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Well, I'm flying with this! But the next chapter won't get online until the end of the week, I'm afraid :'( So enjoy this and savor it until the next course

Enjoy this, unless you're under 18, in which case leave now until you're "old enough" to be here.

Chaper 18 -- On The Road Again?

Morning came cold but clear and hopeful, and Spyro and Cynder woke up feeling extremely refreshed. They'd spent that whole day and night by the river just cuddling with each other after their round of fun, and now they were covered in dew as the sun rose in the clear sky.

"Morning," Spyro said cheerfully to his mate, and she giggled and kissed him.

"Yes it is...what're the plans for today?" He backed away and shook himself off, and she mimicked him, the dew-spray from their bodies casting a brief rainbow in the rising light.

"Dunno really...I think our teamwork's getting a bit rusty," he said hintingly. Her eyes lit up and she smiled a bit. "I'll go tell the others we're training."

"No, we'll both go," she said, and he smiled and they both took off, stretching their wings and gliding through the air as they shook the sleep out of themselves. They met Ignitus in the main room and told him where they were going, and when he gave his permission they flew off deep into the surrounding forest. They spent the whole day there, training and trying to perfect new team combos, but it was difficult without enemies to practice on. After a while, Spyro let loose a bright beam of lightbreath, and from there they practiced their light attacks until Spyro finally blasted a rock apart with a shot and Cynder successfully one-blast halved all the target rocks he set up for her.

Solar later found them wrapped up with each other as the sun set, exhausted from training. Spyro heard him land and looked up.

"Oh...hey, Solar...mmmmph..." he yawned, stretching and groaning. "Something up?"

"Nah, just checking on you two."

Cynder yawned and opened her eyes sleepily. Spyro gently picked her up and spread her over his back, and she sighed happily and clung to him as he and Solar took off into the evening air. Spyro slowed himself down as they approached the balcony, and Solar helped the weary purple dragon and his mate into their room for the night. Spyro tucked Cynder under the blanket with a long, adoring kiss to her forehead, and he went out to the balcony after whispering to her that he'd be back shortly. Spyro sat down next to Solar as the white dragon gazed with unfocused eyes at the starry sky.

"Flare, huh?" Spyro asked, and Solar started as he was snapped back to reality.

"Huh? Oh...yeah..." Spyro saw a small tear well up in Solar's eye. "I've never felt so strongly about her before...I miss her so much...but something tells me that she is indeed alive and is waiting for me..."

"Well, what did I say?" Spyro asked, grinning, and Solar looked down as he smiled in resignation.

"I know now that you're right about her...but still..." He sighed, blinking away his tears, "I miss her...I really wish she were here with us...I promised to teach her how to fight, and with this shadow approaching, she could definitely use it..."

Spyro nodded and looked up at the sky. In the short time he'd known him, Spyro had seen Solar go from a strong-willed, steel-faced militant of Paralos to a caring but heart-broken dragon. The transformation was a bit shocking but Spyro felt that, in whatever way life was weaving the fabrics of their fates, it was for the better. After a while Solar sighed and looked at Spyro, and Spyro looked back at him.

"Spyro...I...I want to thank you for being my friend..." Solar said, a bit hesitantly and unsurely.

Spyro nodded, but couldn't resist a joke. "You're not gonna propose to me or anything, are you?"

Solar laughed. "Oh good flamebreath, heck no. But you're the first dragon I've ever really been able to be friends with...you and Cynder both. Paralos is so guarded and hard-minded that good friendships are hard to come by there..."

"I thought you were taking Flare to live with you with your friends?"

"Friends...more like friendly acquaintances met through the military," Solar sighed. "We knew each other and defended each other, but because of the hardness of Paralos, survival was more on everyones' minds, and that ultimately got in the way of any close relationships."

Spyro nodded. "Well, I've seen the change in you since you've come here," he said, and Solar looked at him questioningly. "When we first met, your were all stiff and steel-mannered...you hardly smiled at all, come to think of it, until after that first night...but you've been helping Cynder and me more actively as the time's passed." Spyro smiled warmly. "I think Flare would be proud of your progress."

Solar sighed. "I just hope I can find Flare before I lose it...I'm trying my hardest but I just can't stand being away from her...my beautiful yellow fire dragoness..." His words died off as he stared at the moon.

After a while Spyro cleared his throat. "Solar, I just remembered...when we told you about our mission after you saved us the first time, you said 'so it really has begun' or something..."

Solar grunted. "It was a prophecy that has stuck in my mind ever since I first heard it...and as the events to my banishment unfolded, things began fitting into place, and I heard mention of the foretelling several times."

"What was the prophecy?"

Solar sighed, thinking back. "The Dark Master shall fall to his enemy and to his own, but defeat is not realized, for he shall darken the land, his control reaching across the realms and parallels. One born of the mirror land shall assist those who triumphed over the Master. Three lights in the dark of the evil night shall shine forth, but two will outshine all else." He grunted and opened his eyes. "Everyone in Paralos felt the onslaught of evil, but we never could have expected just how widespread his influence was...and I have a bad feeling what we've fought is only a tiny taste of what he's truly accomplished."

"What do you mean?"

"Paralos, in far back ages before dragons graced its soil, was a beautiful world, but somehow, a surge of evil power poisoned it until it became a barren, featureless world. Only the strongest features--the hardest mountains, the thickest hills, the deepest canyons--ended up surviving...we of Paralos, with the assistance of your realm, attempted to bring back even a small amount of beauty to the land, but as we came closer to cleansing the effects of the evil, a savage war broke out, and fearing that our enemies would harness the technology in Paralos, we, regretfully, shut down the portals, some hiding or permanently breaking as they were decommissioned. Over the ages we've slowed down without the interconnection of the realms, and as we've deteriorated, so has the land. I'm afraid for everyone there, but the evil has corrupted many powerful positions, and it would end up being disasterous if they came here. They'd want to take over...and the Dark Master would no doubt fuel their lust for this realm."

"But what about those things we've been fighting?"

Solar growled. "That...I'm afraid that somehow, the Dark Master has infiltrated our realm and has been setting up a fallback in case of his defeat. What we've encountered so far...your description of what was in the first base...it all points to that. If that's the case, this battle may be more than just defeating the Dark Master again."

"Because he'll take our Paralos with his fallback?"

"Not just take over, but decimate it as a warning before he tries to swarm this realm with his new force. Lightning breath is still incredibly effective against our technology, but I fear the enemy has found a way around that weakness. I pray that by us taking their energy sources we'll severely cripple their efforts. I think I understand now why some of our researchers were so intent on learning how to harness dark energy as well as light...I have a feeling there are traitors in the research field."

Spyro shuddered as he thought of what might happen to Cynder if those machines came into their realm.

"Solar...do you know where that last fortress was?"

"No. Paralos does have magma chambers, but we never harnessed them in that fashion. If it was Paralos we were in, it must have been a top-secret research area, explaining why I'd never seen it before."

"So, you think dragons in your realm teamed up with the Dark Master?"

"Yes, but most likely unwittingly or not knowing what they were doing. Evil corrupts indirectly, drawing one in with some new source of power or a new design...from there, power and control settles in, and from there evil takes hold and begins to poison further. I don't doubt that he somehow revealed to them how to harness darkness, and put it into their heads to try to use this dark power for reasons the Dark Master could later use for his own purposes."

Spyro sighed, and then yawned widely. Solar bade him goodnight, and Spyro sleepily returned the dismissal. He was sore and tired--his paws were brushing along the floor as he shuffled to the room--but when he heard Cynder groan and roll over on the bed, unable to sleep, he immediately rushed to her. As soon as he jumped onto the bed next to her, he felt her arms wrap around him. He smiled and kissed her quickly before pulling the blanket over them both. They snuggled together tightly and fell asleep, both happy and content in the other's presence.

* * * *

Solar yawned and looked up at the sky, stretching his entire body with a long groan. He felt the air...something was definitely not right. He flew up and looked to the northeast. Sure enough, another black cloud was forming, and he could see sparks of lightning jumping between the clouds. They were very far off, but the clouds were so high up Solar could see them with no problem. He swooped back down into the temple and nearly ran into Cyril.

"Oh, sorry, my bad," Solar said, getting up from his roll he'd gone into to avoid hitting the ice dragon. Cyril stared at him briefly in surprise but shook his head and addressed his fellow ice dragon warrior.

"Solar, Ignitus is having visions again...one of which concerns you, after hearing about your mate."

Solar's eyes widened, but his thoughts turned to Cynder and Spyro. "Anything that pertains to the purple dragon? News on Flare, I regret, may have to wait." Somehow, he felt that she would have wanted that, as if she were right next to him.

"You saw the dark too?" Solar nodded, and Cyril sighed heavily. "Terrador has gone to consult with the other realms here to ask about assistance...I pray he succeeds, we'll need everything we can get in case of an attack."

"But what of the visions?"

"Ignitus has seen something...a little disturbing...considering Spyro...but he did not see what led up to it, or what happened afterwards, only that brief instance of the occurance."

Solar's eyes widened in anxiety.

Spyro and Cynder both woke up at the same time, smiling at each other sleepily.

"Get a good sleep, my love?" she asked, and kissed him.

"I wish I could say yes," he replied, smiling, but she saw something behind his eyes. She figured it was the strength of their love, but she somehow knew, by looking into those troubled purple gems, he'd had a dream he didn't want to talk to her about...not just yet, anyway. He opened his mouth to speak, but she closed his mouth with a firm but gentle paw.

"I know, Spyro...you don't want to tell me; you don't need to." He understood as she smiled at him.

"I'm sorry, Cynder...it's really bothering me, but...I don't want you to worry."

"I won't," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I love you with every bit of energy my body possesses...I'm so proud to be your mate, Spyro."

"And I will never cease to be proud of being yours," he replied, caressing her face, running his claws gently over the three-piece pattern on her forehead. They slid out of bed, jumping a bit at the chill of the stone floor. As Spyro left the room, he bumped into Solar, and they both jumped in surprise. Solar quickly looked away. "Something wrong, Solar?"

Solar hesitated, and walked away, leaving Spyro confused and a bit hurt. As he and Cynder walked through the temple, everyone seemed to be looking at Spyro oddly...almost despairingly. Cynder finally had enough of the strange treatment.

"What is with everyone here?!" she screamed angrily, and they all turned to look at her, shocked. Spyro was very surprised as he looked at her standing there; a strange, angry fire seemed to shimmer around her. "Why is everyone looking at Spyro like they're seeing a ghost or something?!" To her surprise this remark only strengthened the silence, an almost tangible feeling of apprehension in the air. "What, has the Dark Master turned you all against us or something?"

That snapped them out of it. Ignitus, with a sigh, shook his head. "We're sorry...it's just...there have been some new visions lately..."

"About what?" Spyro asked, but that feeling of apprehension filled the air again. Cynder snorted and grabbed Spyro by the tail.

"Come on, Spyro, let's go get that last crystal and stop this idiocy." Spyro pulled his tail free and followed her. He felt her anger flowing through him, bt he was confused; why was he feeling her emotions? He followed her out onto the balcony and up into the air, and they turned to the north-east and headed for the growing cloud. Spyro's mind was busy, and he eventually figured his sense of her emotions was probably the same thing she had for reading him the way she did. After a while he came up beside her and she side-glanced at him and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Spyro..." she said, but he put his paw over her mouth. She looked at him, confused.

"It's the Dark's Master's presence, isn't it? Fueling your anger?"

"Yes...he was there...not directly like last time, but I felt his influence..."

"Cynder, please, don't be upset...and I'm not mad at you."

She looked at him, shocked a bit. "Wha...how?"

"Somehow, I can feel your emotions, like they way you know what I'm thinking." He smiled at her, and she nuzzled his face, stretching her wings and gliding so she wouldn't bump into him or flap against him. He kissed her and distanced himself a bit from her as he flapped his wings to stay airborne.

"You're not leaving me that easily!" they heard a voice shout behind them. They hovered in surprise and Solar joined them. "Listen, Spyro...Cynder...I'm really sorry for that back there. But one of the visions was really...well...unbelievable. I won't repeat it," he added, seeing the question rise up on their faces. "It's not something you really need to hear...seeing how we can't do anything about it since we don't know anything about the events..."

They flew on towards the northeast as fast as they could. As if waiting for them, a tendril of the cloud stretched out and they were instantly plunged into a fierce rainstorm. Somehow, Spyro was able to keep going through it without breaking his pace, and Cynder and Solar followed him as they swerved about in the winds. Spyro kept his eyes focused on something ahead...it was almost like he was seeing the portal. He felt the air begin to tingle.

"Guys, get away!" he shouted, hovering in the air, charging up his thunder powers. They flew away from him, and Cynder screamed as the air snapped around them, their ears throbbing as Spyro was struck by the gathering lightning. To her surprise and relief, he stayed where he was, unharmed, the electric power racing over his drenched scales. He shook himself and small forks of lightning jumped from him. "Wow..."

"Are you okay?" Solar asked. The rain was beginning to die off, as if its conjurer was thinking twice about Spyro's power limits.

"A bit frazzed but no damage done," Spyro said. "Cynder, not a good idea," he said quickly as he saw her coming to embrace him in her relief. "I'd rather fry an enemy with this energy than have you hurt." She nodded and they continued. As Cynder flew closer to Spyro she felt that lightning energy across the air in a static field that made her scales tingle. She stayed away from him and sighed. He felt her pain, and he felt the same way, but he wanted to save the power in case something happened.

And something did happen. As they flew, a huge shadowy cloud launched up into the air from the ground below, and Cynder screamed as she swerved out of its way. The shadow formed itself into a fifty-foot-long, snake-like dragon with expansive wings and cruel fangs.

"I'll take care of this," Spyro said angrily. The dragon faced him, and whipped its long tail at him through the air. Spyro rolled to the side, using his motion to grab cleanly onto the dragon's tail as it came at him. The electric energy in Spyro raced down the dragon's tail on contact, exploding at the base of its neck. It roared and thrashed, clawing Spyro off its tail. As he spun, Spyro timed his breath attacks and blasted it perfectly, his elemental vengeances hitting the foe full in the chest. It fell to the ground and dissipated. Spyro pulled out of his spin and shook himself. He saw Cynder gaping at him, and he grinned at her. "Okay, now I'm safe."

Solar rolled his eyes as Cynder nearly tackled him out of the air. She hugged his neck and they continued to the mountains as fast as they could.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"You downed it in only five blows!"

"I really don't know," Spyro said, her question making him think. What had suddenly made him so powerful recently? Cynder looked at him as he thought, and she noticed something...different about him. He seemed a bit more muscled than he'd been only a few weeks ago...He saw her looking at him. "What?"

"I don't know...you seem so...you look a bit stronger than before all this started."

As she said that, it came across his mind--she too looked a bit different...more lethal, in a way, not in the evil-Cynder sense--and to the back of his mind, more sexy, and he chuckled to himself at this thought. What was this? He knew they were still growing, but these changes...these were not normal growth patterns, he knew that for a fact even though he didn't know how dragons grew as they aged.

Solar chimed in. "Sometimes, a dragon and his mate undergo physical defensive or offensive changes," he explained. "It's a mysterious phenomenon, and it's only been recorded with a few dragons that often go into danger. Odd thing is, even if it's only one going into danger, the other will also experience the same changes..."

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, surprised.

"Power of love?" Cynder asked.

"I guess we can say that," Solar said. "It works in strange ways..."

"Let's leave it at that, then," she said, looking a little playfully at Spyro.

* * * * *

They reached the edges of the mountains by nightfall, and at Solar's insistance they sought out a cave for shelter.

"Never know what's on mountains or how things may change," he said. "I've had my share of close encounters when not sheltered."

The wind whipped across the mountain and spiraled inside the cavern. Spyro and Cynder wrapped themselves around each other for warmth but even with their draconic body heat they were still shivering. Solar eventually circled his long body around the two of them, shielding them from the cold that he barely felt. All three fell asleep very quickly amidst the haunting groans and whistles and screams of the wind through the peaks.

Morning brought no solace--in fact, it made things worse. They didn't know the sun had risen until the internal clocks of their bodies told them they'd slept long enough. The sky was blocked out and white feathers were falling thickly around them. Wasting no time the three dragons took off through the nippy air. Solar sensed the presence of the portal, but it was still a good way off.

About midday the sun finally forced itself through and shone on them, and Cynder sighed and shuddered with warm relief as the sun warmed up her black scales and drove out the chill.

"You really don't do well with the cold, do you?" Solar asked her.

"Not really...you'd think a fire dragon would be fine in the cold but..."

"Fire and ice dragons are built for those respective elements," Spyro said, and Solar nodded.

"Being an ice dragon, I don't feel the cold all that much...in fact I enjoy it. But yes, fire dragons usually do have a bit of cold resistance."

"How far to the portal?" Spyro asked.

"Hey, I don't got a map!" Solar said, with a joking tone in his voice. After a few minutes, though, he felt that it was definitely nearby. They circled around a wide mountain peak, searching for the portal, but by nightfall had found no sign of it. The sky was cloudy, but Solar told them that if the sky were clear it'd probably be even colder. They found a very small cavern, and crawled inside it. Because it was so close, their body heat soon kept them warm, and Cynder fell asleep, held tightly in her purple lover's embrace as he folded his wings over her. Solar kept watch, the cold air giving him energy, and he stayed outside in the snow, unable to sleep. He looked at the cloud cover and sighed. Something told him to look at the northern night sky, but how could he when snow clouds hindered his view?

"Remember the name?" he asked himself, remembering Flare's words to him. "Name...the name..."

** "Solar...Flare...I think our child should be named..." **

Solar's eyes snapped open as he said it along with her in the memory. "Aurora..."

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Wheeee! Chpater 18/25! Don't forget to leave comments, and explain your rating if you rate!