FSE

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Spyro watched as some of the drakes already fly back to the tribe, a group of dragonesses were waiting excitedly for their drakes. Spyro noticed the ones that had decided to wait for next year were still laying with the rest, the drakes that were courting them were probably still there as well. The first drake landed, panting, and dragged the buffalo to a dragoness. The dragoness didn't even give him a chance to bow before taking a bite. The tribe laughed at the rushed shenanigans as they flew off. More drakes came by, and almost all of the dragonesses accepted.

"They always wait until the last chance, youngsters." Az said, walking up to them

Michael laughed "But that wasn't always the case. I remember when you were courting your mate. You guys messed around for three years, until she downright told you to make an offering, and accepted on the first try. Now it's more of a game to the dragonesses, most of these ones had already decided before the spring began."

A slightly younger drake flew back with a large buffalo, it was almost as large as he was. He didn't make it to the other group, collapsing with a thud a bit away from them. A red dragoness of the same age rushed to him, a worried look on her face. She nuzzled him and licked him until he opened his eyes. He tried to get up, but slipped and fell back to the ground. The dragoness licked him some more, before moving back to the buffalo. She bit into the buffalo and took a bite, the drake looked surprised, then smiled and looked up at her.

"A bit younger than normal, but they have been inseparable since they hatched. He tried last year, but he couldn't take down a buffalo by himself." Az told them

A dragon that looked like the drake's mother landed beside them and smiled. She nuzzled the yellow dragoness for a bit, welcoming her to the family. Then went to her son and said something, he nodded and she picked up the buffalo and flew away. The yellow dragoness kept licking her new mate until he was able to stand up. Then they flew off, Spyro looked back to the rest of the hunters, watching them chase the herd.

"Is that your son?" Trice asked

"No, Avan told me he was planning to wait another year..." He trailed off, his eyes locking on a specific red dragoness. "Wait, if she's there then...."

"It looks like he changed his mind" Trice laughed

They watched as a green drake landed with his kill. He approached the red dragoness and set the buffalo down, he bowed, but spread his wings wide. The dragoness lifted her wings and roared; the drake roared back. The dragoness smiled and bit into the buffalo. Az roared when she did this, and the whole tribe cheered. Michael laughed and roared as well.

"I love this time of year." He told them.

"How long have you known this tribe?" Cynder asked

"Since long before I brought them here." Michael answered "I have stayed with them for hundreds of thousands of years."

"How did they get this ritual?" Spyro asked

"It's actually your specie's original ceremony; the unique part of this one is both the time constraint and the fact that they only do buffalo. The original ceremony was for a drake to bring an animal of any kind to his chosen one. If the dragoness accepts, they eat it together. That ceremony has evolved into this one and many others. I've watched this one change slowly, one would do it a bit differently, and others would follow." Michael explained. "I have many connections with this village, and thousands of tales."

Spyro nodded and noticed that the remaining dragonesses were starting to get a little anxious, they were pacing back and forth, worried looks crossing their faces.

"You regretting things now, aren't you?" He called out, laughing.

They shot him dirty looks.

"What? You should have accepted when they first came by." He balled back.

They ignored this, and went back to watching the drakes disappear on the horizon. Spyro and Cynder talked with Sam for a few hours, getting to know him better, then Michael told them that it was time to leave. Sam said some tearful goodbyes with his parents, then stood next to his mate.

Michael sighed "Spyro, you need to hone in on your portal abilities, making ethereal portals is a lot harder than making aether ones."

Spyro looked at him "I'm trying, but it's hard for me to create a portal somewhere I have never been."

"Just use the magical ley lines, when you think of a name of a planet, the magic leads you to where you want to go. We are going to a planet called duntheros. Spyro focused, and kept his eyes closed for a while. Cynder looked out to see the last two dragons flying back as fast as they can, triumphant smiles on their faces as they carry their trophies back. Spyro gasped, and a massive purple portal opened in front of them. Michael stuck his head through, and pulled it back.

"Nice, a bit far from the ley line clearing, but still nice." Michael nodded

They stepped through the portal into a nondescript forest.

"The void dragon was in the village, but he left when the hunters renewed their search, some dragons say that he went here, so I need everybody to search for him. He probably already knows were here, and will likely be stalking us. Look for an unusually dark shadow, or a slight movement of a dark figure in the distance, he is probably hiding in the shadow realm. If you do see him, only Spyro, Cynder, Trice, and Aura can knock him out of it, except me of course." Michael told them

They nodded, and started walking in random directions, they walked for hours, through hills and forests. Spyro and Cynder spotted a few strange caves, but decided not to go into them. Every once in a while, Cynder would catch a whisp of black smoke flash in her peripheral vision. It was far away at first, but it was getting closer. They approached a pile of large boulders, they were veined by a strange black gem, Cynder realized that they were onyx veins, and looked around the boulders. She was inspecting a geode when she caught the whisp again, then she charged her shadow powers and leapt. Cynder saw the void dragon come into view when she became shadow. Spyro flipped and looked for her, a worried look on his face. Cynder charged and slammed into the void dragon, he fell with a groan and they both were brought back to the normal realm. Spyro stared at the void dragon, then looked back up to Cynder and smiled. Onyx got up and growled, and was about to run when Trice slammed down on him, smacking his head against a boulder, knocking him out.

"Finally, we've been looking for you for years." She smiled

"Yeah, I think he was following us for a while now." Cynder told her

Spyro gave her a confused look, and she motioned to the all-black drgaon.

"What? I was right."

Trice roared, causing the noise to echo off into the distance. Michael appeared with a snap and smiled at the unconscious dragon.

"Why did he ever run away in the first place?" Spyro asked

"I sent him to find one of the sources of corruption in this dimension, he found it, and did not like what he saw. So, he left, and I found it later and destroyed it." Michael answered

Spyro looked down at Onyx, he was beat up, malnourished, and looked like he had many fights in which his magic couldn't heal him. Spyro watched as his wounds already started to heal in the presence of Michael's magic. Michael summoned two clamps and a necklace, he secured the clamps at the base of his wings, and latched the necklace in place. Once he did this he stepped back and chuckled.

"Let's see him run now."

Trice lifted her paw and ran some sparks through it, then slapped the black dragon right in the face, giving him enough shock to wake him up immediately. He jumped up and immediately tried to fly, but landed back down with a thud.

"Why have you captured me?" He asked

"We have been trying to find you for a very long time, you keep running, but you won't anymore." Trice told him

"But I don't want to go back." Onyx yelled

"I saw what you saw, did you think I couldn't retrace your steps, I did what you could not, I destroyed the source." Michael replied

Onyx looked up and over to Michael.

"You did? But how?"

"Doesn't matter, but what does matter is your petrified mate waiting for you in Faun." Michael told him

Onyx looked down "Poor Effie."

He got up again and flexed his wings, uncomfortable with the clamps. He looked around the environment around him.

"This place was supposed to be a nice spot to relax, but you arrived not long after I did." He spoke

"Where were you before?" Cynder asked

"Some vague eldritch planet, but I kept getting attacked by aberrations." Onyx answered

Michael rolled his eyes "One of thousands."

Onyx looked over at him "There is something else."

"We need four void cores and four shadow cores." Michael told him

"What for, those are pretty hard to make." Onyx raised an eyebrow.

"Malefor corrupted, and used a spell that caused Silver, Rose, and Fury to be ripped from their bodies and trapped in some random items. I need these cores to bring them back." Michael answered

Onyx softened "He got corrupted, how?"

"A slow, but powerful corruption, that needs a lot of power to be removed." Michael replied

Onyx sighed, accepting his fate.

"Effie is going to beat you when you wake her." Michael chuckled, then nodded to Spyro.

Onyx rolled his eyes. "It's kind of unavoidable."

Spyro opened a portal to their main square back at Faun, and everybody stepped through. Trice pushed Onyx and called back to her father.

"I got him, go get the others"

He nodded and stepped back into the portal, and took off. Spyro watched as Trice clapped her wing on the back of Onyx's head, making him duck.

"If you run, I will drag you back by the tail." She growled

They walked into an alleyway, deeper into the district. Spyro watched in amazement as many black dragons came and went from the square, there were a few children playing around the statues, and their parents were talking in a corner. Spyro watched as Storm and Ray chased around a few young black dragons. Spyro looked around for Mary and spotted her sitting just outside of her house. She saw them and gave them a confused look. They walked over and greeted her.

"Hey, did you guys find him?" She asked

"We did, finally." Spyro answered

"So." Mary looked around "Where did everybody come from?"

"My family's old village" Cynder told her.

Mary snorted "Silver wanted to go there, but found out how they treated her mother, and changed her mind."

Another portal opened, and the rest of the group stepped through. Ember and Flame looked around excitedly at the new hustle and bustle of the square. Sam looked around and marveled at the city itself. Michael whispered something to Aura, she blushed and nodded, then turned to Sam.

"Hey, lets go see our new house." She led him away

Michael walked up to them "If I recall correctly, I think I mentioned going to find Jade at one point."

Spyro perked up "Did you find her?"

"We narrowed the search, but have not locked on just yet."

Mary sighed "I miss her, I hope she decides to come see us"

Michael was about to say something, but Lumi burst from his house.

"Spyro! Cynder! Your back! Come meet the hatchlings!" He called

Spyro and Cynder exchanged looks.

"We were gone that long?" Cynder asked

Spyro shrugged, and walked into Lumi's house. Everything was a mess, there was toys scattered everywhere, and Lumi looked beat.

"They're taking a nap with Amber, but it's time for them to wake up." He told them

Lumi opened the door to the nest room, and Cynder's eyes went wide when she spotted seven tiny hatchlings sleeping with their mother curled around them. A red one opened its eyes and squealed at Spyro, making little chirping noises. The others woke and looked around at their loud sibling, then began to get up and move around. An orange hatchling walked up to Cynder, stared at her for a minute, before squawking happily. Cynder lowered her muzzle and let the hatchling investigate it. It chirped a bit and jumped around, before getting distracted by one of its siblings. They watched the madness for a while, they were playing around their sleeping mother, running and climbing on her. Eventually, Amber opened her eyes, and smiled up at Spyro and Cynder.

"Hello" She yawned "Back from your extended trip?"

"For a minute, we are going to go find my aunt Jade soon." Spyro said in a low voice.

A blue hatchling pounced on his tail biting the tip with its tiny jaws. Spyro swung his head under his chest and lifted his tail a bit. The hatchling hung on, dangling from the tip. After a few seconds it let go and landed on the ground just below, growling at the tail and stalking it. Lumi chuckled as it jumped and swatted at it. Cynder kept her tail elevated, making sure the hatchlings wouldn't cut themselves. Amber laughed as the orange hatchling ran right into Cynder's leg. It stepped back, squawking angerly, and looked up. The hatchling smiled up at Cynder, realizing that her leg was indeed connected to her.

"These goofballs" Amber spoke "If only Michael were here."

Suddenly, Michael walked through the door.

"Come on." He addressed their surprise "You should know better than to say that."

"Oh, I forgot about that." Lumi laughed

"Forgot about what?" Spyro asked

"If you say 'If only Michael were here' he tends to appear, it's like saying 'What can go wrong?' and something then goes wrong." Lumi replied "He does it to mess with us."

The hatchlings had noticed the new dragon and ran up to him. He walked over to the edge of the room and laid down; the small dragons immediately started climbing on him. Cynder noticed that his wingblades and tailblade had changed into a blunt, glass-like material. Lumi and Amber watched with amazement as the hatchlings all went to him and started playing on and around him.

"Magic" He wiggled his eyebrows at them.

Amber got up, and everybody but Michael and the hatchlings left the room.

"Show off" Amber huffed

"He raised Silver and Rose, as well as that young white dragon, Aura." Lumi told her "He has the skills."

"He also raised Trice." Amber replied laughing "A very long time ago."

Spyro and Cynder chatted with them for a while, they talked about names, sleeping schedules, food, and even the weird little games they play. Then they returned to the room to find Michael asleep with the kids still playing on top of him. They were sliding down one of his wings, chirping happily. Michael lifted his head when he saw them.

"Your children are fine; in case you were wondering. Magically healthy, two have boosted fire, and one has boosted water. You also have one fire, one air, one ice, and one earth." He told them

"A boosted water?" Lumi asked

"Yep" Michael replied "The royal academy can handle that one's extra element teaching."

"Royal academy?" Spyro asked

"It's the place where all royals and dragons with special powers go to learn their abilities. It's not far from here, about a two-minute flight. Mary's kids go there sometimes to learn more about their powers." Michael answered

"Did Samantha's eggs hatch?" Cynder asked

"Yes, I sent a different form there for a minute, they had two poison one dark and two earth" Michael told her

"Another dark? But from a different side of the family?" Lumi replied

"Yeah, it's a mutation." Michael shrugged "It happens."

Amber laid back down in the nest and called the hatchlings to her, they ran up to her and collapsed, tired out. Michael got up and stretched, his blades returning to their original state. He smiled at the new mother.

"In a few more weeks, they will be big enough to sleep with each other in the play room." She told her

Amber nodded, then lowered her head and closed her eyes again. Lumi followed them out into the square.

"So, you're leaving again?" Lumi asked

"We won't be gone for long on this trip, but I sense two more adventures to come." Michael answered

Lumi nodded, then said his goodbye and returned to his house.