TLOS legend of the black dragon chapter 23 the second round
After a long while here is chapter 23. After the sort of dramatic chapter 22 it is nice to relax a little but I still liked making this chapter. That confrontation scene with Cyril I really liked and also the scene's with Ember. I tried to give her more character and I hope I succeeded.
The legend of Spyro
Legend of the black dragon
Chapter 23 the second round
Ember's eyes slowly opened up as she felt herself lie down on a rather cold and hard underground. Right away she knew it was not her soft and comfy straw pile that lay in her room.
She could feel the throbbing pain still on her behind and looked back to see it red but already fading and turning back to pink.
Now she remembered. How she had had another spanking yesterday evening because she was late for dinner. 55 slaps in all because she talked during the spanking. After the prolonged spanking was over her mother forced her to sleep inside the naughty corner. The most likely reason because it already was past Ember's normal bedtime
Ember hated this babyish naughty corner and to wake up in it was even worse.
The word: NAUGHTY being written on the floor in bright red letters was easy for Ember to read and made this corner unmistakeable.
She tried to not think about it in detail but that was easier said than done. Her throbbing red rump reminded her of the punishment in clear detail.
"Mom, why?" Ember sniffed as she had asked herself that question very often.
Ember was feeling quite stiff and wanted to go outside to train a little like she often did. She also would like it to go to her room and play with her ropes but she didn't even want to think about what would happen if her mother came and didn't find her exactly where she was now.
Just lying there felt boring as Ember was ready and awake but she just couldn't move from her position until her mother came to get her.
"I hope Georga is really okay" to boot Ember also had that to worry about.
For Ember to hire the room, practice, paint and do all the other things they needed was tough and to do it all in just one afternoon had truly pushed Ember's organizing skills to the limit. Cynder had taken care of getting everyone and keeping Georga from getting a sniff of their activities but most of the hard work was still done by her.
Now that she was thinking about it Ember felt a curtain amount of pride in her accomplishment. Despite its obviously painful impact on her friend Ember was glad that she had done it.
However the pain on her tailbase also reminded her of her reward for all that effort.
Ember shook her head to expel that thought. She had helped Georga to be happy again and in a sense also helped Oxidus so that meant what she had done yesterday was a thing to be proud of. She had done her very best and succeeded in helping out her childhood friend, end up story.
"I hope today goes well" she shifted her mind to that now as it was a big day for her.
Today the victory tournament started and Ember was one of the 64 that were going to participate
And not only was she going to participate but she had also won her way into the second round with a perfect winning streak.
Her secret weapon has seen her through all 3 matches without flaw and Ember's mastery of it now was perfect.
"Maybe I could really have a shot at winning the entire thing" Ember thought excited.
That thought was a hopeful one for her because that she might face Spyro on day was a dream come true.
"To fight Spyro-" Ember murmured her eyes filling with joy.
Ember kept thinking about her possible match with Spyro for about another hour while she waited for her mother to arrive.
"Learned your lesson?" Ember looked up and spotted the crimson red form of mother looking down at her.
Her mother still had the same punitive and fear striking look in her eyes so it brought the thoughts of her punishment back up in a snap.
"Yes" Ember said doing her best to sound as pitiful and sorry as she could.
"Good, I want you to be home before dinner time and if not I want a really good reason for it" Her mother still sounded cold and sharp.
"I understand" Ember bowed her head down in obedience. She actually wanted to protest as she did have a very good reason. However her punishment was over now and risking it for her own personal sense of justice wasn't worth it.
Her mother now walked away to make breakfast and Ember, still thinking she was on thin ice went along to assist her.
This actually was pointless on the matter of punishment but Ember just could never be sure.
Her mother could sometimes give her long spankings for apparently minor things and shorter spankings for seemingly more major things. She just could be so confusing, even Ember couldn't fully figure her out.
Therefore doing her best to please her mother just seemed like the best option right now.
Ember also was just generous and liked helping her mother so she didn't mind it.
Meanwhile Georga was eating breakfast together with Volt like normal again.
She had told Volt all about what had happened yesterday with the stage act and Volt was quite shocked by it for sure.
It all sounded pretty dramatic and painful for Georga. Yet he could also see that they had only done it for her own good. He also felt impressed by what Cynder and Ember had done. Setting up an entire stage act just to help Georga.
That the insolent ice dragoness that came in and bossed him around was in reality Cynder was a thing he never had seen coming for curtain.
However regardless of that, it warmed his heart that Georga was not going to follow Oxidus' footsteps and become depressive as well. He felt very regretful that he couldn't do anything to help her except keeping her busy for Ember and Cynder. But he was glad nonetheless that she was no longer silent and talked again.
But Georga didn't just stop talking after she was finished with yesterday's events. She continued to talk and talk about anything she could come up with.
"You should have seen Flannery's face, I don't believe I have ever seen her that angry-" Georga laughed and talked non stop now.
She kept talking and talking. There seemed to be no stopping her.
Although she was talking a lot and also quite fast Volt could still mostly understand what she was saying. However if that was for good or bad was the question.
Volt was never really interested in all the girly businesses of Georga but with a depression narrowly avoided he was very happy that she was talking so much and acted so cheerfully.
"So Georga, what are you going to do now about Oxidus?" Volt now dared to ask her. He really wanted to know that but had been partially afraid of asking such a sensitive question to her. However seeing how well Georga was doing right now he decided to risk it.
Upon hearing the question Georga instantly stopped talking and her head dropped down towards the ground.
"I don't know" She mumbled after a few moments of silence.
Volt's face visibly turned worried as he was afraid he had broken Georga again now.
"Georga" he said careful as Georga slowly lifted her head back up.
Volt's fears quickly subsided when he looked into her aqua blue eyes. Georga's eyes shone brightly, filled with strength and determination.
Volt had never seen so much fire in Georga before. Never!
Georga started talking, her voice brimming with equal strength "But I believe in him and will support him. One day I will take him back. When that day comes I don't know but I am sure it will come one day. No matter how far away he may be he is still out there for me to find. As a true friend I believe in him and I know he will return" she proclaimed noble.
"Wow, you sure know your stuff" Volt joked about her poetic speech, trying to get her mood back up.
"Yes, but as I was saying; Then Inge said to her that she-" Georga now instantly got back to her girly blabbering. She hasn't spoken to Volt in days so everything she wanted to tell him in three days she now crammed into thirty minutes.
Volt now got back to eating his meal while giving short replies to Georga as she had trouble eating through all the things she had to say.
Volt now started to regret that the day-care was closed as it seemed Georga had stories to no end.
When Georga and Volt were at last finally finished eating they went to the citadel to watch the first round of the victory tournament.
The citadel was even more crowded than before because of the event. To make sure they wouldn't loose each other Georga cringed in and walked underneath Volt.
They couldn't see each other this way and Georga didn't like it to walk underneath him. But one upside was that Volt would clear the way for her and she didn't need to worry about getting squashed in the crowd like when she was alone.
As the two had entered the honour box Georga spotted Cynder and Spyro standing next to each other talking.
They had decided to watch as themselves from the honour box instead again of painting themselves over and join the other young dragons below.
Disguising was also starting to become obsolete as the people of Warfang were getting used to them.
Further in the honour box were: Frost, his father and four other dragons.
"Hi Georga. Looking forward to the matches?" Cynder asked friendly.
"For sure, I would love to see Oxidus battle" Georga said trying her best to appear excited. Actually talking about Oxidus still stung with her so she rather would avoid the topic if possible. She mentioned Oxidus to sort of reassure Cynder that she was fine now.
"Well that little stage performance of blasting bighead Cyril sky high worked like a charm by the looks of it" Sparx said referring to Georga's mirthful demeanour.
"Well you are thanked for your gratitude" An annoyed voice grumbled and it was no surprise who it was.
"I get myself smeared and burned, I spend hours with the officials, I-" Cyril started.
"Greetings Cyril still hanging around with lizards I see" Blizzard interrupted Cyril's tirade in a friendly tone that sent shivers through everyone's spine.
"That's me, always treating all dragons with respect" Cyril shot back in the same friendly ice cold voice. He instantly forgot about his displeasure as he smiled coldly towards Blizzard.
"And your equals not" Blizzard murmured making sure nobody would hear.
"I have heard somewhere that you let that filthy lizard that used to be my maid ride on you" Blizzard said next staring Cyril straight in the eye.
Normally Blizzard never openly spoke out in public but Cyril seemed to be the one exception to that rule.
"Yeah, I carried her while Terrador carried you. Keeping her on my back was difficult though as she kept insisting that we should focus on you instead" Cyril now sounded really venomous.
Georga felt very uncertain about the sight of the two aristocratic ice dragons fighting it out in this verbal war but she enjoyed it somewhere.
Although he had never said it to her Georga knew perfectly well how Blizzard thought of her and Volt. So Blizzard meeting his match and now getting bossed around himself was something highly amusing to watch.
Blizzard snorted in disgust "Well firing that insolent lizard was the best decision I've ever made" Blizzard never seemed able to hear the part where Igüsa cared for him. Though it was more likely that he just didn't want to hear it.
"Sure? What do you think?" Cyril now turned his attention to Frost who was standing next to his father.
Frost seemed crawl back a little as he was unsure of what to do with his father standing in the room.
"Still can keep up?" Sparx whispered to his parents who nodded a bit uncertain.
After a few seconds Frost forced his head back up and took almost a battle stance.
"I really liked Igüsa" He said weakly but with the silence in the room nobody had any problems hearing it.
Blizzard shot Frost a punitive glare what caused him to cringe in and bend his head back down.
At that sight Georga now looked up at her guardian that stood beside her.
"A parent sure is powerful" She thought. Frost had no problem defying his father nor did he care what Blizzard thought of him. Yet when he was actually together with Blizzard he barely showed any signs of rebellion at all.
"But did you know that her job was the only thing keeping her and her family from living a horrible life on the streets?!" Cyril asked, his voice increasing in volume and his face looking imperiously.
"That filth belonged on the streets anyway" Blizzard spat ice cold.
Cyril's face crinkled and his lips curled back for a second as the sentence had really struck a nerve.
However he relaxed his face muscles fast enough that Blizzard didn't saw that he had struck a blow on Cyril "Well there we differ in opinion" Cyril had regained his razor sharp calmness very quickly but deep down Georga knew that the sentence of Blizzard had really made him angry.
The two ice dragons were glaring at each other with murderous gazes. It looked like lightning was erupting from their pupils and clashing in between them.
The temperature in the honour box was dropping rapidly and Georga saw frost particles going out of the mouths of the two glaring ice dragons.
"Hey Igüsa!" Cyril shouted turning to look behind what broke that stare.
Georga was now very surprised to indeed see Igüsa walking into the honour box and joining Cyril.
"What are you doing here!?" Blizzard exclaimed admonished.
"Nothing" Igüsa shrugged and had a totally casual voice "My boss called me and therefore I came"
"Your boss?" Blizzard shouted in disbelief
He shot his head towards Cyril, his face full of shock and disbelief "You hired this lowlife of a lizard?!" he yelled.
"Indeed I did" Cyril chirped sounding as if he was really proud of it.
"You are going to deprave and destroy the entire name with acts like these!" Blizzard said admonished as he took a step towards Cyril and the dragons now stood glaring face to face, their muzzles separated by only a few centimetres.
"The bad reputation that our bloodline get's from your complete lack of respect towards any other dragon whatsoever-" Cyril nudged towards Spyro as in giving an example "-Will do far more harm than my displays of kindness en generosity" Cyril said having an similar hostile aura as Blizzard that was just as powerful.
Georga took a step back as did everyone from the dragons as it seemed like something you wouldn't want to get involved with.
"Don't we need to stop them?" Nina asked a bit worried looking concerned to the two dragons berating each other.
"If you do not want to be turned into a cube of ice then I would advice you not to" Sparx shaking his head fearfully.
"You don't want to be near him when that Ice's bags nobility is questioned and it seems this ba... Blizzard fellow is no better"
"You rather not stand between two grandpa nobles whose bloodline pride is on the line"
"Your so called kindness and generosity is going to ruin our entire name. Dragons of nobility can't be seen with dragons of common origin" Blizzard said coldly and he turned his gaze to Igüsa who stood besides Cyril "and especially not lizards like that"
But Igüsa didn't move from it "Well your opinion seems far sought" she repelled.
"Quiet you!" Blizzard barked.
"And why should I?" Igüsa said daring.
"You don't pay me anymore so you can't boss me around" She pointed out.
The discussion now had caught many eyes as it really started to heat up, or better said cool down.
"You're still beneath me you whore!" Blizzard said greatly losing his temper.
"Ah, finally you have said it out loud" Igüsa said not impressed by it at all. She kept her cool pretty well even though Blizzard called her a whore.
Igüsa snorted now and took a high stance like a noble looking patronizingly down on Blizzard.
Blizzard growled at her but just as he opened his mouth Cyril beat him to it.
"Yes, Igüsa is beneath you just as you are beneath me" Cyril said with a sly grin.
Whatever Blizzard was about to say it didn't come as he closed his jaws and snarled in frustration.
Blizzard now snapped his head back towards Igüsa again who stuck her tongue out in defiance.
"You are going to pay for what your brother did!" he threatened.
"Oh, Really?" Igüsa said incredulouslycocking her head sideways in a clueless position "And how so?"
Blizzard look wide eyed to the lowly lizard who seemed to have no problem mocking and insulting a dragon such as him.
"You can pay all the damage done. You are considered legally responsible!" Blizzard yelled out as he knew well that there was no way that Igüsa could pay for all the damage.
"Sorry Blizzard but her allowance won't be touched" Cyril said stepping in.
"Say What?!"
"I already have put you're responsibility on the repair crew you hired and you are going to pay for everything" he said sly.
"The material, the work hours, the costs of the healer, the-" Cyril summed up.
"That Oxidus was the one who did it!" Blizzard interrupted him.
"Yeah and you're going to pay for it" Cyril disclosed the subject.
"And now I bid you goodbye Blizzard" Cyril said politely bowing to make his point.
"It's been so nice to talk with you" Igüsa added with a bland tone.
"I'm not going anywhere!!!" Blizzard now shouted.
"Only dragons with permission can enter the honour box" Cyril sneered.
"I have one so why don't you sent that filth away" Blizzard snapped at Igüsa.
"Sorry to disappoint you but your arrangement is declared invalid" Cyril chuckled evilly.
"Invalid?!" Blizzard shouted in disbelief.
"Invalid" Igüsa repeated a wide grin adorning her face.
"I decided to give your permission to someone else" Cyril explained.
"You can't do that!" Blizzard protested.
"Oh but I can" Cyril grinned as he now had Blizzard right where he wanted him.
"Just like I can make you pay all the damage" Cyril reminded.
"I'm sure you all are eager to meet her" Cyril said as he headed down.
To everyone's great surprise of everyone he came back a second later with a young dragoness that they knew only too well.
"Ember!" Spyro and Georga both shouted in unison. Cynder and Frost followed a second later.
It was indeed the young pink dragoness who stood underneath Cyril. Looking cheerful and happy like always yet also still bit uncertain.
When Cyril had said that he had given Blizzard's place to someone else Georga was sure that the one was going to be Igüsa.
That it would be Ember was totally unexpected.
"Hallo there" Ember said in her gleeful high-pitched voice.
"You are sending me away for this pink prick?!" Blizzard still sounded in shocked and disbelief, like this all just wasn't possible.
"Well, yes, that was the idea" Cyril said using a very uncertain tone to further irritate him.
Blizzard snarled at him in the face but that made Cyril's smirk only even more broad.
Igüsa even had the nerve to openly giggle at him.
"Now, are you going to show yourself out or do you need some assistance?" Cyril asked very politely.
"Come on Frost! We're leaving!" Blizzard barked an enormous rage holding back as he walked away.
"Your arrangement is invalid, the invitation of Frost is not" Cyril corrected.
"Well he is coming!" Blizzard shouted no longer having any grace at all.
Frost looked around his group of friends but quickly found he had to go.
"See you guys later" he said cheerfully as he left.
Blizzard headed home and Frost made sure to keep out of his way. For Blizzard it sure was going to be a very sour day for curtain. Being thrown out of the exclusive zone, getting bested by Cyril, having to pay for all the damage but worst of all having a filth like Igüsa talk to him like that and get away with it.
Back in the citadel it took a few minutes for everyone to calm down from the hostile and highly charged meeting.
"Wow, you really showed him whose boss" Sparx said being the first to break the silence.
"I sure did, didn't I" Cyril sounded very proud that he had made Blizzard so completely loose his temper.
"Hey Cyril, it seems you know Blizzard extremely well, is he related to you?" Spyro asked as by the things they were saying it seemed like a realistic possibility.
"As in a fluke he is" Cyril sighed "Blizzard is my cousin" It was very clear in his voice that he wasn't fund of Blizzard one little bit.
"How is it that you can talk to Blizzard like that?" Igüsa asked him "Blizzard had always told me that he was the head of the family"
"Well we share that title" Cyril sneered.
"We have the same rank in the family"
"But you have your rank as ice guardian and with that added you overtop him, right Cyril?" Spyro filled in for himself.
"Right young Spyro" Cyril nodded obviously very happy about that fact.
"Why did you give Blizzard's spot to Ember anyway?" Spyro asked as that still was strange.
Cyril didn't know Ember at all. Igüsa would have been the obvious choice.
"Yes why did I get that spot?" Ember asked as apparently it was a mystery to her as well.
"Well I don't know" Cyril admitted causing every to look confused.
"Cynder demanded it of me"
"Cynder?" Spyro turned and looked questioning to the black dragoness next to him.
"Well I just figured that Ember deserved something from all her effort with Georga" Cynder said proudly.
But then Cynder also felt a bit of guilt because if she hadn't done it than Igüsa would have gotten the empty seat.
"That's very kind of you Cynder" Igüsa said as she seemed to read her mind.
Cynder smiled and nodded to her.
"I also never knew you could be so insolent Igüsa" Cynder said almost wryly.
"Yeah, I just always wanted to do that one day" Igüsa said giggling girlishly.
"Well that jerk had it coming to him right?" Cynder snickered.
"Right" Igüsa nodded in agreement
"Anyway, I still have some work to do and I guess so do you" Cyril said looking at Igüsa.
"Yes, I'll get to it" Igüsa said regaining her posture.
"I suggest you come as well Ember" Cyril added.
"Huh? Where does Ember need to go?" Georga asked.
"Don't you know?" Ember responded a bit surprised.
"They want all 64 dragons in the arena for a speech and I am one of those" She said obviously sounding proud about the second part.
"Okay Ember, do your best" Georga said.
"I will" Ember assured them as she walked out to get down to the arena.
As Ember walked back to her mother she thought about her decision to agree with Cyril's offer.
She had been quite surprised for sure when Cyril just came walking up to her and offered her a place in the exclusive honour box.
Ember however did need to think about it for a moment before making a decision.
If she accepted it then it would mean that she couldn't watch the matches together Flame anymore and her other friends. But then again she would have a much better view of the arena and could be together with Georga, Spyro and Cynder instead.
After some time Ember had decided it was a good idea and agreed.
The hide act of Cyril was a bit annoying but she just went along with it without complaining.
She found her mother again standing near one of the entrances of the arena and walked up to her.
"There you are" her mother said as she noticed her.
"Did that meeting went well?"
"It sure did" Ember said happy although there was nothing special to notion.
"So, ready for it?" Her mother asked now that Ember had arrived.
"More than ever" Ember chirped as she quickly positioned herself next to Wilmfe's front leg.
With her mother by her side Ember walked through the participant's entrance and into the arena.
When they entered the arena Ember felled awed by the sight.
It was filled with dozens of fire dragons. Ember had no idea how many there were already but it there were well over 40 already with ease.
The fire dragons stood everywhere around her, too bad for Ember blocking the view of her friends in the honour box and young dragon stands.
Ember just kept following her mother until she stopped and Ember just stood next to her while trying to look strong.
Then they just waited until the last few fire dragons arrived what took about 10 minutes.
Ember often looked around nervously as she could get a bit intimidated by large crowds. She shuffled a bit closer to her mom for comfort.
However realising what she was doing Ember away again. She wouldn't act like some kind pathetic hatchling right now around these dragons. She was part of this group! She deserved to stand here! Taking a deep breath Ember straightened up and stood as tall as she could. However because she was surrounded by full grown adults on all sides, so no matter how large she tried to make herself she would still look puny.
When all the 64 fire dragons had arrived the gates closed and Ember waited for what was to come.
She spotted all the dragons looking up and squeezing her way through the crowd Ember got a clear spot and looked up.
She saw Terrador walking into the speakers post and he had Spyro on his right and Cynder on his left. The scene strongly reminded her of the beginning of the cup.
"Congratulations mighty dragons!" Terrador started his speech and Ember listened very closely to it.
"You have all made it through the preliminaries and are now standing here to battle it out for the revered title of Master of Eternal Fire"
"Each and every one of you have proven themselves to be both powerful and determined to make it this far!" Terrador had to catch his breath for a second.
"Somewhere inside of you sleeps the one dragon who will become the grand master of eternal fire!"
"However who that one will be is going to be completely up to you!"
"The victory tournament will be different from the preliminary rounds. It is an elimination match" Terrador explained "This means that you can't afford a single loss. Only the to strongest fire dragon among you will be left standing after he or she has won a total of 6 rounds"
"There will be no second chances in these upcoming matches. So, mighty dragons give it your all in every single battle you fight. Just one loss means elimination so don't hold back. But at the same time there also won't be any breaks anymore between the fights. Therefore do your best but also use your powers wisely"
"Remember that only 1 will truly be the champion but you are all great dragons for making it this far"
"The battles we have seen so far have been spectacular and have made us very proud. So we expect to see much more as the most powerful dragons are now gathered here"
"So mighty dragons never give up and fight with everything you have! The finals are only a few days away" Terrador shouted as he turned around and left. Spyro and Cynder still on either side.
"That match with Spyro is mine" Ember thought as she nearly jumped from excitement.
"So Ember ready to go down in the first round" Ember heard a masculine voice say close.
She turned to see Flannery stand a few metres away underneath her own mother.
"Not a chance" Ember shot back.
"Boy oh boy I just wonder how far you will come" Flannery said to herself with the sarcasm dripping off of it.
"Further than you will" Ember snapped back at her.
Suddenly Ember spotted her mother starting to walk away.
Ember quickly ran to catch up and walked next to her as if she had never left.
"We'll see about that Ember!" Flannery shouted as she turned her gaze away.
"Yes we will Flannery" Ember said to herself as she and her mother were absorbed into the crowd.
As they walked out the stadium Ember just couldn't wait for her first match to begin.
That speech of Terrador had totally pumped her up big time and Flannery's challenge had only added even more wood to the fire.
Ember desperately wanted to make some burns on an opponent right now! Flannery preferred.
She quickly ran out from underneath her mother and sprinted towards the main hall to check out the new timetables and find out when her match was.
She really hoped right now as she was ready for battle.
Suddenly just as Ember had made her first few steps out she gave a startled yelp as a powerful force on her back forced her feet to give way and her belly to smack on the ground.
There was a crushing force on her back and Ember quickly identified it as the tailblade of her mother. Knowing all its features only too well.
"You stay with me" She said sternly while not lifting her tail up.
"I stay" Ember wheezed having problems speaking due to being squashed by the pressure on her back.
Her mother nodded to her. Only now then did her mother lift up her tail to free Ember.
Ember climbed back to her feet and walked down obediently to her mother, having been reminded who was in charge.
Her mother now started to walk calmly towards the timetables while Ember followed next to her in the same pace.
Ember still wanted to be close to her mother with this many people around anyway so it was not that she hated it to walk next to her.
It was just that it didn't feel nice to know that she needed to do it because she had no choice.
Walking next to her mother it seemed to take forever before they finally reached to the main room and Ember could check out the timetables.
As Ember looked at it she noticed that it was a different poster than before.
Instead of 32 large boxes littered around there now were small boxes going upwards into a pyramid shape, every box connected with lines upwards, then fusing and moving up again.
The names of all the participants were written in the boxes and Ember quickly found out how the principle worked.
In between the boxes was written when the battle going to take place. The times for the later matches weren't yet filled in for some reason.
Ember paid that no mind and quickly searched the boxes, looking for her name.
When she found it she felt a feeling of disappointment because of the time but that quickly chanced into surprise as she saw who her opponent was.
"Ember 19:00 Inge"
"Me and Inge again?" Inge was the other dragon from block E that had made it through but they already had a battle just two days ago.
It was a very strange coincidence indeed that they would have a battle twice in a row.
"Luck of the draw I guess" Ember shrugged and continued looking to the poster.
She was a bit disappointed that her battle was that late. She was totally excited and eager for it but also knew that she just had to wait until her time was.
Now she spotted her mothers name two sets of blocks away.
"Wilmfe 15:00 Therofous"
She also checked the board for other matches she would like to see from her new spot in the honour box.
"Flame 9:00 Heatwave" She had missed his match yesterday so she surely wanted to see his match today.
"Oxidus 12:30 Blaze" She also didn't want to miss on of Oxidus' battles.
She checked further but spotted nothing else that she felt like she necessarily had to see.
"Checking out the one who is going to wipe the floor with you?" a low female voice asked next to her.
Ember didn't look as it was no surprise who it was "I doubt it" She repelled.
"Why does Flannery constantly have to pick on everyone" Ember thought.
Ember now looked to Flannery and spotted that this time her mother wasn't there.
When her mother was with her Flannery mocked but didn't insult. However when Flannery was alone she could and would say anything.
Flannery also observed the list to check out her matches and Ember, wanting to look someplace else looked at the clock.
She spotted it was already 8:40.
"Mom, Flame's battle is up soon. Can I go now to the honour box now?" She asked.
"Sure" Her mother replied not looking down.
"Thanks mom" Ember said before walking out from underneath her
"Can't do anything without mommy's permission, eh?" Flannery said wryly.
Ember just ignored her and went up to her new seat.
When she reached the honour box again Ember quickly joined up with Georga. Spyro and Cynder weren't back yet from accompanying Terrador.
"Impressive speech don't you think?" She asked.
"Yeah, it was" Georga replied.
A match started now but neither of the two young dragonesses was really interested so they talked some more until a match began that at least one did find interesting.
"Did we miss something?" Ember turned her head and spotted Spyro together with Cynder, Sparx and two more dragonflies enter the honour box.
"Oh my, a new face?" The pink dragonfly said as she spotted Ember in the honour box.
"Someone else who is pink" Ember thought as she spotted the dragonfly. Pink had always been very characteristic to her.
However she quickly pushed the thought away as a stranger had just addressed her.
"My name is Ember, it's a pleasure to meet you" Ember said blandly as she stood up bowed like was proper. Although the dragonfly was far smaller than her Ember could see it was an adult. She had to show respect to every adult, dragons or not.
"No need to be so formal dear" The dragonfly assured her.
"I'm Nina and this is Flash, we're the parents of Sparx" The dragonfly explained.
"And my foster parents as well" Spyro quickly added to that.
"Foster parents?" Ember thought.
That Spyro had dragonflies as foster parents was a weird idea for sure.
However Ember remembered that she had heard Spyro call Sparx his brother one time.
Therefore if Sparx was his brother than that his parents were dragonflies as well actually did make sense.
She quickly forgot about it as she heard the words she was waiting for.
"Now the battle begins between the Inferno King Flame and Burning Fire Master Heatwave" it was Terrador who was referee now.
Ember looked away from the dragonflies and down into the arena to see how Flame would do in his first round of the victory tournament.
Flame appeared from the gates with more confidence than the last time Ember saw him battle.
He had his head up and walked all the way without stopping, he still was slouching a bit but that was normal.
"You go Flame" Ember thought as Flame was starting to get progressively more confidence.
Ember now turned her eyes to Flame's opponent.
"This isn't going to be easy, even for him" Ember thought shaking her head.
Heatwave was very large dragon, about the same size as Volt was.
Ember could see his muscles very well underneath his scales; also his large horns and deadly looking claws surely would make him a worthy opponent.
But Ember still felt that Flame could beat him so that was not her real concern. The outcome of this match wouldn't depend on Heatwave. It would depend on whatever or not Flame would be able to hold himself together during the battle.
The large fire dragon moved to the centre of the arena and almost laid his tail on the ground.
Having battled adults many times herself Ember was used to the sight. But still it was weird to see the clashing of tails between two dragons of such a different size.
Flame more like smacked his tiny tail against the giant log of the other dragon's tail as truly clashing them was difficult.
They nudged and walked back to their original positions.
"Guess his last match must have gone very well" Ember concluded looking at Flame's improved confidence.
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Terrador shouted.
This time Flame was the first to move and breathed a high speed fire stream at his opponent.
Heatwave moved fast and rolled out of the way of the stream with surprisingly high speed for a dragon his size.
However for Flame just kept up the attack while merely chancing the direction of the fire.
Heatwave tried to jump but wasn't fast enough to avoid it and was quickly engulfed.
But now also was showing that he was as tough as he was fast because he jumped out of the fire stream. Looking relatively unhurt although Ember knew somewhere that the attack had done damage on him.
Flame chanced the direction of his fire stream yet again while never stopping it.
Heatwave now did succeed in avoiding it but that was of little matter.
Flame kept up his attack and Heatwave kept flying around.
To Ember it was like watching a game of chase rather than an actual battle. It was weird but somewhere still amusing.
Heatwave kept tried to outmanoeuvre Flame's fire stream but that was futile.
He was engulfed by it again and again while he was flying around the stadium.
Heatwave couldn't even defend himself from Flame's attack let alone get the chance to launch any sort of counter-attack.
Flame now spread his wings and took to the sky himself what stopped his fire breath for a second.
Heatwave now thought he had a chance to do something but he was mistaken.
When Flame had found his balance in the air he used the continuous stream of fire again and now he was following Heatwave around with it as they flew above the stadium.
Flame seemed full of power and despite having breathed fire almost nonstop for minutes. Flame's energy supply seemed endless as Flame was still looking up and raring to go.
Heatwave on the other hand was gasping from his constant fast moments that he had to make to avoid Flame's fire attack.
The constant hits that Flame dealt him also drained his power very much. Heatwave knew that if he didn't do something very quickly he would loose this match for curtain.
Deciding it was all or nothing now he summoned up every bit of power he had and used his most powerful comet dash on Flame.
Flame spotted it and quickly countered it with a comet dash of his own. However because he had to do it in response Flame didn't have as much time to charge it as Heatwave did.
The two burning dragons clashed but they didn't push as one right away was superior. It pushed the other one down with enormous speed while the weaker one seemed powerless to even slow it down.
Seconds later Heatwave smashed into the ground and the fire erupted up like a volcano. The tower of flames temporarily blocked Ember's view of the battle.
When Ember could see again Heatwave was totally out of power while obviously Flame still had plenty left.
It was proven now beyond doubt. Flame was just way too powerful for a dragon like Heatwave to defeat.
Heatwave had also realised that himself and when Flame jumped on him to make his win, he wouldn't fight back even if he could.
"And the winner is the Inferno King Flame!" Terrador shouted.
Ember got up and right away ran out of the honour box to congratulate him for the spectacular win.
Forcing her way through the crowd Ember quickly caught up with Flame.
"Now that was a battle Flame" She said praising as soon as she was within hearing distance.
"Yeah, it went well, I guess" Flame sounded half proud but still also a but uncertain.
"It went perfect Flame" Ember said excited. She wasn't just being nice to him now; it was a fact for her that Flame had battled extremely well.
"I just did the first thing that came up in my head and I didn't really fight all that well I just fought as I went along, I didn't use tactics or anything" Flame said the sentence a bit poorly formulated.
"You did use tactics Flame!" Ember contradicted "You exploited your own strong points and tired him out with your large energy supply" She said as it seemed she needed to tell him how he had fought.
"Well I rather get home now" Flame stammered as was normal with him.
He came, did what he had to do and then also left again just as quickly.
Ember didn't have a reason to stop him but doubted for a moment to go with him or to go back to the honour box again.
"Okay Flame, are you coming to watch my battle?" She asked after having decided.
"Well, okay" Flame agreed nodding his head quickly "When?"
"Seven o'clock, I'm facing Inge again" Ember said as apparently Flame hadn't checked it.
"I-I will Ember" Flame said as he walked out and headed back to his orphanage.
Ember walked back into the honour box and looked at the dragonflies floating above Spyro. She then suddenly remembered that she hadn't properly finished her conversation with them.
"Well why have you two come here?" She asked as it was the first thing that came to her mind.
"Oh, um" The dragonflies both stammered in surprise looking at Ember a bit baffled.
They were almost never addressed to talk with. Most dragons found them insignificant and just ignored them.
Even Spyro's friends only asked who they were and then didn't ask anything more. Only Spyro, Cynder and now also Ember truly talked to them.
"Well Sparx came home again and asked if we wanted to see Spyro again" The female said after a while.
"Really? Well were do you live then" Ember asked next as the next battle she wanted to see was still hours away.
"Well we live in the swamp. I don't know how we can point it out for you" Flash said now almost feeling bad to disappoint the eager dragoness.
"Well finally someone who is interested" Sparx muttered to himself.
"Well it is close to the old dragon temple but..." Spyro tried but also couldn't give Ember a good idea of the swamp's location.
"You can show me over a map" Ember offered.
"We will" Nina said to her.
"Well no time like the present" Ember urged, she wanted to see the battle of Oxidus and checking this up would fit nicely in between. She also felt quite curious about it, Ember had never been very far from Warfang before so the outside world she found very interesting.
"You mean right now? Well-" Nina was very surprised by the eagerness of the young dragoness. She looked to her husband but he just shrugged and nodded his head "okay then" she said agreeing.
"Yes!" Ember hissed with closed jaws.
"I'll come as well" Spyro said.
Ember took the initiative in heading out while Spyro and the three dragonflies went after her and quickly caught up.
As they caught up Nina and Flash floated from Spyro's side over to Ember.
With Spyro walking next to her and the three dragonflies floating above Ember felt really accompanied.
"So how is it that you have a dragon as your son?" Ember asked to both of Spyro's parents.
"Well one day a purple egg came floating up to us" Nina said.
"Let's save it for later" Spyro said as reviving hatchling memories in public seemed a bit embarrassing.
Ember now giggled when she also saw Spyro's head turn red quickly.
Spyro just looked into the opposite direction to hide it and Ember decided not to torture him by asking questions.
Instead she talked about more frivolous things while the 5 walked out of the citadel and flew towards a place where a map was.
What place that was they didn't tell Ember and when she asked it they also didn't answer her so she would just have to find out.
Finally after a long flight they landed in front of what looked like some sort of inn.
"Polystay, everyone is welcome" The sign read.
"Is this were you stay during the tournament?" She asked the dragonflies as it seemed likely when they brought had her to an inn that accepted any creature.
"That's right, Volteer was kind enough to give us a room here" Nina said.
"He also somehow made it possible that we got the room with some of Spyro's friends" Flash said.
"Huh? Who?" Ember tried to guess who but couldn't think of someone. It would not likely be a dragon as they would not normally stay in an inn like this. Ember couldn't think of any non-dragon friends that Spyro had.
"You'll see Ember" Spyro said and Ember could see his smirk easily as he didn't really do his best to hide it.
Seeing that Spyro had a hobby in keeping her ignorant Ember just followed Spyro and his family inside.
As they walked inside Ember looked around.
The inn itself was pretty common.
The walls were made of the same dark yellow stones as the outside and also the floor was stone. In the middle was a large string of tables and chairs with a variety of sizes.
There was no curtain for the kitchen so when Ember looked in she saw that it was very large for an inn this size. That was to make sense however. For all the different kind of visitors the cooks would have a large variety of meals to cook. The inn had only 1 floor as was common in Warfang. The upper floors of the building were for different purposes. Ember spotted about 10 curtains that let to the different sleeping rooms. The inn had nothing special but it did look like it was cosy.
Ember wondered how it would be to maybe sleep here for a night.
Suddenly she spotted Spyro's tail disappearing behind one of the curtains and quickly ran after him.
When she got into the room of the dragonflies the inside was not what Ember had expected at all.
There were three large beds in the room and some closets near the wall. There was a mirror on the side and all kinds of other conveniences that looked totally useless for a dragonfly.
"What kind of room is this?" Ember asked as it clearly was not for dragonflies and not one for dragons either.
"The room of Cheetahman" Sparx joked.
"We have the room together with 3 cheetahs" Nina explained.
"They are called: Hunter, Meadow and Bianca. Apparently Hunter knows Spyro well"
"Well we went to point out our home didn't we" Sparx said before that went away.
"Oh, right" Spyro now said.
They walked to the wall and Ember spotted a large map hanging across.
The map was about 1,1 metres wide and 70 centimetres tall. Ember recognised it as a map of the dragonrealms having seen it before during a study.
Sparx floated up to it eager to show it.
"There, there, you see" He said excited almost slamming his finger on the spot.
The spot he was pointing at was lush green dot that interrupted a blue line that resembled a river. Ember spotted Warfang on the map and she was quite surprised when she saw how far it was from the green spot Sparx was banging on.
"You two really came all the way from there?" Ember asked in astonishment. She judged it already a very long journey to fly for a dragon so let alone for a tiny dragonfly.
"Yeah, I hear ya. Try making it twice" Sparx complained.
"For Spyro, no place is too remote" Nina said smiling.
Ember now laid down on the floor and folded her wings besides her body to make herself more comfortable. Spyro quickly followed her example.
"So how is a dragon living in a swamp?" Ember asked to Spyro.
Spyro took some time before he answered as there seemed to be some kind of problem "Well to be honest I always thought of myself as a-" Spyro stopped again as he just couldn't bear to finish it for reason.
"Overstuffed and overgrown dragonfly" Sparx finished for him.
"Overgrown dragonfly?!" Ember clenched her jaws together and her cheeks grew into balloons. However as much as she tried, she couldn't prevent her lips from curling into a grin as she tried to fight off her laughing.
That the legendary Spyro that she had always looked up to so much was thinking that he was an overgrown dragonfly just seemed really funny.
"Hey! When you have never seen a dragon you don't know what it is" Spyro shouted although his argument sounded a bit lame.
"It doesn't matter what you are, you were and still are our son Spyro" Flash said caring helping him out of the moment.
"Are we going through this whole thing again?" Sparx complained rolling with his eyes.
After having recovered Ember asked the same question as in the citadel now that they were in private "But how did you become parents of a dragon?"
"As we said it came floating down to us" Nina also gave the exact same answer to it.
"And how did that happen?" Ember asked as it didn't make much sense.
"Well just one day an egg came floating down the river and into the swamp" Nina explained
"At first we didn't know what the round purple thing was but it quickly hatched and out of it came Spyro"
"It also hatched the same day as our own child was born" Flash added.
"So Spyro and Sparx are twin brothers" Ember concluded. Spyro and Sparx shared the same parents and were born on the same day. That was the definition of a twin in Ember's dictionary.
"Well, we, um" Spyro stammered as it took some time to sink in.
He looked to Sparx and Sparx looked back at him. Both looking to the other as if they had only just met.
"That's right Ember, I never thought of that" Spyro admitted.
"And neither did we" Nina said also looking at Ember a bit amazed.
"Well don't think that means I'm going to imitate you. I know better than that" Sparx said wryly.
"But Ember, why don't you tell us a bit more about you" Nina suggested gesturing towards the pink dragoness.
"Well I don't have much to say; I have lived in Warfang all my life" Ember said humble.
"Well what is it you do have to say?" The dragonfly insisted.
"Well I live with my mother and I am good friends with Georga and Oxidus. I also sometimes hang out with a group of friends let by Frost" Ember said as her life was very unremarkable in comparison to Spyro. Ember knew very well how exciting Spyro's life has been with all his adventures. However his childhood life in the swamp was something new for her and she wanted to hear all about it.
"So, what do you think about that speech that Terrador had just given?" Spyro asked next.
"It was very inspiring for sure" Ember said excited.
"I'm really pumped for it for my match now" Ember said her voice brimming with excitement.
"It's just too bad that my match is in the evening" Ember sighed.
"You really seem to enjoy battling very much don't you Ember" Nina observed.
"Sure do" Ember chirped with a whelpling like excitement.
Nina looked away now as the concept of battling still was hard for her to grasp.
Ember was just such a kind and sweet girl. Yet she enjoyed it to fight inside an arena against her own kind.
"But Ember, what is that technique you use during your battles?" Spyro asked intrigued "You know, the one where you make yourself so hot nobody dares to touch you?"
"Secret" Ember chirped like normal.
"Come on, at least give a name" Spyro insisted a bit annoyed.
"Oh, alright" Ember grumbled with equal annoyance.
"I have dubbed it the Thermal Coat" she announced very proud.
"Thermal Coat?" Spyro repeated confused.
"But how did a dragon and dragonfly twin live in the swamp?" Ember asked to get the topic back to Spyro's life in the swamp. She wanted to tell as little details about her thermal coat as possible.
"Well it was mostly fun but I also was bullied sometimes by the other young dragonflies" Spyro said. Forgetting about the subject they were just talking about.
"I see" Ember said as it felt like a weird idea that a dragon could be bullied by dragonflies.
"Well we had this one time when-" Spyro, Sparx and their parents now talked lively with Ember about their life in the swamp. Ember in return told them some more about the dragon city. Some things that also Spyro didn't know since he had only lived here for a couple of weeks.
Ember; being raised inside the dragon city had never been with other creatures other than some moles and cheetah's. Dragonflies were a completely knew thing to her.
Ember took in everything the dragonfly family told her very well and kept asking questions, hungry for more information.
Spyro was open about his past but made sure that he would steer the topic away if it came too close to any possibly embarrassing topics. Like his hatchling time or a couple of less fortunate adventures.
However that didn't really bother Ember as she found every single detail about how they lived in the swamp fascinating, even the parts without Spyro.
Quickly they were so absorbed into their childhood stories that the hours flew by before they knew it.