Spyro: Dawn of Light, ch. 23

SPYRO: DAWN OF LIGHT



CHAPTER 23



Tephra stared absently into the huge crystal orb, watching Spyro and Cynder, constantly eying the necklace around Cynder's neck.  She sighed and turned away, the orb's images fading into a gentle swirl of purple clouds.  Heading over to the large stone throne-like bed she's made for herself in the wall she threw herself onto it, staring at the ceiling.  In her mind's eye, two versions of herself appeared, one young and happy, the other grown, dark and proud.

"This was a mistake...a big mistake..." the young version said sadly.  Tephra nodded to herself.

"Mistake? Fah!" the grown version taunted.  "I have power beyond anyone else, even Spyro!  And when he comes, he'll probably make me his second in command!"

"Ripto already is."

"That little wretch can go crawl in a hole and die for all I care.  He's only in charge because of his magic.  He has no rational thought."

"That is a point, but I can't match him."

"Kill him then!  Sneak up on him and send an earth spire down his spine!  He's already messed things up enough as it is."

"Ripto knows far more than I do about how to use those gems.  They're the only way."

"That's true.  But Grendor knows too, and he's got a far more level head and a much nicer demeanor than that little red rat.  If I can't be in charge, he should be, not Ripto."

"But what was that talk of the Ape Lord today?"

"Beats me, I don't know what I don't know."

"Still, this was all a big mistake.  I need to find a way out."

"And lose all this power?  I'm not going anywhere that might make me lose this."

"Power's not the only thing in the world..." Tephra sat up quickly as those words echoed through the room.  Grendor was standing there staring into the orb.  "Ripto needs to learn that.  He keeps trying to muscle his way through things, thinking his plan is so good it can't fail."  Tephra lay down on the bed and rubbed her eyes, then got up and headed over to the orb.

"Is Ripto here?"

"Thankfully not," Grendor snorted, his cloak parting as he extended his hand to touch the crystal sphere, the armor on his hand and arm glittering in the light.  "He's gone to converse with Gnasty now that the dragons have moved from the Settlement."

"What's the plan this time?"

"Miraculously, unchanged."

"That's a first."

"Indeed."  He turned around and stood still, thinking.  "Tephra...what's your opinion of Ripto?"

She fell over laughing.  The flood gates were opened and she ranted about Ripto for almost fifteen minutes, Grendor just patiently listening.  "I can't understand why he's second in command," she said as she finally settled down.  "All he has is that dark magic control, and knowledge of how to use those gems he had our forces mine."

"Yes, his knowledge is uncanny and his power terrible in magnitude, but I have the same power levels.  I just keep a lid on them.  His parading of power will be an invitation for defeat, his pride a calling for his demise."

"Are you a seer or something?"

"Hardly."  He turned back to the orb and an image of Ripto and Gnasty appeared.  "Gnasty's already miffed, it seems.  I'm surprised his simple mind hasn't already prompted him to pancake Ripto right there."

"I wish he would.  There are other ways of achieving this goal."

"I know.  But we must rely on Ripto and weather his stupidity and pride until the opportune moment.  He wants glory and power, that's all that currently motivates him.  See here, he's already doing his pride-walk as he lectures."  Ripto was pacing around as he gloated.  "The moron doesn't realize how snide he is."

"I know all too well..."

"Did he fill you in on the Ape Lord?"

"No."

"Ah.  Well to put it simply, Ripto wants us to join forces with the apes, moreso than our current alliance.  It seems the Ape Lord shares our interests and is already at work along the lines of our goals."

"Bleh...dirty foul apes...they hit foes once then hop around like it was a deathblow on a mortal enemy."

"I know.  My hatred is more towards the gnorcs though.  It's amazing Gnasty can create them from gems, but they're simple creatures, very mindless."

Tephra glanced at his armor as he brushed his chainmail cloak aside, her eyes widened when she saw what was hanging from his hip.  "Why do you have that weapon?"

He held it up and Tephra backed away a bit...it was the weapon Ripto had used on her to transform her.  "You used this on Ember?"

"Yes...why?"

He turned to the orb and it showed Ember asleep on her bed at home.  "I don't get it...somehow she resisted it."

"I didn't get it either, she was hurt by it yes, like I was, but nothing else happened...except she got more annoying after being zapped."

Grendor grumbled, eying the small staff.  "We'll need another test subject then; you were the first and only success with it."

"Who can we use though?"

"We'll discuss that later.  Spyro and his friends are approaching the Ancient City as we speak; we need to be ready to remotely assist Gnasty and the others."

"Why can't I just go in and kill Spyro right now?"

"We need his power if we are to accomplish our mission.  Ripto wanted you to kill him to eliminate him as a threat, but I've been analyzing him remotely.  He's more powerful than we could ever guess, and we need that."

"Are we capturing him then?" she asked, confused.

"No.  We cant capture any of them, although we can injure them.  Gnasty wants revenge but he's under orders not to kill Spyro, just injure him and knock him out.  Buy us time.  If Spyro wins, however..."  Grendor chuckled and stared into the orb.

"Then what use am I anymore around here?" Tephra asked, her wings falling.  She looked up when she felt Grendor's armored hand lift her chin.

"...You don't like it here do you?"  Tephra's two sides were torn and she hesitated.  "You're torn between dream and desire, I can see that."  She pulled back with a snort.  "Don't worry.  You may not be needed now, but in time you'll be more handy than Ripto's magic.  Then he can be overthrown."

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Spyro sighed and stared at the sky as he lay on his back, listening to the nearby river rushing past on its way from Warfang.  He felt very lonely; the others had split up to canvas the area and find alternate routes inside the Ancient City while Spyro alone went to confront Gnasty.  He was on his own for this, like he had been for the longest time, but...

"*sigh* I wish Cynder had come with me at least..."  The sun gradually rose up above him, stabbing him in the eyes as a reminder that he should be moving.  With a groan he got up and headed along the broken tile road leading to the City.  Along the way, though, he smelled something familiar...following the scent he found a small trail shoved through the tall grass.  Spyro followed the trail through the tall grass, hearing the river drawing closer.  He finally pushed his way through and found the flowing water sparkling in the midday sun...but that wasn't what had his attention.  Off to the side, Cynder was lying at the water's edge, staring at the bottom with her muzzle inches away from the water as it lapped at the bank.  Spyro cautiously walked up to her, but she didn't respond other than a slow blink.  "Cynder?"

"What do you want?"

"To know what's bothering you."

She sniffled and turned her head away.  "You can't change it..."

He walked behind her to her other side, but she turned away again.  "Cynder, please, stop it.  What about me can't I change?"

"Your color...everything that's going on, it's because of you."

Spyro paused.  "Are you...are you jealous of me or something?"

"No...I'm sick of it.  I just wanna have a normal life, have a friendship without missions and crap getting in the way..."

"And yet you wanted to be something from a legend?"

"...yes..."

He sat down next to her.  "Cynder...I want a normal life too.  But we are what we are...I'm supposed to be some big hero, and from I've been hearing, you're supposedly very powerful yourself.  We can't change that...but, seeing how we're supposed to conquer evil or whatever, we can use our gifts to calm things down so we can have a normal life."

Cynder sighed, but then looked up at him with a quirky grin.  "You suggesting something?"

He drew a blank.  "Wha?"

"'We can have a normal life'?  Instead of 'we can have normal lives'?"  She laughed at his clueless face.  "You just sounded like you were proposing to me, Spyro!"

His eyes went wide and he blushed.  "I uh, I didn't mean..."

She giggled and nuzzled him.  "It's fine...don't you have somewhere to be though?"

"Don't you too?"

She stared back at the river as her wings sagged.  "I don't know, Spyro, but something's telling me I shouldn't be here...it's a really strong feeling but it also feels like something calling to me to distract me.  I don't know what to do."

"Why not come with me then?"

"Neves wants me to trail you, yes, but he wanted me to look for possible ambushes and make my way to the Inner Circle, wherever that is."

"Oh right...it's a big arena-type thing in the center of the city where they used to have markets and such."

"I don't wanna go..."

He gently pressed his nose against hers.  "Neither do I.  But we have to."  Spyro suddenly looked to the side as he felt something creep up.  "Cynder, something's here."

"Something's been around here," she said, standing up.  "No idea what it is."

"Whatever it is, we need to find out, can't have things trailing us."

After taking a quick drink from the stream Spyro continued his trek with Cynder shadowing him in the tall grass lining the path.  As Spyro neared the huge gates a thought struck him and made him hesitate.  Cynder quickly crept up to him.  "Something wrong?"

"I don't know..."  He sat down and scratched an itch on his wing.  "I'm kind of afraid...Tephra might appear.  She keeps getting stronger and bigger..."

Cynder rubbed against him.  "We'll be fine.  Tephra probably wouldn't interfere with Gnasty's plans."  She looked up at the gates, thinking.  "Although it strikes me as odd...Gnasty's in league with Ripto, isn't he?  So...Gnasty can't be looking to kill you."

"True...Ripto or Tephra would be after me instead.  Maybe this challenge is a stall for time..."

"Well, we don't know of anything else to stop, so we can't do anything except take the challenge."

"You mean I need to take the challenge.  You guys are just here for support in case he pulls something dirty."

"You sure you can take him?"

"Surety against Ripto's power...I don't think so.  I could take Gnasty out easily a month or so ago, but now that he's allied with them...he may be far stronger now."  He cautiously walked forward, Cynder following.  In the corner of her eye she spotted Plazyma slinking over the wall they were passing through.  As Spyro sped up down the lane of tall, crumbling pillars leading deep into the City, his mind was racing.  Cynder brought up a good point...is this really just a stall?  Gnasty wants to kill me, but Ripto...he's too clever to stoop to this, something's not right here.  His thoughts took a brief vacation as he entered a large open area, full of trees and fountains of water feeding small streams that ran in intricate patterns along the floor.  The pathways and building were tiled with various colored tiles; most of them were shattered or covered in moss and ivy.  Spyro slowed his pace as he watched a swarm of multicolor butterflies lace through the trees.  Here and there a few long-tailed birds were singing; some of them took flight as they spotted Spyro, and he stared at their long curling tail- and wing-feathers, almost like streamers as the birds flew over him to more secretive spots.  "Wow..." Spyro whispered to himself.  Looking over his shoulder he saw Cynder still following him, sitting like a cat in a windowsill as butterflies danced around her.  She held her paw out and a few butterflies landed on her arm.  "She's actually kinda cute..."  Spyro froze and his eyes dilated.  "WHAT?!?"

Cynder looked up when she heard Spyro shout.  "Hm?"  He rushed up to a tree and started bashing his head against it.  "...Ooookay?"

Shimmer and Plazyma followed Neves as he leapt and glided between brick outcrops in the alleys, keeping Spyro in their sights as he continued deeper.  The city was angling downwards into a valley as they ran.  Spyro came to stop at a crossroad and Neves called for a halt silently with his tail as Spyro and Cynder debated on which way to go.  Shimmer crept up to Neves as Plazyma took her leave to secure the other side of the road.  "Neves...this place is flat and it slopes down."

"I've noticed," he said, not taking his eyes off the purple and black dragons.

"Are we supposed to get there before Spyro?"

"Yes."

"Why not use water and ice to slide down this path?"

"That's...."  He paused.  "Actually a good idea..."  He looked down the path, calculating to himself.  "Slickness of water coupled with the angle of this path should give us more adequate velocity..."

Plazyma watched as Shimmer hovered above the building and breathed a huge amount of water onto the path while Neves quickly sculpted a platform for them to ride on.  "Something powerful is nearby...I know we're supposed to head forward ahead of him but something's wrong."  She ducked behind a low wall so no one could see her, and began charging herself with electric power, sending electric pulses through the natural static fields to feel her way around before traveling.  "Statilocation," she smirked to herself, "that Neves is a geek, making a name like that.  Echolocation...I wonder if Caelos can use that..."  Something large and heavy disturbed her signal and she zeroed on it, closing her eyes with the strain as she read the signals.  "That can't be good, whatever it is, it has some sort of electrical generation ability..."  With a small clap of thunder she shot off towards the source of the disturbance.

Neves grunted as they sat on the ice sheet.  "I think it may be better if I freeze the water, then you create a film of water for this to slide on," he said to Shimmer as they sat there motionless on the wall.  "Our weight is pushing the ice down below the water stream's surface and creating frictional resistance with the marble..."

"Nerd," she said, punching him in the shoulder lightly.  "Well, get freezing, Spyro and Cynder are on the move."  She shrieked as the ice suddenly shifted and started sliding swiftly down the path on a slick film of ice and water.  "WHOOOOOOAAAA NEVES TOO FAST!!!"

"YAHOO!!!" Neves shouted with a grin, digging his claws into the ice.  Nearby Caelos merged with their path, using his wind power to fly by them.  They were totally unaware of the silent presences trailing them through the ruins, passing through stone and plants with no effort, sweeping in swift and sure to trap the young dragons.


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Tephra sighed and stared into the orb, her eyes unfocused as her thoughts fought viciously in her head.  Grendor walked in quietly and stood by her.  "You okay?"

"Huh?" she asked with a jump.  "Oh...yeah...I guess..."

"Mind telling me what's tearing you apart?"

She didn't want to but somehow she ending up crying.  "I'm so lost..."

"How so?"

"I don't wanna be here, I don't know what I wanna do, no one needs me...this was all a big mistake...Ripto's only using me, he hates dragons even though he tells me I'm different..."  She looked up as Grendor ran his hand along her side softly.

"I know you don't want to be here, Tephra, I can see that every day.  But you chose this yourself, and choices are not easy to back out of.  I know all too well...Ripto may not need you, but I do."

"For my power," she snorted, walking away.

"We need each other more than you know," he said quietly, catching her attention.  

"Huh?"

"Our goals are similar, Tephra...to rid the world of threats to its existence.  Those with common goals should work together for that goal."

"Yet you wish to overthrow Ripto, how can I tell you're not gonna overthrow me as well by the end?"

Grendor laughed sadly.  "That's a risk of allying with the darker side...but you are important, Ripto is not."

She lay on her throne-bed, stewing in her thoughts.  "Grendor...your magic enhanced me and my armies...can you...make me attractive?"

He walked over to her and ran his hand along her side again.  This time she didn't shy from the touch.  "I can try.  My magic can only enhance power and growth speed, I'm afraid.  As far as dragons go, you're pretty the way you are.  As yourself."

She stared at him in surprise.  "You're...calling me pretty?"

"I speak my mind, I call as I see."

"Then why don't you speak your mind around Ripto and call him off?"

"There are times for honesty and times for secrecy."  He walked towards the door, stopping to glance back.  "Just hang in there."

"Grendor, shouldn't I go to the Ancient City too?  At least just to monitor them firsthand?"

"Just stay here for now."

Tephra lay down on her bed again, staring at the wall.  Spyro's got it coming, he has no idea what his real purpose is... She eventually got back up and headed over to the orb to watch.  She found Spyro cautiously edging through the streets, Cynder still trailing him.  Tephra's eyes narrowed as she made the orb focus on the jewel hanging from Cynder's neck.  "That should have been mine..."  She closed her eyes and thought back, the orb returning to a swirl of light-colored gas as her focus was diverted elsewhere.

******************

"Took me a while but I finally found it!"

A tall jewel merchant grunted and snatched the necklace from Tephra's little paws.  "Good."

Tephra set her face.  "Now can I have my friend back?"

"The elders in the Settlement have already agreed we can keep him."

She froze in shock.  "Wh-wha..."

"You heard me, runt!  Scram!  We don't need you no more!"  Tephra screamed and flew to the side as the tiger kicked her upside the face.  

"TEPHRA!!!!!"

"SIDIAN!!!" Tephra cried, tasting blood in her mouth from her cheek getting scratched on her teeth.  She forced herself up and threw herself at the merchant, knocking him down and proceeding to maul him savagely.  "WE HAD A DEAL YOU BASTARD!!!" she screamed in rage.  He roared and grabbed her by the throat with his huge paw, choking her.  She grappled his arm and kicked at him, but his arm and side were plated and her little claws couldn't even scratch the armor.

"You obviously don't know how trade deals can change."  He yelled and flew backwards as she shot him with a desperate Earth Shot breath attack, freeing herself.  Dizzy from his grip on her she stumbled up to Sidian's cage and tried to blast the bars apart, but her energy was almost completely gone and what came forth was barely worth a punch.  

Sidian crawled up to her and put his paw on her.  "Tephra...take care of yourself..."

Her teary eyes met his briefly before a sudden splitting pain behind her head made everything go black.


Hours later, a Settlement guard passed by the north gate and paused as he heard someone crying nearby.  When he went to go look he found a young green-scaled earth dragoness curled up under a bush, crying bitterly in her sleep.  "It's her," he grunted, walking away.  His voice woke her up and she looked up to see him walk by.

"Wait!" she yelped, but he ignored her.  Tephra's jaw quivered and she buried her face in her paws.  "Why me...why...WHYYY?!?!" she screamed, the rocks around her floating in the air and shivering apart into dust in the wake of her fury.  What had she done to deserve this?  Her parents had died defending the Settlement from an attack, her siblings had died from disease, now her one and only friend was kidnapped and nobody gave a damn...One day she had been happily chatting with her friends, the next she was shut out of her own home with her siblings...then they all fell sick, with her being the only survivor...everyone had labeled her "cursed", "haunted"...Sidian had been the only one willing to look after her through her illness and grief over her lost family.  As these thoughts filtered through her head, one in particular made her clench her paws with rage...those damn elders...they were at fault.  They took her home from her, shunned her when she went to them for help with the disease, now they'd bargained her only friend away for what?  What the hell could a peddling jewelry merchant offer them that was more valuable than a child?!  Now he was probably gonna be sold off to a slave trader...or worse...

Her mind was made up.  She'd go find the elders and make them pay.  There was no possible logical reason for her suffering like this... She forced herself up and quietly slipped into the Settlement, her plan already formulating as she quickly crawled through the evening shadows.  She forced her tired legs to pull her up the side of the Settlement's governing house, one window in particular holding her interest.  The elders were holding a quorum, no doubt about their recent actions.  Finally she reached the ledge, and tucked herself as tight as she could on the windowsill just out of sight of the frame to keep from being seen.  

"...was really the right thing to do in the end, but I can't believe you idiots!  Just as we were establishing his home of all times!"

"But he was always around that Tephra brat."

Tephra bristled, her rage boiling inside her, but she paused when one of the elders immediately growled.  "Honestly, I can't believe you!  I take a year vacation and come back to find dead children and orphaned dragonlings, labeled 'cursed' of all things?!  You're lucky I don't call the Temple Guardians themselves here!"

"But what else could we do?  We needed that information, and with his diplomatic immunity we couldn't touch him!"

"You could have at least sent me a falcon," the elder growled, obviously as outraged as the little earth dragoness perched outside.  "Now what am I supposed to do?  When the community finds out what happened--"

"WE GOT YOUR INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPLE DRAGON, YOU INGRATE!!!" one of them shouted at the top of his lungs.  The leader promptly smacked him across the face.

"You have violated your position and the foundations on which this establishment was created," he half-roared.  "Of anyone here you're the ingrate!!  There are other means of settling an information trade!!

Tephra half-listened to the debate as they argued back and forth.  So...these guys...they abused their power?  She listened more intently as the leader finally spoke up.

"Where is Tephra now?"

"Gone for all we know."

Tephra was about to creep inside and show herself when she heard her name mentioned, but stopped herself just in time; if she was caught eavesdropping the leader would punish her severely even if she had been victimized.  "Alright...what have we found out?"

Tephra listened closely and her eyes widened...the purple dragon was meant to WHAT?!  Stunned and frightened she quickly slipped away.  The leader was nice, but those others...she shook with rage again.  They had ruined her life...no...the purple dragon had ruined her life.  His existence had led them to greed and selfishness...she would pay them back and exact her revenge on the purplescale.  His purpose for existing was the reason her friend had been sold...

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Tephra shook herself and wiped the tears off her face, glaring at the orb again.  Had she kept that necklace for herself, she could have freed Sidian and gained herself the respect she'd been robbed of...now she needed it in order to keep Spyro from fulfilling his life's purpose.  "I'll get you yet, Spyro...just wait.  Grendor and I will see to your demise.  Personally."  She headed out into the tunnel, glancing at the walls and enjoying how they bent and pushed back at a mere glance of her power.  She headed down to the arming chamber and gaped in awe as she found Grendor enhancing her army yet again.  She walked past an empty shell of armor, glancing at its crystalline structure.  "What's all this?" she asked as she walked up behind Grendor.

"Autonomic crystalline warsuit golems," he replied, not looking away as he fed magic energy into the row of suits below.  "Controlled by Elite rhynocs, these suits can also function on their own if their operator is injured or killed.  Improved mobility, strength and speed in these newer versions here."

Tephra watched as masses of rhynocs and gnorcs trained not too far away.  "When will these be sent out?  Ripto's next plan?"

"Ripto can't know of these or he'll get some smartass failure of an idea.  Tephra, I could use your help actually."

"Sure."

"I need more of those crystals you used for the last batch of crystal golems.  That species of stone seems to be the best for this purpose."

She quickly flew down from their terrace and over the armies massed together in this gigantic cave to her stash of crystals.  Grabbing a few she made them grow into huge chunks of solid crystal.  She glanced over her shoulder as Grendor carefully placed a ruby inside a golem's head, looking like a sculptor tenderly adding the final touch to a masterpiece.  He wasn't as rude or unconcerned as that little red wuss of a dinosaur... "No one can replace Sidian...but maybe he's a real friend..." she said to herself, watching Grendor turn to another golem suit.  She still didn't know what he looked like under that robe and hat and armor, but hiding underneath was someone that actually thought about her well-being and had even bothered to attempt cheering her up... Maybe he was buttering her up for a fall in the future, maybe he really did care about her as a living being...either way, she was grateful deep down that he made an effort to cheer her up.


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Cynder met up with Spyro as he stopped to relax and take a drink from a nearby fountain.  The water was icy and clean, feeling very refreshing as Spyro took long, slow draws of it.  As he drank he looked at the reflection of the sky on the water's surface...it was late afternoon already.  This city was huge!  He flopped down on a nearby patch of moss and flowers, staring at the sky and letting his tired legs rest for a bit.  There was no way this city could be so vast...something was wrong here.  The city lay at the foot of the mountain; by now they should have been a decent distance inside the tunnels of the mountains, not still walking through the ruins...

Cynder yawned and lay down next to him, her stomach rumbling.  "Oh Spyro!  Berry bushes!" she said excitedly, and raced over him to a patch of berry bushes.  "Mmm!  Sargaberries, my favorite!!"

Spyro chuckled to himself and stretched before rolling up and walking over to her, remembering bringing her these kind of berries after he'd accidentally injured her leg.  They quietly snacked on the sweet, juicy yellow berries, listening to the birds around them.  The pretty long-feathered birds had disappeared, now replaced with purple-blue sparrow-like songbirds.  "Dusk sparrows," Spyro mused, watching them perch on a nearby building.  

Cynder stretched like a cat, lashing the air with her tail as she yawned.  "Mmm...I didn't think sargaberries were still in season."  She twisted her neck side-to-side, then looked up at the mountain with a frustrated expression.  "We should've been there by now..."

"I know...something's wrong here."

Cynder stared at the mountain, thinking.  "Spyro...you felt something moving in darkness earlier...can you use that to feel the area?"

"Hmmm...I think I can.  Probably can if I really do have control over all the elements."  She watched him close his eyes and feel the area around himself.  "Dah...I can't sense far enough...maybe ten feet in any direction."

Cynder surprised him by climbing onto his back.  "Lemme try something," she said with a grin, then closed her eyes as she put her arms around his neck.  Spyro stood there biting his lip; what the heck was she doing?!  The answer came fairly soon as he felt shadowy power moving from her into him.  She was fueling his dormant shadow power with hers.  Closing his eyes again he tried to study his surroundings, and was taken by surprise as he suddenly saw everything almost perfectly clear.  When he closed his eyes, he could still see everything in perfect detail, but in dark shades of purples, blues, greens, and reds, like everything was being seen through dark gemstones.  Everything was edged with iridescent filaments, allowing him to easily see edges among the dark colors.  He looked up and down the straight street...and something caught his eyes.  They were sitting right in the middle of some sort of shining dome of energy.

"Cynder...hold on."  He felt her grip tighten a bit around him as he stood up, and started walking down the street, watching the dome.  It kept them in its center, moving with them over the buildings.  Another dome was present, but only became visible when he was about five feet from it.  He carefully reached out to it with a paw, and it suddenly shimmered and vanished, the street ahead shifting in a fraction of a second.  Cynder grunted and his visual field swiftly shrank back to his normal view.  

"Ow..."

"Thanks Cynder," he said, opening his eyes.  "That was weird...we seem to be in a system of hidden domes or something."

"Something's coming closer," she whispered, quickly slipping off his back.  Spyro yelped as something hit him and whipped around to see a thin needle stuck by its very tip in his scales, not deep enough to draw blood but just enough to have caused a sharp pain.  From a nearby building came a strange whistling sound and they looked up to see that ninja-rhynoc watching them, a leather-wrapped staff in his hands.  

"I'll just make this quick, I don't have time to toy with whelps," he said as he unwrapped the staff.  It was really a gold-colored ancient spear set with strange gems and runes.

"Who're you calling a whelp?!" Cynder demanded.

The ninja rhynoc suddenly paralyzed them with magic and leapt into the air, its spear poised to strike Cynder.  Spyro roared and struggled against the electric magic, but it was simply too strong.  Cynder cried out in fear as the ninja fell on her, bringing its spear down hard.

Nothing happened.

Cynder yelled in pain as its impact bruised her hide, but the ninja froze in shock, staring at the spear as he held it against Cynder.  "It didn't...work?" he asked, then grunted and rapidly stabbed at her with the blunt blade.  Cynder screamed with rage at the violent prodding bruising her back.  Spyro roared again, shaking the ground and snapping the magic with a burst of countering earth power.  The ninja rhynoc barely avoided the purple dragon's vicious jaws and landed nearby, quickly backflipping onto the wall.  "The spear failed its purpose, I must retreat!"  With that he vanished in a puff of smoke, narrowly missing a spear of ice from Spyro's jaws.  

"DAMN it," Spyro growled in frustration.

"Owowowowowooooooow my back huuuurts!" Cynder cried, struggling against her electric snare.  Spyro grunted and fed earth energy through the ground to her, the electric magic snapping and letting her go.  He raced over to her and lay down in front of her as tears ran down her face.

"Can you get up?"

"No..." she sobbed.  "He hit me too hard too many times...I haven't been this hurt in a long time...oooowwwww...."

Spyro nuzzled her softly.  "Can you move your legs and tail?"  She could.  "Okay, I'm gonna try to call Plazyma using electricity, she can get you outta here."

"I don't wanna leave you," she insisted, pressing her nose against his.  "I can't let you fight them alone, not after what they did to me when we first fought Ripto..."

He sighed and lay his paw over hers.  "I'm sorry, but Neves, Caelos and Shimmer are here too.  That's why we all came; if someone was injured, the others could fill in.  Now I gotta go or something else might corner us."  He stood back up and Cynder watched as he closed his eyes, electricity crackling along his body and running between his scales like glowing water.  He started straining himself, his paws curling until with a loud gasp he came back to reality.  "Crap...still can't get it...hopefully she knows it's me."

They both jumped with a startled yell as a fork of lightning shattered the air around them with a loud crack.  Plazyma materialized in a flash and shook herself.  "Was that you?" she asked.

"Y-yeah...gah that scared us!"

"Well sooorry, next time be more expectant of what you're asking for.  What's going on?"

"Cynder's injured and can't walk; a rhynoc ninja injured her back."

Plazyma growled as she glanced at the wall.  "I knew it...there was a reason for that trap."

"Trap?" Cynder asked, wiping her eyes.

"I found one of Ripto's cronies, the big green four-legged thing, powering an ancient generator with some big machines on his back."

"Green?  He was blue last time..."

"Don't ask me, I have no clue.  But you should be able to continue.  The machine was this city's first line of defense; an 'endless street dimension' as Neves called it.  You two were trapped in an endless dimension meant to snare invading armies."

"So that's why we haven't gotten there yet..." Spyro growled.  

"Yeah.  Gnasty's lair is a few blocks further down.  But be careful; I lost contact with Shimmer, something may be up ahead."

"Can you get Cynder to safety?"

Plazyma lay down and Spyro helped Cynder up onto her back.  "Hold on tight, Cynder.  I'm still not used to carrying others while--ACK!!!"  She screamed and literally bolted away a few meters as several ghostly forms appeared in the doorways around them, staring at them with creepy sullen faces.  One in particular had approached them and was blocking their path back to the outside world with gigantic foggy wings.  "WHAT THE F-" Plazyma was cut short as Spyro suddenly flew into her, having been picked up by an unseen force and flung aside.

"Rrrreetreeeaat..." came several haunting voices.  "Gooooo baaaaaack...."

Spyro groaned and flipped up into a fighting position.  "I was called here for a challenge and I intend to meet it," he growled.  "Go back to wherever you came from!!"  To their utter surprise the ghosts simply vanished.

"Something's not right here," Plazyma growled.  She started crackling with electricity, but then growled and snorted.  "Damn it, something's blocking me!  I can't place a tracer outside the front gates..."

"Tracer?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah, stupid!  Don't you know how lightning works?"

Spyro shot her a small glare.  "No, because I wasn't allowed to go to school."

She sighed.  "Basically, I give my entire being a negative charge, and my destination point a positive charge.  It then sends me a shock of energy and allows me to envelop myself in electric power and then move along that opened path.  Once the destination charge is equal to my charge the feedback and return strike are almost instant.  I call the positive charge-point a tracer."

Spyro just stared blankly at her, Cynder looking at the back of her head with a cocked eyebrow.  "Um...okay, think I got it," he said.  Plazyma just rolled her eyes and snorted.  

"Morons...anyway, something is keeping me from charging up a tracer beyond here.  I can go back towards the mountain, but it's preventing me from leaving."

Something up ahead exploded, letting off a bright flash and shaking the area slightly as the sound rolled over them.  "That's not good," Cynder said.

"Actually it is, it's the machine shorting out finally.  We can proceed safely now."  She paused, then glared at Spyro.  "Why the hell am I carrying her?  I'm not a beast of burden."  With that she angled her back and Cynder slid off.  Spyro sighed and let Cynder crawl up onto him.

"I'm feeling a bit better but it still hurts a lot," she groaned.

"I'll have to have Neves take a look at you and see what he can do..." Spyro said as he ran after Plazyma.  True to what the electric dragoness had said, the arena was only a few blocks away.  It was a big amphitheater design; a large circular stadium with concentric seats along one half.  At the other end was a tall wall with a throne made of marble...and sitting on it was none other than Gnasty Gnorc.  Spyro glared at him, Cynder slipping off his back as he headed slowly down the ramp.  The burly gnorc was dressed in plated gold armor studded with gems, and the head of his warhammer was really two giant gems stuck by their points to the steel haft, which had an eerie green glow to it.  Plazyma backed away, Cynder looked at her quizzically.

"I have something unfinished, I'll be back."  With that she quietly slipped away and then thunder-jumped.

"You came after all," Gnasty grunted humorously, eying the purple dragon from under his steel helm.  "Glad you made it."

"The pleasure is all yours," Spyro growled as Gnasty stood up.  "Why did you call me here?"

Gnasty growled and ran his hand along one of the gem-heads of his warhammer.  "Payback, little dragon.  I'll kill you for beating me last time."

"I doubt Ripto's orders were to kill me."

"Ripto..." Gnasty paused with a sneer, then shook his head and pointed his hammer at Spyro.  "Ripto won't control me!  I'll smash you!!"

"Bring it!" Spyro half-roared, charging himself with ice.  Gnasty roared, his warhammer glowing bright with earth energy.  The air seemed to shimmer with the tension flowing between them as they stared each other down, daring each other to go first.  Cynder shivered as she felt an unnatural power level emanating from Spyro, his energy clashing with the gnorc's as they both charged themselves.  With a loud yell they both leapt at each other, bright bolts of ice and earth sent flying ahead of them.