TLOS legend of the black dragon chapter 12 the participants
The legend of Spyro
Legend of the black dragon
Chapter 12 the participants
Two days had passed since their meeting of Frost's father and they had been very uneventful. Cynder had been putting up posters together with Ember and Spyro and Sparx had been spreading the news or helping the guardians.
The morning sun was rising from the hills and Cynder once again was taking a flight around the city in the early mornings.
It almost had become a routine for her since she always woke up long before Spyro did.
"Why can't I just stay asleep" She thought as she felt a bit lonely to be flying around all alone.
She didn't want to stay in her room because otherwise she might wake up Spyro like she had done before a bit too often.
Suddenly she spotted what looked like another dragon flying a few hundred meters away from her.
"Who could that be? And why would someone fly at this time of the day?" Cynder thought.
Then it struck her "I am flying at this time of the day as well" She thought laughing inside.
Cynder now wanted to see who the dragon was so she sped up her pace and tried to catch up with it.
Before long the mysterious dragon came into view. It looked like it was a male fire dragon of the same age as Cynder although he looked a whole lot bigger then she was.
"Hey, hallo there?" Cynder shouted when she thought she was inside the dragon' hearing distance.
"Huh?" The dragon turned his head.
"Mind if I fly with you?" Cynder asked.
Now that Cynder was close enough she was shocked that the dragon wasn't a male but that it was a female. She had an extremely coarse build for a dragoness and was also huge in size. She obviously had far more body volume than any other young dragon Cynder knew, she could see that the thick body was filled not with fat but only with muscle and bone. Her powerful muscles were very visible beneath her scales and the scales themselves also looked very tough. The dragoness had a dirty red colour with a brown belly and heavy orange wings. She had 2 thick horns that sprouted from her the top of her head and curled all the way around her head and stopped just before her lower jaw. It was clear that this dragoness was very strong and very tough.
"No I don't mind" the dragoness replied.
Now that Cynder knew that it was a female she was struck by how low and thundering the dragoness' voice was.
"My name is Flannery" The dragoness said.
"Nice to meet you Flannery, I'm Cynder" Cynder knew that introducing herself wasn't necessary since everyone in Warfang knew who she was.
"Why are you up so early" Flannery asked in her low voice.
"I guess I could ask you the same thing" Cynder shot back.
"I am always up early so mostly I do some morning exercises" Flannery explained.
"Well I too am always up early so we have something in common" Cynder replied as she flew a little bit closer to the dragoness now.
The two dragonesses made a turn so that they didn't leave the city before continuing their conversation.
"Heard about the Igus cup?" Cynder asked as she couldn't think of anything else to talk about.
"Yeah I have heard it" Flannery replied "And I am going to win it, no problem"
"Now, now, don't get ahead of yourself" Cynder said.
"There properly isn't a single dragon who can come even close to rivalling me" Flannery said boastful
"I will crush anyone who dares to stand in my way and I will do it with the greatest of ease"
"The entire city will chant the name of the great Flannery"
"So where do you live Flannery?" Cynder asked getting annoyed by her boasting.
"Right over there" Flannery pointed with her paw towards one of the many suburbs of the enormous city.
"Want to join at breakfast?" Flannery asked her very carefree.
"What? Breakfast?! Um" Cynder had just met Flannery and she was already inviting her into her home.
"Yes or no?" Flannery sounded annoyed.
"Well okay but I want to say it to Spyro before" Cynder decided quickly, not having to time to think about it.
"I will wait for you and only you!" Flannery said almost cynically as she got lower to the ground and landed in one of the many yards of Warfang's suburbs
"Wow that went quickly" Cynder thought as she made a mental note of the location of the house before flying back towards the citadel.
When Cynder was approaching the citadel she decided against going through the aerial entrance and just go through the main entrance and walk to the top.
After she landed however she was greeted by Terrador.
"Terrador? Where are you going to?" Cynder asked in surprise as it was still quite early in the morning.
"Just have something to check up on" Terrador said as he spread his wings and took off before Cynder could ask anything more.
"Wonder where he is going" Cynder thought "Ah, it's none of my business"
Cynder walked up to the top of the tower and panted a little before entering her room.
"Hey Cynder, had another stroll?" Spyro asked gleefully.
"Ow Spyro" Cynder didn't expect him to be awake yet.
"So ready for breakfast" Spyro asked as he already got up and started walking towards the door.
"Um Spyro I am not going to have breakfast with you" Cynder admitted.
"Huh? Why not" Spyro tilted his head.
"I met a dragoness and she invited me to have breakfast had her place and she also said that only I could come" Cynder thought as the request actually seemed pretty rude.
"Okay have fun" Spyro said as he walked past her.
Cynder felt a bit hurt that Spyro didn't mind that she was absent during breakfast.
However she quickly dismissed it and took off from the aerial entrance in their room and flew towards the house of Flannery.
She reached Flannery's house in about 10 minutes of flying and landed in the street.
Flannery's house was a standard model and was pretty plain. However it was larger than Georga's. Just like the one of her it was made of dirty yellow stones like the rest of the city.
Cynder walked up towards the door and knocked on it with her talons.
After a few minutes the door opened and a large earth dragon appeared in the hallway. He was of a dark green colour with large horns and a very dark brown belly.
"What in the name of the ancestors" He exclaimed as he spotted the legendary Cynder standing in front of him.
"Um hi" Cynder said a bit weak.
"Ah you have arrived" The masculine voice of Flannery sounded from the house.
After a few minutes Flannery appeared, walking towards Cynder from underneath the earth dragon.
"Took you long enough" Flannery said with an annoyed look on her face when she was only about one metre away from Cynder.
"Sorry but I um" Cynder couldn't get things sorted out.
"What is Cynder doing here Flannery?" the large earth dragon asked.
"I invited her for breakfast" Flannery replied short.
"And you didn't ask or even mentioned it to either of us?" He asked.
"Nope" Flannery replied cheerfully.
"What's going on here?" A feminine voice now sounded from the house.
"Flannery invited Cynder for breakfast" the earth dragon said to the unknown female.
"Cynder!, Well she is more than welcome" The voice replied warmly and also a bit shocked.
Cynder walked behind Flannery still a bit confused by the whole situation.
When she entered the house she looked around. The house looked a lot like Georga's it had tied straw piles with sheets to serve as couches. The walls were painted with yellow and the floor was collared slightly red. As was normal the central room was the living room with a fireplace in the middle. The other rooms were covered by a curtain. However it looked like this family was financially more spacious judging from the larger size of the house and the larger number of stuff laying around.
"Well I never expected Cynder to walk into our house" Cynder could now see who the female was: It was a fire dragoness who was quite tall and had a medium build. She had bright red scales and orange wings. However she was nowhere as robust and muscular as Flannery was.
"It's an honour to meet you Cynder" The dragoness said very polite and bowed like normal.
"That's not necessary" Cynder said almost without thinking.
"Yeah why is she so special anyway?" Flannery said in an indignant tone.
"Don't talk like that Flannery" The dragoness said sharply.
"Humph" Flannery looked away towards the wall.
"My name is Zerzelie and this is my life mate Globe" The dragoness said while looking at the earth dragon that was also standing in the room.
"And I am sure you have already met our daughter Flannery" Zerzelie signed.
"Are we going to eat already" Flannery nagged.
"Yeah, yeah, hold you wings down" Zerzelie signed annoyed.
Zerzelie walked towards the kitchen and pulled out some different pieces of meat apparently from different animals and cooked them with her fire breath.
She then also picked out some fruits and put them on a dish together with the meat walked towards the middle of the room before putting it down on the floor.
Flannery raced towards to the food right away and tore very large chunks of meat from it before anyone else had even lain down.
"That Flannery appears like she can be a quite brat" Cynder thought as Flannery first almost forced her to come, asked her annoyed what took her, didn't acknowledge her deeds, pressured her mother to make food and also started eating without waiting for anyone else.
"Don't take it personally" Zerzelie said as she seemed to read Cynder's thoughts.
"Flannery never really cares about fame or manners and just always acts same, no matter if there are guests or who those guests are".
"Do I need to eat this thing alone or are you going to eat it as well" Flannery said in her already familiar annoyed voice.
Seeing that it was normal here Cynder walked up towards the dish and started ripping off peaces of meat without waiting for anyone else.
"Which one of you two is going to fight me at the end?" Flannery asked.
"The winner of the cup get's to decide who to fight" Cynder deliberately used a general subject in her sentence.
"So that means it is going to be you and me going at it sister" Flannery declared.
"Why do you want to fight me instead of Spyro?" Cynder asked a bit offset by Flannery calling her sister.
"I heard somewhere that you are the terror of the skies and I always wanted to fight that dragon one day" Flannery said.
"Well sorry to disappoint you" Cynder now sounded death serious and cynically "But the terror of the skies is death" She rose up and spoke very strict and almost angrily.
"No she isn't, she is eating together with me right now" Flannery said, still joking about it.
"No that monster is gone for good" Cynder hissed and looked angrily down at Flannery.
"Sure about that? Because it looks to me like she falls into her old ways of aggression again" Flannery said before taking another bite.
"Flannery!" Zerzelie shouted at her daughter.
Cynder was completely out of words by what the fire dragoness had just said.
"Could she be right?" Cynder thought. "Was I also appearing like that monster again when I hissed at Frost's father?"
"Don't worry" Zerzelie said reassuringly
"You shouldn't pay much attention to what all comes out of Flannery's mouth" Globe said.
"And why shouldn't she?" Flannery asked indignant.
"I'm out of here!" Cynder said as she couldn't take it anymore.
She started to walk towards the door.
"Wait Cynder, don't be offset be her" Zerzelie shouted after her.
"I am going" Cynder said very stern without looking back as she spread her wings and started to fly back towards the citadel.
After about 10 minutes Cynder reached the citadel and walked towards the kitchen to finish her breakfast.
"Cynder" Spyro asked sounding very surprised "Why are you back already?" He asked her.
"I just couldn't stand it anymore" Cynder said while walking straight past him and placing her order at the counter.
"What was so bad about it?" Spyro asked when Cynder had settled down.
"That dragoness just couldn't keep her mouth shut" Cynder snapped.
"And why does that make you leave?" Sparx asked now joining the conversation
"She" Cynder didn't finish her sentence.
"She what?" Spyro persisted.
"She just never quitted talking about my evil dark adult thingy" Cynder hinted as she didn't want to say it.
"Oh you mean about the ter-" Spyro swallowed his sentence "I can understand that you don't want to be with her if she keeps bringing it up" Spyro said warmly.
"Thank you Spyro" Cynder said while she nuzzled his snout.
"Sure no problem" Spyro said after he took a bit more distance from the romance scene.
Sparx turned around, not wanting to look at the two dragons.
"Cynder!" The familiar voice of the mole sounded to indicate that Cynder's meal was ready.
After Cynder had eaten her meal she and Spyro got down to their daily business and that took the remainder of the morning.
Somewhere else inside Warfang a young fire dragon was quickly eating his breakfast.
"Hey Flame hurry up and finish" A hasty earth dragoness shouted "You still have a lot of work to do".
Flame quickly swallowed his meat while making a filthy gorging sound.
The orphanage he had grown up in still looked just a sad and dull as it has done ever since Flame could remember. He quickly forgot about it however and waited for his morning chore.
"I want the kitchen completely cleaned before noon" The earth dragoness ordered. "After that you are free from more chores for the remainder of the day"
"Okay" Flame said.
Flame started to swipe the floor with his tail and put all the mess in the dumb.
"Should I really enter the Igus cup?" He had repeated the question inside his mind countless times now.
"I don't know if I could ever do something that big"
"Something on your mind Flame?" a female voice sounded behind him.
"No, just thinking about the cup" Flame answered.
"Still having doubts about it?" The dragoness asked like it was a unnecessary question.
"Yeah, I just can't be sure" Flame said his voice sounding weaker now.
"Flame" The dragoness shook her head "You are the most powerful fire dragon I know. I am sure you will do fine" The dragoness said warmly.
"Thanks Electa" Flame said.
"No thanks, but you really should get back to your chore now Flame" Electa reminded him.
"I will" Flame replied
"Maybe I should just trust Electa and go for it and register" Flame thought when Electa had left the kitchen.
"Yeah, that's what I am going to do" Flame thought out loud now.
"I hope cleaning the kitchen is the thing you were talking about" A stern female voice sounded.
"Yes ma'am" Flame replied a bit scared quickly returning to his cleaning.
"It's time now to also inform the people outside of Warfang" Terrador said after Spyro and Cynder had returned from their usual morning chores.
"Yeah we need every fire dragon in the world to show up so that also means the ones outside of Warfang" Spyro said filling it in.
"No, there won't be anymore fire dragons" Terrador said sounding very sad.
"Huh?" Cynder tilted her head "Why not?"
"Maybe it is time to tell you how things are now with the dragon race" Terrador said.
Spyro and Cynder settled down on the floor because they felt it was going to be a long talk now.
"There are almost no other dragons" Terrador said simply
"Huh what do you mean no other dragons" Cynder exclaimed
"I see dragons all over the place here" Sparx brought in.
"That's because nearly all dragons have fled towards Warfang during the war with the dark master"
"Are you saying that the dragons that are in Warfang right now are the only ones that are left!" Spyro almost shouted in disbelief.
"Yes that's exactly what I am saying" Terrador said in a sad tone "Any dragon that didn't make it to Warfang has been massacred by the dark master's forces"
"Just hold one there" Cynder interrupted "We met one on our way back towards Warfang"
"That dragoness was an exception and judging from your story she also has exceptional power" Terrador corrected her "She and maybe only a few other ones could still be out there but that's about it" He now lowered his head "Whenever the dark master's army conquered an area they completely looted it and killed every single dragon they found. Warfang is the only dragon inhabited place the Malefor didn't conquer although it was very close".
"How many dragons were there before the war?" Spyro asked although something inside told him he didn't want to hear the answer.
"Before the war with the dark master there were close to a 1.000.000 dragons in the world" Terrador sighed sadly "Now I think there are about 500 left"
"500 only" Cynder shouted "But that means that only 1 in every 2000 dragons made it out of the war alive" She calculated quickly.
"That's right Cynder" Terrador admitted.
"So many dragons I couldn't save" Spyro muttered while he lowered his head and dropped his wings on the floor.
"Don't blame yourself Spyro" Cynder drew closer and put her wing around him.
"But so many were counting on me" Spyro said as a tear formed in his eye "So many needed my help and I didn't give it"
"There wasn't anything you could do" Cynder moved closer.
"Without you there wouldn't be any left at all" Cynder said "You are a real hero Spyro and you deserve the hero's treatment".
"Not that I enjoy it" Spyro sneered swiping the tear away.
"Just try and feel yourself special" Cynder said glad that she had the ability to provide comfort for Spyro when he needed it.
"What are we supposed to do today?" Spyro asked after they got the matter sorted out.
"That we are also informing outside of Warfang falls outside of your jobs" Terrador said. "Most dragons are aware of the tournament by now so another speech won't be of any use. As for the posters, the moles will take care of that" Terrador said eliminating both their jobs.
"I want you to just roam around and try to find fire dragons that haven't registered yet."
"Are there dragons who haven't registered yet?" Spyro asked in disbelief.
"We have received around 60 registrations and we are sure that there are more then just 60 capable fire dragons in Warfang" Terrador said.
"Yeah we don't want our little plan to fail" Sparx said.
"Right, so pretend it to be a normal day and just try to visit as many places as possible; okay?" Terrador asked
"Okay" Spyro and Cynder replied in unison.
"Where do you think we should start?" Spyro asked when Terrador had left the room.
"Maybe rich-boy?" Sparx suggested.
"Excellent suggestion Sparx" Spyro said.
"Yeah he is the one with the most contacts" Cynder said.
"I can't come with you however" Sparx said.
"And why not?" Cynder asked.
"I have promised to Terrador that I would get someone special" Sparx said deliberately trying to be vague.
"And who might that be?" Spyro asked looking very intrigued.
"You'll see" Sparx said while grinning "The journey will take several days so I won't see you again until the beginning of the tournament though" Sparx now sounded a bit sad.
"That won't be a problem Sparx" Cynder said "He still has me"
"Yeah that's what I'm afraid of" Sparx muttered.
"What was that?" Cynder asked looking very dangerous.
"I think I will take my leave now" Sparx quickly floated out of the room without answering the question.
"Who do you think he is going to get?" Spyro asked.
"I don't know but we will see it in just a few days" Cynder said while she shrugged.
"Okay then let's just be on our way now" Spyro walked towards the exit with Cynder close behind.
They flew towards Frost's house and reached it within about 5 minutes.
As was normal Cynder knocked on the door.
The door opened and revealed Igüsa standing in the hallway.
"Why hallo there" Igüsa said in her usual friendly voice.
"Hallo there Igüsa, is Frost home?" Spyro asked.
"No, I'm sorry but he isn't" She replied.
"Do you know where we could find him then maybe?" Spyro then asked.
"He said that he went to the sport arena to play some tailball"
"Where can we find the sporting arena?"
"It's not far, it's about 4 minutes flying that way" Igüsa was pointing towards the centre of the city "The building is very large and has many round decorations on it so I'm sure you will recognise it"
"Thanks Igüsa" Cynder said warmly.
"My pleasure" Igüsa replied sweetly before closing the door and returning to her chores inside the house.
"I think it's over there" Spyro pointed with his wing when they were approaching the central square.
The sport arena was a large building made out of the same stones as the rest of the city. It was an enormous ring with a small ledge towards inside. It had round and ring shaped patterns on it in various colours what made it easy to recognise.
They flew through the ring and spotted a few young dragons playing tailball.
"Hey look up there!" One of the dragons shouted.
Spyro and Cynder landed and right away they were surrounded by the dragons.
"Well Spyro and Cynder what brings you here?" Frost stepped out of the crowd and took the word while the other dragons remained silent.
"We just wanted to ask if we could join in" Spyro said cheerfully.
"Actually we wanted to" Cynder started but Spyro stepped in front of her.
"Is that Okay Frost?" he asked.
"Its okay" Frost replied.
"The male's side is over there and the female's side is over there" Frost pointed with his wings, first right then left.
"Spyro!" Cynder said angrily when the dragons had walked away. "We were supposed to get fire dragons to enter the cup, not to play around".
"Giving impressive speeches isn't the right way and besides" Spyro walked up to her.
"You gotta learn just have to have some fun once in a while Cynder" He said before running off.
"Wait Spyro!" Cynder shouted after him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I don't know how to play the game" Cynder admitted.
"Are you two mates going to come or what!?" A dragoness that Spyro recognised as Ampere asked.
"We are not mates!" Spyro shouted back.
"But are you two going to come already?" Inge asked also getting a bit annoyed.
"You start without us" Spyro shouted back "I will explain the game to Cynder and then we will join"
He didn't get a reply but the dragons started their game again and he turned to Cynder.
"You see you play it as follows" Spyro then explained the game.
"I get it" Cynder said when he was finished.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Spyro said before running of to his side and Cynder did the same.
Spyro intercepted the ball the second he got to the field.
"Spyro!" Spyro heard the voice of Zap.
He knocked the ball in that direction hoping Zap would catch it.
Zap braced himself and smacked the ball all the way to the other side of the field towards Frost.
Frost raised his chest to stop the ball and shot it towards the goal when it had bounced back up.
However just after he shot it a pink shape appeared and shot it away towards the black member of her team.
Cynder tried to smack the ball towards another dragoness.
However she failed and the ball went completely in the wrong direction and it looked like Frost was going to get it again.
Luckily an electric dragoness shot up and passed the ball back to her so that she could try again.
This time Cynder focused better and made sure she hit it accurately.
However just as she was about to swing her tail a dragon appeared in front of her and passed the ball to Frost who was still standing close to the goal.
Ember couldn't stop him this time and he shot the ball towards the goal with so much force that she had no choice but to let it go.
The males cheered and returned to their side.
"Sorry" Ember apologised.
"No hard feelings" An electric dragoness said "Mind if I take over now?"
"Yeah I think I want some action" Ember said sounding very pumped and she raced out of the goal and towards the middle of the field.
Following her example Cynder ran towards the middle of the field but moved to the far left side as she saw another electric dragoness standing on the far right side.
Ember now had the ball and shot it towards Electa.
Electa launched it towards Inge who was standing further towards the boy's goal.
"Up here!" Cynder shouted as she hovered over the playing field.
Inge shot the ball up when she got it.
Cynder spun around and made a swirling motion and launched the ball towards the other goal with an enormous amount of power.
It was Spyro now who stood in the goal and he braced himself and moved his wings in exactly the right position, he had only played the game once before but his fighting knowledge and battle instincts guided him well.
When the ball was close he dug his claws into the ground and tried to catch the ball with his wings.
However it was in vain and Spyro was launched together with the ball and was stopped by the net.
"Spyro!" Cynder ran over to him.
"Good one there Cynder" Spyro shook his head to erase his daze as he got to his feet.
"I'm sorry Spyro" Cynder lowered her head.
"For what? Hitting me?" He laughed as he moved the ball towards the front of the goal.
"That is what you are supposed to do, I am the goal keeper remember" he sneered as he put the ball in front of him.
"Now are you going to go to your side or what?"
Cynder quickly raced over to the female's side.
Spyro spun and shot the ball away towards Zap who was standing the closest to the goal.
Zap right away passed it towards Frazil who in turn passed it very quickly to Frost.
However Ember intercepted the ball once again and now shot it towards Electa who was flying above.
Electa spun head over heels and shot it towards the goal.
This time Spyro used his tail and shot it right back up in the sky.
The ball shot past Electa and flew right out of the arena.
"Oops" Spyro playfully.
"Nice going there" Frazil said very annoyed.
"I will go and get it" Cynder volunteered.
She flew out of the stadium and looked for the ball.
The ball had a bright blue colour so it wasn't very hard to find.
She picked it up and carried it in her right front leg and held it close to her body with her claws as she flew back.
Actually the game wasn't much fun for her but she didn't want to drop out on all those dragons including her purple one.
She flew back into the stadium and put the ball down when she had landed.
"Since Spyro made a mistake, you girls will now get a free launce from point blank range" Frost once again took charge.
"Go on Cynder make another one" Ember gave her a small nudge with her snout.
"Okay I will" Cynder stepped in front of the ball and calmed her mind.
She scooped it up with her horns and smashed it towards the goal with her tail.
This time around however Spyro got to his hind legs and in a timeframe of only milliseconds smashed the ball down into the ground.
"Not this time I'm afraid" Spyro smirked.
Cynder lowered her head "I think I am going back to the citadel now" she said trying her best to appear tired.
"Okay then, I will see you later then" Spyro was way too absorbed in the game to pay much attention to it.
Oxidus was giving the lessons in the fire dojo in the middle of the city. All his pupils were adult fire dragons but since he has been giving lessons here for months now it nobody cared about that.
"Feel the burning energy radiating through your body" he said without emotion.
He got to his battle stand and let the energy flow through his pores so that the dragons could see it.
The students repeated it but most of them released very little energy.
"Don't think, don't doubt" He said with a very fake sternness.
The students still had very little progress.
"What could I have done?" Oxidus thought.
His forgot about his students and thought about his encounter with Georga.
"Was I too harsh on her?" he thought "What happened to her and where did she run of to?" the thought had appeared to him again and again.
But then his stand tensed "That she could say something like that!" he thought angrily.
"How dare she" He now also started to look angry "She could never understand".
"Master Oxidus is something wrong?" one of the adult dragon pupils asked.
"No" Oxidus muttered but with enough volume that the fire dragon heard it.
"Now release the energy" Oxidus declared turning back to his lesson.
The fire dragons raised their heads and breathed streams of bright fire into the sky.
Oxidus continued with to instruct the fire dragons but he had learned the entire lesson by heart so he never really paid much attention to what he was saying.
When the last lesson was over he flew back towards his home without speaking to anyone else.
As he flew back home he spotted a green dragoness flying up to him.
"Good afternoon Oxidus" The dragoness said cheerfully
"Hallo Georga" Oxidus still felt some resentment against her.
"Hallo Oxidus" Georga said using same superficial tone as Oxidus had just used.
"So have your wings healed?" Oxidus asked surprising himself a bit.
"It were just some minor burns" Georga assured him.
Oxidus didn't reply but he moved away from her trying to shake her off.
However Georga flew with him and Oxidus couldn't decide if he should dash to get away or just try to ignore her.
"Going to enter the Igus cup?" Georga asked.
Oxidus didn't want to reply because it would only encourage her to continuo the conversation.
Georga didn't give up and flew closer to him until she flew about 40 centimetres besides him and slightly above.
"Are you entering the cup?" Georga asked, whispering near his sound receptors.
Oxidus gasped by what Georga had done. He turned to look at her and saw two brilliant blue eyes that almost seemed to be begging him.
He didn't know what to think of it but he did know he needed to get out of here right now. He quickly drew his head back and kicked her in the stomach to get her away from him. He then instantly dashed towards his house without looking at her again. Not wanting to face what he had done.
Meanwhile Flame was flying back to the orphanage when he spotted what looked like two dragons in a fight.
He quickly got lower and hid in one of the many dark alleys so he could look at it but could avoid getting involved.
He spotted a red male speed away into the unknown while leaving the green female couching for an unknown reason.
By chance the green female landed in the same allay just metres away from him.
"Why? 'Chough' why would you attack me again?" The female said to herself her voice sounding a bit blocked because of the kick in her chest.
It was only now that he recognised the female "Georga! Are you okay?" He ran towards her.
"Yeah I'm fine and" Georga now looked at him "Oh hi there Flame" She suddenly said with a cheerful voice but it sounded very fake.
"Was that dragon?" Flame asked but he swallowed his words because although he couldn't be sure who the other dragon was he most certainly had a hunch.
"Yes it was Oxidus" Georga said her mood dropping down again.
Flame just didn't know what to say but he also felt like he couldn't leave her and that he had to say something.
"Never a dull moment right?" he blurted out.
"What did I just say?!" He accidently thought out loud and started to flap his wings frantically in panic.
"Have you already registered for the Igus cup?" Georga asked not sounding offended at all but rather cheerful again. The remark had somehow lifted up her mood.
"Uh I'm um no I haven't" Flame stammered.
"Well let's go to the citadel then" Georga rose up and started to walk away.
Flame wasn't sure but he lowered his head and walked after her looking more like a naughty whelpling awaiting punishment then a friend following another friend.
When they were out of the allay Georga spread her wings and waited for Flame to do the same.
Flame hesitated but a strong suggestive look from Georga pushed him over the edge.
He continuously flew closer to Georga because he was still feeling a very scared although he didn't know what to be scared of.
"Um Flame could you give me a bit more space please?" Georga asked when Flame was almost touching her side.
"I'm so sorry" Flame stammered as he put almost 3 full metres of space between him and Georga. Very embarrassed that he had gotten so close to a dragoness.
"Don't worry about it Flame" Georga said while chuckling.
Flame didn't say anything more and just followed her meekly towards the citadel.
At the citadel Ember was waiting in line for the other fire dragons to finish registering for the Igus cup. She had been sure to enter it from the beginning but she wanted to have mastered her secret weapon before she entered. Hoping it would give her the motivation to sacrifice all her spare time in order to learn it. The experiment was a success and now that she had mastered it she was going to register.
"Next!" a mole said.
Ember gulped and walked up knowing know was the time to register for it like she wanted.
The mole was sitting behind a desk while bend over a piece of paper.
"Just say your name, age, and your fighter's name"
"Ember, aged 13, nicknamed: Queen of burns" Ember said confident having awaited it for so long.
"All right then" The mole wrote it down. "Please put your paw print here" He pointed to a large square in the middle of the paper.
Ember put her paw into the ink tray and pressed it down onto the sheet of paper to make a clear paw print.
She then breathed a small amount of fire at her paw to burn away the remaining ink. Her nostrils narrowed from the bad small of the burned ink.
"Next!" the mole shouted again.
Ember walked out of the line and towards the exit feeling satisfied that she was now officially in the cup.
However just as she reached the exit she stopped as she recognised two young dragons who were entering the citadel.
"Flame, Georga what are you doing here?" She asked them.
"Oh hi there Ember, I am here to register Flame" Georga replied.
"I can do that myself" Flame snapped.
"Sure?" Ember said putting on an uncertain voice to tease him a bit.
"I um" Flame shrunk back a little.
"I can take over now Georga so why don't you go home" Ember suggested kindly.
"And miss you pushing Flame over the edge, not a chance" Georga said while grinning.
Ember walked to the right of Flame while Georga stayed on the left side.
Flame quickly shifted his view between them and looked very embarrassed by now also having Ember by his side.
"Come on Flame" Ember said encouraging while she moved closer and Georga stayed still so Flame couldn't get away.
"I don't think it is a good idea" Flame said a bit weak.
"But I heard from Cynder that you told her you were going to enter" Georga said.
"He did?" Ember asked "Well then you can't refuse anymore, so go!" she said while taking another step towards him and looking him straight in the face.
Ember could see Flame's body tens and it was clear he was under a lot of pressure.
"Come on Flame, what's the worse that could happen?" She asked trying to lower the pressure on him a bit.
"They could um, refuse me" Flame stammered.
"They don't refuse anyone" Georga said reassuringly.
Ember now had enough and walked around Flame and put her wing behind him.
She started to walk towards the line of dragons and she pulled Flame along who didn't resist for some unknown reason.
"Next!" The mole shouted.
Ember pushed Flame towards the counter and took a step back.
"Just say your name, age, and your fighter's name" the mole now asked Flame.
"I um" Flame stammered not knowing what to say.
"Flame, aged 13, nicknamed: Inferno king" Ember answered for him.
"Please put a paw print here" the mole asked seemingly oblivious that it was not Flame who answered his question.
Flame stepped back, very unsure if entering a tournament in which the best of the best would most certainty come and crush him the second he started fighting and then the whole crowd would laugh at him and shouting that he was pathetic was a good idea.
Suddenly he squealed as Ember bit his right front leg. "Ember what?" He stammered.
Ember didn't seem to notice his squeal and forced his paw into the ink and pressed it down on the paper. Flame was much too flustered and surprised so by the time he had any idea what was going on Ember had already released him and her teeth marks released a small trickle of blood. However Flame didn't seem to notice it all at.
Feeling a bit scared Flame pushed away Ember just after she had released him making a large black smear on her face.
Ember moved her paw over her face and looked at the ink left when she looked at her paw.
She didn't speak but looked at him with a bit of an odd face; there was a mixture of both anger and joy in it.
Ember's body lit up with a strange red light and the ink smear on her face disappeared. When the glow had disappeared Ember smiled very warmly at Flame who was only starting to feel even more uncomfortable both from the foul smell and by the look in Ember's eyes.
"Well that's done so what do you guys say we head back home" Georga now stepped in saving Flame.
"Yes, yes, great idea" Flame said as he was hyperventilating and looked very stressed, Georga was now his heroin because she had saved him.
"Georga, what are you doing here?" A female voice suddenly shouted.
Flame looked and spotted the legendary Cynder appearing from the staircase.
He cringed and tensed up again already stressed from the ordeal and now he was going to meet Cynder once more.
"Ember and Flame as well, here to register I bet" Cynder walked up to them.
Flame took a step back because he desperately wanted to get out of the situation.
"I hope you two do well and maybe even you might even face me in the end" Cynder said kindly to the fire dragons.
Flame took another step back but he was stopped because Ember had put her wing behind him to prevent him from running away.
"Hey Ember any idea where Spyro might be?" Cynder asked her.
"No, when I left the arena he was still playing so I don't know where he went after he finished" Ember answered.
"Hey Ember why is it I don't smell anything from that tailball match?" Cynder asked.
"The sporting arena has baths for dragons of all sizes so I just cooled down my body and also washed myself" Ember answered.
"I really out to get be home by now" Flame finally managed to say.
"Alright then fine" Ember sounded a bit annoyed but lifted her wing and let him go.
Flame raced out of the citadel and took to the sky, he stumbled and flapped very wildly but because he did it took him quite a long time before he got sufficient lift to fly.
The dragonesses all laughed at Flame's silly take off.
"What was that about" Cynder asked when they had stopped laughing.
"He can't stand something like this, it tends to overwhelm him" Ember explained.
"Hey Cynder, mind if I join you at dinner again?" Georga bluntly asked.
"No, I don't mind" Cynder answered before turning to Ember "Hey Ember want to join as well?"
"What! I um" This time Ember was unsure what to say.
"Come on Ember" Georga encouraged her.
"Okay then" Ember said kindly.
"Let's be off to tell Volt and Wilmfe then" Georga said.
"Okay" Ember followed her outside and took to the sky going back home.
"Hey Ember" Georga asked while they were flying over the city.
"Yes"
"Maybe you could also ask her if you can sleep over as well" Georga suggested.
"But we didn't ask that to Cynder first" Ember protested.
"I did it once without telling them it they don't mind it" Georga assured her.
"Okay, but I don't know if my mom will allow it" Ember said knowing a refusal that was a very real possibility in her case.
"Well let's find out" Georga and Ember now parted ways to head to their individual houses.
"Mom, I'm home" Ember shouted as she entered the house
"There you are Ember" Her mother appeared from the kitchen. "Have you registered?"
"Yes I have but-. Mom can I sleep over at the citadel tonight?" Ember asked quickly.
"At the citadel you say?" Wilmfe repeated surprised "With the guardians"
"With Spyro and Cynder" Ember corrected "I was invited to have dinner with them and Georga suggested that maybe we could sleep over as well"
"And did you ask Spyro and Cynder if you could sleep over" He mother asked a bit more stern.
"No, but if they don't want it I will just return back home" Ember felt a bit scared by her mother's sharper accent "Georga said that she had done it before and that Spyro and Cynder didn't mind it"
"Well okay then" Wilmfe said a bit reluctant "But I don't want any frills from you there understand!" Her mother said still in a half threatening half kind tone while she brought up her tail and crossed her wings over her back just like the way she was holding Ember during a spanking.
"I understand" Ember's voice shot upwards while she cringed in and took a step back. Her mother's message was firmly printed in her memory.
"I want you back home before 11 o'clock, young lady" Her mother added stern.
"Eleven o'clock" Ember repeated indicating that she had understood.
Ember walked out of the house and flew back towards the citadel.
"I will be going now" Igüsa said after putting away the last stuff in the large house.
"So soon already?" Frost asked seeing it was only half past five.
"Zerzelie can't pick up Furno at the day-care today so I have to do it myself" Igüsa said.
"I will be going now to" Spyro said as he got up from the couch. After they had bathed to remove the smell Frost asked Spyro if he would come with him to his home to which Spyro agreed.
"Okay until next time" Frost weaved.
"So is Oxidus going to enter?" Spyro asked Igüsa. He didn't want to bring it up in Frost's presence so he asked it when they were outside.
"No, till now no luck" Igüsa replied sounding frustrated.
"Well you better hurry then" Spyro said "The registration for today is already closed and tomorrow is the last day he can still enter"
"I know" Igüsa almost snapped.
"We can't do much if he doesn't enter so tomorrow has to be the day" Spyro reminded her.
"I promise I will do all I can" Igüsa said tired, annoyed that Spyro pressured her like that.
"Well I wish you success then" Spyro took to the skies and started to fly back to the citadel.
Spyro reached the citadel in about 10 minutes of flying and landed near the front gate.
He walked through the entrance hall that looked the same as yesterday so he paid little attention to it and went straight to the kitchen where he most likely would find Cynder.
"Ah, there he is" Cynder said sounding a bit annoyed.
"Um, hallo there Spyro" A female voice said sounding a bit uncertain.
"Oh, Ember and Georga too what are you doing here?" he asked very surprised.
"Cynder invited us for dinner" Georga answered.
"Oh she did?" Spyro looked at Cynder who nodded back.
"Fine by me" Spyro said while walking up to the counter to place his order.
The girls quickly also got up and followed him. "Don't we have to wait for the guardians?" Ember asked as she waited for her turn to place an order.
"No, they told me to just go ahead" Cynder assured her.
"Okay then" Ember replied
"I would like a good boar" Spyro ordered.
"A spiced sheep for me" Cynder ordered next.
"4 taviboah's and half a sheep for me" Georga ordered.
"A large portion of pesos' for me" Ember ordered last.
They walked back to their table and awaited the moles to finish.
The meals of Spyro, Cynder and Georga arrived quickly but the one of Ember took a bit longer.
After some time her meal was also finished and she picked up the bowl in her jaws and walked back to the table.
In the bowl were a large number of tiny blue orbs that were steaming hot.
Now that they all had their food they started to eat. They were all hungry so they finished very quickly and didn't say much.
"Um Cynder?" Ember said a bit weak trying her very best not to say anything that could be offending at all cost.
"What?" Cynder had just finished her meal.
"Is it okay if Georga and I sleep over for the night?" She asked.
"It's fine" Cynder said "The more the happier" Spyro said.
"The more the merrier Spyro" Cynder corrected a bit stern but also with a grin "It's okay. She said turning back to Ember.
"Sorry, but I can't stay" Georga said a bit sad.
"Huh? Why not?" Ember asked surprised because it was Georga who suggested it in the first place.
"Volt refused to let me sleep over, he said I could eat dinner with you but I will sleep again in my own room"
"That's too bad" Spyro said.
"Well I really ought to get going now" Georga got up.
"I'm sure I will see you again soon, so bye" Georga weaved before walking out of the kitchen.
"Bye" The three remaining dragon said one after the other.
The three young dragons walked up to their room to play and to accommodate for yet another sleep-over.
They picked the straw filled mattress out of the storage room and carried it towards their room.
Ember helped carry it together with Spyro and Cynder quickly moved the stuff out of the way to put it down.
"Wow, all these things are yours?" Ember rushed over to the shelf that held the young dragon's toys.
"Yes, the guardians gave them to us when they made our room before we arrived" Cynder said a bit surprised by Ember's awe.
"Hey I always wanted one of these things" Ember picked up a clear orb from the shelf and put it down on the ground.
"What is it then?" Spyro asked as he had never used the thing.
"It's an element bomb" Ember said "When fully charged it is a lethal weapon but when only charged only a little it is just a fun toy to play with"
"If you don't have one, how do you know how to use it?" Cynder asked.
"Frost has one and I am a part of his group of friends"
"Okay then, so how do you use it?" Spyro asked.
"Well one dragon charges up the bomb with his element and then he throws it towards someone else while saying something that falls within a curtain category of words like food, attacks or names. Then if the one catches it he or she must then quickly think of a word of his own and throw it towards the next player. You aren't allowed to use a word that's already been used. You never know when the bomb will releases its charge so one will be the victim and feel the bomb release the energy and he or she then is the loser and will pick the next category as well as charge up the bomb"
"Doesn't it hurt?" Cynder asked as the thought of a fire explosion inside her mouth didn't seem like a nice experience.
"That all depends on how much you charge it" Ember said "It will be fine"
"Okay then, let's do it" Spyro stepped to another place in the room so the three dragons now stood in a triangle.
"Let's say names as the first category" Ember suggested.
"Okay" Spyro replied "Fine with me" Cynder also agreed.
Ember took the orb in her mouth and the orb's colour chanced from clear to slightly red.
Ember hurled the orb towards Spyro "Cynder" She shouted.
Spyro now hurled the orb to Cynder "Ember" he shouted.
Now Cynder threw it at Ember "Georga"
Ember threw it at Spyro again "Flame".
Spyro caught it in his mouth but no sooner had the orb stopped in his jaws or it released a small bang and a red light.
Spyro spit up the ball and couched more from surprise then from pain.
"Was it so bad? Did I use too much power?" Ember asked a bit worried.
"No, I was just surprised, that's all" Spyro assured her.
"Now it's Spyro's turn to decide since he lost" Ember declared.
"Alright then the category is locations" Spyro said as he grabbed the orb in his jaws and focused a small amount of energy into it.
The orb's colour now chanced to yellow although it did seem brighter then when Ember charged it.
Spyro threw it at Cynder "Citadel"
Cynder threw it at Ember "Central Square"
Ember threw it at Spyro "Moon Lake"
Spyro held it in his jaws as he quickly was trying to come up with another location. He then threw it back at Cynder who quickly caught it "Concurrent skies"
The name felt like a bomb shell to Cynder as she was reminded of the dreaded building that still stood there and the even more feared creature that used to be inside.
"Cynder" Ember shouted as she had the orb in her mouth and was staring into space for about 5 seconds now.
Suddenly the orb gave Cynder a sharp jolt causing her to cringe in.
"Are you okay Cynder?" Spyro walked up to her.
"Urg, yes I'm fine" Cynder replied still feeling a bit shocked.
"Why did you just stand there?" Ember asked her.
"Sorry I just couldn't put my mind to it" Cynder said not wanting Ember to know.
"It's okay" Spyro assured Cynder.
"Sure?" Ember asked.
"It's okay" Spyro said again speaking to Ember more clearly then he had done to Cynder.
Cynder yawned "Let's go to bed now shall we" She suggested.
"Yeah good idea" Spyro agreed while walking to the bed and laying down, waiting for Cynder to come and lay down next to him.
"Feels odd not to have Sparx here" Spyro thought as he always said 'Good night everyone' every time they got to bed.
"Good night you two" Ember walked to her mattress and laid down on her belly while her head rested on her paws and she curled her tail around herself.
"Well someone does take the job over I guess" Spyro thought as Ember said exactly the same thing Sparx would have said.
Cynder walked up towards the bed and laid down next to Spyro.
"Why was it that you didn't throw the orb?" Spyro whispered to her.
"It wasnothing" Cynder said sounding tired.
"Sure about that?" Spyro asked again.
"I said it was nothing" Cynder said sharper, however she didn't turn away from him and moved only closer.
"Cynder" Spyro didn't know what to think of it or do with her. He had a good hunch why she was paralyzed when he said the name of her former lair but he couldn't understand why she constantly snuggled up to him every night.
However he was in a good mood now and just allowed Cynder to be within 10 centimetres him, as long as she didn't get any closer then that.
Luckily for him she didn't and closed her eyes in order to sleep while purring softly.
Spyro folded his wings back to keep himself warm. Closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep as well.