"Then you shall begin in one minute. Remember, you can't use your powers. No attacks aimed at the tails, although you may attack using it, and no penalty will be given if the tail is used in an attempt to block an attack. I will block any life-threatening blows should one look dangerous. And the end of the match will be shown by either a winning strike blocked by myself, or the opposition being unable to continue." Terrador stepped towards the centre of the training room which was effectively a large arena. "Take your places on either side of the room." Spyro headed off Terrador's right side while Cynder towards the left. "Are there any questions?"
"Yes! I have one." Cynder spoke up, acquiring the attention of Spyro and Terrador. "Can you tell us who won between Flame and Ember?"
"Flame was much like Spyro about the idea, and in the end that was his downfall. Ember won purely by Flame's slowed movements just because he was fighting Ember. It only proves to me further that you are weakened by emotions clouding your judgement. An opponent is an opponent no matter which way you look at it. It is either you or them who are going to lose the fight, and sometimes loss means death."
"So you're using this as a training exercise for us both?" Spyro questioned.
"Nice of you to pick up on that Spyro. You must always be aware of your opponent, but never more than you have to, because your feelings can distract you in battle. Which means you could lose your life." Terrador glanced between both Spyro and Cynder, who stood in position. "You may begin. Good luck to you both, and may the best fighter become victorious."
Cynder immediately stepped forward to the centre of the room, immediately halving the distance between her and Spyro. She knew Spyro's fighting style so well due to the number of fights they had won together, but on the other hand, he knew who she fought. So if Cynder was to win, then she'd have to change her style enough to throw Spyro off, yet keep it within her grasp of what was, to her, a normal fight.
Spyro on the other hand had been taught to fight many ways during the war, he had been taught by more races throughout Avalar than there were dragons staying at the temple. But unfortunately over the years he had forgotten most of them as he had come up with his own. Although the stipulation of the spar was that he couldn't use his elemental breath attacks which had aided so much during the war against the apes and Malefor's countless other minions. So the best thing for Spyro to do in his mind would be to watch Cynder's attack style, and mirror it back against her as best he could. As it was the most unpredictable thing he could come up with at the time.
Spyro slowly stepped his way forward, closing the distance between Cynder and himself to just over an arms-length away. The two circled around each other, neither one wanting to make the first strike. But as Spyro stepped around the circle which Cynder had started, something caught his eye, there was a faint glimmer of red outside one of the windows, causing Spyro to immediately try and figure out the source.
Cynder seized the opportunity and swung her tail around catching the slow-to-react Spyro on his right foreleg, leaving a deep gash with the first strike. "That was uncalled for! I saw something outside!"
"So did I Spyro, but your opponent isn't outside, is she?"
Spyro growled to himself, immediately gaining a limp on his right leg due to the impressive power behind Cynder's strike. It almost left the limb completely useless to Spyro, it was hardly strong enough to support a part of his weight, let alone to be able to strike with it.
Cynder knew she had taken an early lead. Yes, it took advantage of Spyro's naturally curious nature, but any excuse to gain a victory. Cynder knew she had to press the attack if she wanted to win. Although Spyro's injury wasn't going to get any better, the longer she waited the better on his feet he became, getting used to the feel of only having three legs.
Leaping forward with her forelegs extended, Cynder aimed towards Spyro's unharmed left side. A strike to his rear left leg would severely cripple his movements almost immediately rendering her the victor. And so that is where she aimed. Cynder planted her left foreleg, swinging the rest of her form around extending her right hind leg to aim at Spyro's left one. Spyro, however flapped his wings once, pulling himself over Cynder's swinging form, landing himself behind her taking a strike at the same leg she aimed for on him.
The pain was immediate, but Cynder couldn't help but feel that Spyro held back on the attack. It would've done the same amount of damage as she had on his foreleg originally, but she felt that he could've done much more against her than he did. Cynder, thrown out of balance, collapsed onto the floor from the lack of use of her left hind leg, Spyro hesitantly trying to capitalise on the moment. Wasting several seconds before moving towards Cynder, but that was the time she needed. As Spyro had pushed himself forward to try and come from above, Cynder had rolled onto her side, dodging Spyro's straight down strike, once again catching him with her tail-blade, rendering his other foreleg damaged, at best. Cynder pushed herself back onto a standing base, Watching as Spyro tried to manage himself without the ease of use of both his forelegs. Eventually he found a vertical base, standing on only his hind legs using his wings and tail for balance.
Spyro's movements were awkward and sluggish, but she knew that he would be able to strike quickly if necessary, although it was funny to see him like that. If she stared hard enough Cynder possibly could've found Spyro's dragonhood. But not only wasn't it the time to think about Spyro like that, it was the main reason she was doing this in the first place. To have the freedom to do whatever they wanted whenever they pleased without risk of punishment by the guardians.
Cynder watched as Spyro had closed his eyes, either trying to gain some form of movement over his forelegs, which just seemed to dangle at his sides at the time, or he was preparing to try and attack. But what could he attack with? Cynder found asking herself. Spyro then leant forward, placing his forepaws on the ground, if only for a moment, just to recoil them and pull himself back to a vertical position.
Cynder knew that she had to strike again and try to win this before Spyro started to look any more pathetic. Cynder made a brief thought on what would be the best way to attack Spyro. His back seemed easiest, always, just because it was out of sight, but with both his forelegs less useful than her left hind leg, she figured the head-on approach was the best way to go. Cynder sprung herself forward using her remaining good hind-leg, using her wings to stabilise as she bounded closer to Spyro, who had opened his eyes and looked determined. Cynder feigned to go right, as she had a good spring back into the middle with her working hind leg, and everything looked as if it was going perfectly.
Spyro mirrored Cynder's movements by leaning to his left, trying to stay away from where Cynder was to be aiming to go. Stepping off her outside leg, she flung herself towards Spyro, who lowered his head and sprung himself towards Cynder, his head lowered aiming at her chest with his horns.
There was a loud crack of stone as both Spyro and Cynder dropped where they stood. A thin could of dust obscuring the view of what had happened to everyone but Terrador, who had stopped the fight. "Alright, that will do." Terrador turned his head around and dug out of one of the bags at the side of the room two life gems. One for each Spyro and Cynder. After the dust had cleared Spyro found himself to have a massive headache, and Cynder felt as if she had been winded. "Spyro wins this one, if only just. Cynder you became a little confident at the end and didn't defend your underbelly, which is where Spyro managed to make a clean strike with both his horns." Terrador stopped by Cynder, giving her the life gem which was almost immediately absorbed, as she found herself as if nothing had ever happened. "Now originally I wasn't going to give you this Spyro, because we all know that you took it easy on Cynder. But since you actually won the fight, I guess I can't judge you as I did against Flame. But leaving you without a life gem would just be cruel." He gave Spyro the glowing stone and he too found an immediate recovery.
"So that whole rule about going easy on each other was just a lie?" Spyro spoke easily and clearly, like the spar had never happened.
"Of course it was. I wouldn't be a guardian if I let you beat each other half to death and then left you like that."
"So we passed your test?" Cynder spoke, sitting herself beside Spyro.
"Yes, yes. Run along now, I shall inform Cyril of what has happened between you two."