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The Legend of Spyro

Legend of the black dragon

Chapter 29 healing pain

"Hey, mind if I join?"

"Oh, um, well we weren't-"

"Weren't what?"

"Well we can't play with you anymore"

"What?! What for?"

"Well, that dragoness said it to us"

"Grrrr, her again!"

"I'm going to call mom!"

---

Cynder slowly opened her eyes as woke up from her voice dream.

"Hmmm, now what could that have been about?" She whispered to herself. "It had some similarities between that one a week back but I can't be sure"

"I'm sure it was the hatchling again this time around, but just why does that voice sound so familiar to me?" Cynder thought, still a bit frustrated that she just didn't know what they meant.

It all just sounded so familiar, yet she just couldn't think up where she heard that voice.

"Just what is this all about?" Cynder never could get the stuff fixed out so she decided just to forget about it.

Now she let out a deep sigh as she could clearly feel the absence of the warm purple body that was normally right next to her.

She now looked towards Spyro who lay about a metre away from her together with Ember.

Ember had come yesterday crying uncontrollably and to comfort her Spyro let the distressed dragoness sleep with him this night so Cynder was laying on a mattress that was usually used when they had someone sleeping over.

Cynder just felt that this was not how it was supposed to be.

Despite the fact that Ember had slept over before, Cynder couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. It just did not seem right that Ember would go to sleep besides Spyro

While she looked at Spyro and Ember laying still asleep together she couldn't help but feel a certain envy towards Ember.

She was just sleeping so peacefully with Spyro.

She breathed deep and slowly while Spyro did the same. There was death silence in the room so Cynder could feel and hear Spyro breath. Even from this far away.

Ember breathed a little bit faster than Spyro did, but they were still pretty well in sync.

"Ah, it's just for one night" she shrugged trying to dismiss the thoughts.

Also, as she remembered in what state Ember had fallen asleep last night she didn't blame Spyro for wanting to comfort her.

Spyro was always very kind. He never hesitated for a second and always helped those he felt needed him.

He always put everyone else first and him second. He always helped others and was also not afraid to make sacrifices; this was just simply his nature.

That was the Spyro she loved and also how she wanted him to be. Thinking about it in this way she could smile at the sight that she saw although she would still like it better if she was there instead of Ember.

She now got up and stretched herself out.

The mattress wasn't nearly as comfortable as the bed and soft body of Spyro so she was feeling a bit stiff.

Feeling awake now, she decided to get out and do another morning stroll like she did often when Spyro was still asleep.

She silently snuck around the room and opened the half closed window a bit more so that she could fit through, careful not to make too much noise.

She looked to Spyro laying with Ember one last time before jumping out of the window.

When she was outside she spun around, spread her wings and shot upwards.

"I just wonder what has happened to Ember yesterday" Cynder wondered as she casually flew around the city, only flapping her wings occasionally to stay aloft.

"According to Spyro; her mother had done it to her, but how can that be?" To Cynder; who envied everyone with parents, that Ember's mother could have done something so awful to her own daughter was unthinkable.

She could still easily recall the memory of Ember arriving yesterday evening.

"I never thought Ember even could behave that way" Cynder thought. "Whatever that Wilmfe has done to her, it must have been absolutatly horrible" Although it was something that was hard for Cynder to believe she felt like she had no choice but to believe it.

The reason for her mother hurting her was obvious. It was the defeat that Ember handed her in the tournament when they faced each other.

Still something inside her resisted the thought that a parent could really do something like that.

"However, with a mother like Wilmfe-" Cynder was pretty scared by Ember's mother. She didn't look all that strong but something about her just made her so frightening.

Cynder shivered at the memory of looking into her eyes.

Those eyes, she had never seen anything like it. They were almost if not even more scarier than Malefor's

Cynder continued to fly around the city thinking about Ember and her mother.

---

Meanwhile, Ember was waking up in their room.

She slowly opened her eyes as she was woken up now by the burning pain on her rear.

The spanking of yesterday was just so awful. The feeling was something she just couldn't go through again.

Never again, just never.

"Mom, why, how could you do that?" she whispered to herself as tears once again started forming in her large blue eyes.

For Ember it was even harder to accept that her own mother could hurt her so much.

She could also think about the obvious reason for the brutal spanking.

However for her it was even harder to accept that her mother could hurt her so much.

She spankings she had suffered in the past were nothing compared to that. It almost seemed like a dream now as she was very dazed; however the burning pain on her rear was very real.

She got up from the bed and only now did she realise that this wasn't her room at all.

Then, a groan next to her almost caused her to jump up.

She quickly spun her head around and spotted the purple form of Spyro sleeping next to her.

"Oh Sp-!" Ember swallowed the sentence as she didn't want to wake him up.

Then suddenly it dawned on her what had happened.

How Spyro had taken her in when she collided with him as she ran away from her house, how he brought her with him to the citadel and how she had been crying for who knows how long over his shoulder while he was caressing her.

Ember knew it happened, but it seemed almost like a dream. She was so emotional and so dazed at that moment that her brain hadn't taken in the situation all that clearly.

What she had recorded clearly, however, was that Spyro never left her side since she ran into him.

She had just kept crying and he had been patient with her, no matter how long it lasted.

Although she was friends with Spyro she only knew him for about a two weeks or so. He had only played with her once and they didn't know each other that well at all.

However, despite all that, Spyro still seemed to care for her.

Ember now also remembered that Spyro had forced his best friend off the bed just so that she could sleep with him.

He was such a kind dragon.

Ember had been a fan of Spyro ever since she had first heard his name but even she was surprised at his kindness.

Ember smiled again, and as if by magic, she could feel the burning pain dissipate somewhat. It was like the purple dragon had a special power that could make it just disappear.

She had only just stood up but now she settled back down again as the presence of Spyro just made her pain vanish.

It felt like the closer she was to him the less it hurt.

She crawled closer and closer to him and the pain became less and less.

She actually felt it was wrong to get this close to him but the pain was just so much and she just so desperately wanted it to go away. She just couldn't resist it, the closer she got to him the less it became.

Almost a bit against her will she got closer and closer.

---

While Ember was battling the pain by getting closer to Spyro Cynder flew through the aerial entrance and gently landed in the room.

She shook her body and was now feeling fresh and awake. She had sorted out the worries in her head during her stroll.

She didn't find any answers but managed to gain some peace of mind during the walk.

She now turned her eye to Spyro to see if he was finally awake. However the first sight of him shattered her good mood instantly.

He was still asleep and by the looks of it Ember too.

However what shocked her was the position they were sleeping in.

Spyro was laying on his side with his wings prompted outwards and he looked innocent.

Ember didn't look so innocent however.

She was laying with her head towards Spyro. She had her head underneath his chin and her body very close.

Although Cynder couldn't see it, it was clear that they were even touching each other at multiple points.

Her body tensed as she struggled to not run in there and pull them apart.

"Uh, ahem!" She coughed using more than enough volume to wake them both up.

And it indeed woke both Spyro and Ember, and they shot up almost in unison and looked at her.

Cynder had an annoyed look in her eyes and it was directed to both of them.

Almost as if they were only now aware of it did Spyro and Ember look at each other and how close they were.

They shot away from each other like same polar magnets and slammed into the opposite walls of the room.

"What is happening here?!" the voice of Sparx sounded as he was woken up by all the rumble in the room.

"Yeah, what's happening here?" Cynder asked to both Spyro and Ember.

"Well I, um..." Ember stammered as she cringed in.

Now that Spyro was no longer with her the comfort he had provided also disappeared. She could once again clearly feel the pain of her burning rear.

"What were you doing?!" Cynder asked with more fire this time.

The look frightened Ember as her mind was still pretty shaken up by the spanking so she didn't reply and just retreaded into a corner.

"Well...! Say something!" Cynder now almost hissed to her.

Cynder's eyes were narrowed and she was looking down very hostile at the pink dragoness.

Ember felt like she just couldn't tell her. She couldn't even believe it herself what had happened and Cynder really frightened her.

Luckily for her, Spyro had recovered from the shock and now moved into the scene "Cynder just calm down okay" he suggested.

"And why should I?!" She snapped.

"She's just hurt and frightened" he said.

Normally Ember would have rejected such a thing but not this time around. Ember was brave enough to admit it. She looked totally pathetic and she was aware of it.

"Still that doesn't give her the right to-!" Cynder suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's all calm down here folks" Sparx now stepped in.

"Spyro is right Cynder, there is no reason for you to be so jealous at Ember" He said trying to be in charge.

However, that second part was something he shouldn't have said. It was bad for him but for the dragons it was the best.

Cynder now suddenly redirected her anger towards the insect now instead of Ember.

"I wasn't jealous!" She hissed.

"Sure, Ember didn't have anything you wanted" Sparx said sarcastic.

Cynder jumped towards him in order to catch the insulting dragonfly.

However Sparx shot upwards and dodge her strike.

Something Cynder had forgotten was that Sparx had been floating nearly at the wall. When he dodged it Cynder couldn't stop and headed for the wall.

She slammed her head hard against the wall and fell on the ground.

"Urg, man" she groaned but just as she lifted up her head something hit it hard.

The toyshelf was just above the part of the wall she had hit and the shockwave had caused one the toys to fall off.

Cynder rubbed her head with her paws as she could feel the bump on it.

She was feeling very embarrassed as she could hear everyone laugh at it.

Suddenly they heard that also Ember was giggling at her antics.

"Nice try there, Blacky" Sparx mockingly.

Cynder hissed at him but with her having a bump on her head from crashing into the wall just now that wasn't really intimating.

Somehow, the embarrassment caused Cynder's blood to cool down and she wasn't really feeling angry anymore.

At least, no more anger towards Ember

"Are you okay Cynder?" Spyro asked, however that sounded really fake as he had been laughing at her just seconds before.

"Yeah, I'm okay" Cynder said as she got up.

Suddenly she could feel something rubbing the bump on her head.

"Wow, now that's some mountain you got there" She could hear Sparx say.

Cynder just let that go.

"Two" she murmured.

Ember had come out of the corner and was looking now a lot more at peace.

The moment she shared with Spyro and the humour of Cynder's silly antic just now had really upped her mood.

---

Feeling that the fun about Cynder slamming into the wall was over Spyro turned back to Ember.

"So Ember..." Spyro tried to use not too heavy words in order to not break Ember again.

She was smiling now but with her crying just minutes before her upped mood was still fragile.

"Can you now finally tell us what exactly happened yesterday?" Cynder asked as she thought Spyro might not be able to do it. Although she tried to be gentle her voice did still have a sharp edge to it.

Ember looked away and her eyes now started to bear tears again. Cynder sat down on her haunches and just looked.

Spyro now took over again.

"Please Ember" he urged "We just want to know it what your mother did to you"

Spyro should have removed that last part because Ember started to sob again.

"Come on Ember, get a hold of yourself!" Cynder said a bit irritated. She clearly didn't have as much patience with Ember as Spyro had.

"What happened after you beat your mother?!" Cynder said sharply to the crying dragoness.

"She… she-she…'" Ember sobbed, unable to speak.

"What did she do, just say it already pinky!" Sparx yelled as he too was loosing his patience.

Ember looked down to the ground while her crying only intensified.

"We understand it is very painful for you Ember" Spyro stepped in and deliberately blocked the view of Cynder and Sparx.

"But we truly want to help you so would you please tell it to us what happened?" He said very soothing.

"Well, my mother really wanted to win the tournament" Ember at last started.

"She never said it to be but I knew she truly wanted the position" she said fighting her sobbing.

"So when you beat her she took revenge" Cynder said sadly. Ember was obviously having a difficult time speaking, so Cynder figured she could help make it a little bit easier for her to say it for her.

Ember didn't reply to that and looked away.

"What did she do to do to you?" Spyro asked once more.

Ember didn't reply so he slowly walked up to her and tenderly nuzzled her "Just say it, whatever it is we will understand it" he said soothing.

Cynder could feel her body tense. Spyro of course did it to calm Ember down and make her more at peace but still Cynder could feel her muscles tighten en her temper flaring up.

"She spanked me" Ember said in such a tiny hatchling voice that no one understood it.

"She did what?" Cynder asked.

"She spanked me!" Ember yelled all of a sudden.

"Spanked you?" Cynder and Spyro were very surprised at this.

"But was it really that bad?" Cynder said. A spanking of course wasn't pleasant but Ember didn't seem like the type to be broken so easily.

"Cynder!" Spyro said punitive with a disapproving glare.

Cynder bit her lip. She couldn't believe that she had just said that she doubted it's severity. She didn't know any details so for her to make a judgement of how bad it had been was totally unfair.

"It wasn't just another spanking!" Ember said through her tears.

"'Another spanking' What did she mean by that?" Cynder thought.

"Ember, what do you mean?" Spyro asked again as it seemed he didn't understand either.

Ember just sobbed and didn't want to say it.

"Please Ember, you're almost there" he said urged trying to be as gentle as he could.

Ember still didn't want to say it but she decided that, although embarrassing it may be showing them was still more easy than rewinding the event.

She turned around and showed her tailbase to them.

The bright red colour was still very visible and know that they knew why it was Spyro and Cynder were very shocked by it.

However that was nothing compared to what they were about to see.

Shading a tear Ember showed them the true reason for her pain.

She lifted up her tail and in fact presented her cloaca to them.

Spyro diverted his gaze right away, embarrassed, but Cynder stared, mortified.

A second later she also looked away but it was not from the sight of Ember's sex organ.

The entrance and the entire area around it was severly bruised and beaten. It was also very red just like the tailbase and littered with scratches made by the hard scales of her mother. It was obviously clear that it had been spanked hard and Cynder as she was a fertile female herself Cynder knew perfectly well how sensitive it was.

---

Seeing that they had got the point, Ember lowered her tail again and turned back to them.

Almost instantly her crying returned in earnest.

"Did she hit you on your-your-" Cynder couldn't get the word out of her mouth.

"Yes, she did" Ember nodded as the tears in her eyes never stopped.

"What did she do?" Spyro asked, he had turned away so quickly that he hadn't spotted it.

"Her mother spanked her on the area below her tail" Cynder still didn't want to say the word so that would have to suffice.

Taking a few seconds to recover and to take it in Spyro looked shocked when he had put it together.

"Now I understand it Ember" he said soothing.

"Thank you Spyro" Ember hugged him again with her wings as she still was crying.

This time Cynder allowed it but she still didn't like it.

"Enough with the thank you's" She said agitated after only two seconds.

Ember released Spyro shortly and wiped her tears off.

"How could she do something like that to you?" Spyro asked horrified "I can't believe it."

"But now what are you going to do?" Cynder asked. The prospect of Ember permanently moving in. Well she didn't know, Ember was really nice but it still was something she didn't want.

"Just going home as usual" Ember said a bit sad, dropping her head towards the ground.

"Did she also knock the brains out of you?" Sparx asked.

"Where else do I have to go?" Ember said as she forced herself to smile.

"Well, maybe you could-" Spyro started.

"No, it's okay Spyro" Ember knew what he was going to say.

"Don't you think your mom is still mad at you?" Cynder asked her.

Ember let out a very deep sigh before answering that question. She didn't want to cry anymore and she forced herself to be strong now.

"No, she has taken her anger out now. It'll be okay" she assured them although it did not sound very convincing.

"You mean to say that she is using you as her punching doll?!" Spyro exclaimed in shock.

This caused Ember to look away and be silent for some time.

However after thinking it over she came to a conclusion.

"No, this was a one-off, it won't happen again" She said with the most confident voice she could summon.

"Are you sure?" Spyro still didn't seem certain.

"Yes" Ember said nodding and sounding confident.

"Well okay then" Spyro still sounded a bit reluctant but if she said it was fine then he wouldn't stand in her way.

With that everyone was silent.

"When is my next match?" Ember asked, her voice more a bit better than before but still weak.

"Oh, um, we haven't looked at that" Spyro was obviously very surprised by the sudden question.

Suddenly they heard a low rumbling sound in the room.

"Well let's go get some food first" Cynder suggested blushing.

Spyro laughed as they understood that the sound was from Cynder's empty stomach.

Ember also snickered a little although she made sure they didn't see it. Cynder really knew how to keep her mood up.

They now all went down towards the main area of the citadel. It was starting to get late but if they were quick they could still have breakfast before the spectators arrived.

A good thing now for them was the number of matches was decreasing quickly since now there were only 8 competitors still remaining. The first match of the day was at 10 o'clock.

---

As they walked into the kitchen they placed their orders at the counter.

"A good boar for me" Spyro ordered.

"One for me as well" Cynder ordered.

"A large bowl of Vilbrodo please" Ember ordered.

"Vilbrodo? What's that?" Cynder asked. She had ordered all kind of things but she had never heard of that.

"Something, my mom, sometimes cooked for me" Ember said her breathing accelerating as she tried to not cry again.

The got their meal quickly as there were many cooks and they were alone now.

Spyro and Cynder took their meat and Sparx as usual his fruit.

Ember's meal was a large bowl that the moles brought to her table. The reason for that was an obvious one: it was too big and filled with liquid too heavy to be carried by a dragon like Ember.

In the bowl was a sort of light brown liquid. It had many pesos and pieces of meat floating in it and well as some spices. It was steaming and it smelled delicious.

As soon as Ember got it she started to lap up the soup.

It was warm but not hot. She really liked this and it was the meal her mother made if they had something to celebrate.

Despite that it wasn't the case right now she still felt like she deserved the feast.

It was not that Spyro, Cynder and Sparx weren't satisfied with their simpler meals but they had to admit that Ember's soup smelled and looked very good since they eyed it with appreciative looks.

Especially Spyro stood looking at Ember's bowl of steaming soup, his tongue hanging out drooling.

"Sorry Spyro, it's mine" Ember said forcing a smile from herself.

"If it was anything else I would love to share with you but I can't have your saliva in my soup" she said.

"B-B-but I didn't-" Spyro stammered his face turning red very quickly.

Ember giggled silently and Cynder openly laughed at Spyro as they returned to their food.

They all ate or drank their meal. Ember of course took longer since lapping up a meal takes more time than eating it.

While Ember was still lapping up her soup they spotted a familiar face enter the kitchen.

"Hey there Igüsa" Cynder shouted to her.

"Oh, hallo there" Igüsa replied, friendly as always.

"So how's Oxidus doing?" Cynder asked her.

"Better but still far off" Igüsa replied with a hint of sadness in her voice.

This was the usual answer as it was the usual situation. However that didn't make it any easier.

Suddenly Igüsa's sad emotion vanished as she spotted Ember sitting next to them "I see you two have had another sleep-over" She said.

"Well... well it's a bit more complicated than that" Spyro said.

"Oh, what happened then?" Igüsa asked, getting curious.

"Well how should I put this, um" Spyro was very unsure if and how to say it... Or even if he should say it to her at all.

He looked to Ember as if asking for her approval. She looked at him for a few minutes but then Ember shook her head.

Spyro understood the message and turned back to Igüsa.

"I'm sorry but it's something personal" He said to Igüsa in the hope she would understand it.

"I understand" she said at which Spyro sighed.

"By the way; Isn't Ember's match coming up soon?" She asked as she remembered that.

"Huh? What?" Ember said seemingly a bit in thought.

"Oh, shoot that's right. My match was the first one today" She exclaimed right afterwards as she wasn't yet finished with her soup.

"Don't worry it's still more than half an hour before it starts" Igüsa assured her.

Ember didn't say anything back but just got back to her soup.

Igüsa just walked to the kitchen. The young dragons just assumed she had been assigned there since she now worked here.

---

As if it took her forever, Ember finally was finished with it and got to her feet.

"Well you sure took you sweet time" Sparx complained.

"You can only enjoy it if you drink it slowly Sparx" she replied.

"Yeah, but you're not the only one here you know" he persisted.

"You know, complaining that it takes long when a person is finished is a waste of your energy" Ember said.

Sparx was rattling all kinds of incomprehensible words as he couldn't think of something to counter that.

"Nice move there" Cynder complimented snickering while she poked her with her wing.

"Thanks, I guess" Ember said shyly giving a small but honest smile.

With that they got up and checked out what other match-ups were. The huge cardboard indicated who was going to fight and when.

Since there were only 8 participants left they found them quickly.

Two matches were at 10 o'clock and the other two at 4 o'clock.

The crystal clock indicated that it was now 9:30.

"What do should we do?" Ember asked to them.

"Well just play and wait for your match to begin" Spyro suggested.

"Good idea" Ember said.

They started walking towards the room they had slept at but suddenly they were stopped.

"Hey, Ember!" Someone called.

Ember turned around and saw Georga standing a few metres away.

"Oh, hi, Georga" Ember replied sounding a bit uncertain.

"Mind if I join?" Georga asked and she did it with a pretty serious tone.

Ember looked at Georga, since she had noticed the tone. She looked at her for a few moments , watching if she was going to do or say anything else.

"Fine" Ember replied although it was obvious that Georga didn't come to play.

Now with Georga with them as well they got to their room.

---

They closed the door and settled down. No words were spoken but that Georga had come to ask about yesterday was obvious for everyone.

"So, Ember, what happened?" Georga asked the question.

She asked it as carefully as she could as she could see that Ember was still shaken up.

Having already been through the whole ordeal Ember found it more easy but still it was very visible that it hurt her.

"Well, you see Georga" Ember started nervously, her good mood already deteriorating.

"Here we go again" Sparx mumbled.

"Mom, um"

"Well, she-" Ember shot her face away. Still finding it very hard to tell.

Seeing that Ember had great difficulty saying it Georga decided to help her a bit. She had thought about it for a long time and had created a possible scenario. She knew Ember well after all.

"She gave you a really hard spanking after you defeated her in that battle right?" She suggested as it was the most likely thing.

It took some time before Ember replied

"That's right" She nodded. Her eyes were very wet but she managed to not let any tears escape her eyes.

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes before talking again.

"She-she spanked me on my-" Ember didn't continuo.

"Your what?" Georga persisted, wanting to know what had happened to her friend.

"Her private parts" Cynder stepped in to help her.

"You mean that she hit you on your cloaca?!" Georga exclaimed in shock, seemingly having no problem saying it.

"Uh, huh" Ember nodded after a while.

She now really felt miserable as she had to tell it twice in just an hour.

Luckily for her once again Spyro stepped in to save her.

"She has already told us the story Georga" he said his voice strong and also having a punitive tone to it.

"But Georga" Cynder now involved herself as well "Where were you yesterday, I searched for you but I couldn't find you anywhere" Cynder's tone had a sharp edge. It didn't sound like an accusation yet but it most certainly wasn't very positive.

"I also wanted to come visit Ember" Georga said defending as the sharp tone of Cynder made her panic a bit.

"So why didn't you?!" Spyro asked and this time it did sound like an accusation.

He looked at Georga with punitive eyes.

"Well I wanted to follow Ember but then Volt had some chores for me and I failed to convince him" Georga started a little bit scared by Spyro. "When I was finished I got back to her house but she wasn't there. Her mother said that Spyro had taken her away. Then I got to the citadel but Terrador stopped me"

"Terrador stopped you?" everyone asked at the same time, puzzled at this.

"Yes, He said that you already were taking care of Ember and that I would just have to wait"

"Why would Terrador stop you?" Ember asked surprised, having recovered again.

"I don't know" Georga said still looking a bit nervous at Spyro who still had a sharp look in his eyes "He said that I couldn't be of use"

"Well what's done is done" Cynder said to end the subject. She didn't want to talk about it as it wouldn't get anybody anywhere.

Spyro didn't say something but nodded.

"That's right Cynder" Georga agreed smiling at Spyro.

Spyro's face however didn't move.

"Hey, maybe we could try this" Everyone looked as Ember picked up something from the floor.

Ember switched moods again and could recover very fast.

When she turned they all saw it was the toy that Cynder had knocked off the box. The blue spinner.

"Okay. Fine with me" Everyone agreed.

Spyro now also smiled again.

"Yeah let's see who can give Cynder her second bump" Sparx said.

Cynder didn't reply. However she noted it in her mental notebook.

"Three" she murmured.

The dragons got into a squire formation and spun the spinner between them to lift up the serious mood. It was mostly fun and play but Georga was also feeling a bit guilty that she had forced Ember to tell about her horrible ordeal again.

---

"I think your match is about to begin Ember" Georga said.

"Oh, it's that late" Ember said.

They put the toy back on the shelf and walked down again.

When they were near the participants entrance they stopped.

"Good luck Ember" Spyro said smiling at her warmly.

"Thanks" Ember nodded, smiling as well.

She then turned around and walked through the entrance to begin her match.

As usual she had to wait some time before the match started. However unlike the previous times there was no other match going at this moment.

The pain of her spanking was still there and now that she was alone Ember could feel herself starting to grow scared.

However she used the mental skills she had learned to filter that out.

She had always thought that the meditation skills that he kept insisting on were a waste of time but she was now glad he was so stubborn.

With them she could battle. No matter who it was or how she was feeling. It made her specialty possible as well.

As she was thinking that she heard the grinding of the gate as it opened.

She walked into the sunlight and was ready for battle.

"And now Queen of Burns Ember will face Pyro expert Tastonias

This was one of the quarter finals so with an opponent that had made it through all those rounds, anything was possible.

At first sight he didn't look that impressive. It was a male fire dragon. He was of a large build and looked tough. However Ember had defeated dragons that were way more impressively build as him so that meant that there was more about him than met the eye.

She walked to the middle of the ring and smashed tails again just like she had done so many times before.

Ember activated her thermal coat as the match was about to get underway.

She had no problems with it and she could feel her mind drift away and her powers take over.

"Ready, get set, Fight!" Cyril declared.

---

The dragon was very fast and fired a fireball towards Ember.

Fireballs never worked on her so Ember just smirked as she waited for the incoming attack.

However against what she thought the power of the attack was great and she could feel the heat of the fire burning her.

She was thrown off her feet but flipped over and recovered.

It was a good luck that she did because that way she could spot the second fireball already coming towards her.

She moved out of the way but the moves were slow and sluggish.

Seeing that it was useless Ember lowered the intensity of her coat just like she had done yesterday.

With her heat now lowered down Ember was fast enough to dodge the fireballs but she needed to do something good or otherwise she would lose.

As Ember had expected was this dragon stronger than he appeared. His fireball attacks were intense. The heat of the fire was enough to damage even her and he seemed to fire them effortlessly.

She ran towards him but now that she was closer she didn't have enough time to see another fireball coming and was blasted away.

Ember flapped her wings but it was too late and she was hit by another fireball and crashed into the wall of the arena.

Ember could feel her body getting hit hard as it indeed was a very hard impact.

She didn't move and fell down on the floor.

Feeling a win the dragon rushed towards her and grabbed her in her paw.

He lifted her to his head to put his jaws around her.

All of a sudden the pink dragoness shot a fireball and she fired it at his throat

The ball exploded and caught by surprise the fire dragon staggered backwards and dropped her on the floor.

She had been playing death in order to get close. After all in order to win you need to get close.

Ember shot a fire stream towards him and it hit him in the shoulder.

However it didn't leave a single scratch and Tastonias backed away to put more distance and once again bombard her.

Ember needed something fast.

She deactivated her thermal coat now altogether and at the same time fired her most powerful fire stream.

Then she suddenly could feel a very strange sensation.

The energy that was normally in her thermal coat she could feel rushing to her throat.

The fire she summoned didn't just came out of her chest but it seemed from everywhere in her body.

She opened her mouth what came out of it was a small fire stream but it felt so intense. It was something Ember had never felt before.

The dragon got hit and he screamed out with all his might.

The fire stream had hit him around the same spot as Ember's previous attack but unlike last time it was seriously burned.

Not wasting a second Ember used a comet dash to ram him.

He was in too much pain to pay attention and Ember knocked the air out of him.

With him dazed like that it was no challenge at all to get to his neck and make a win.

---

"The winner is Queen of Burns Ember!" Cyril declared.

"What was that?!" Ember thought as she got off her defeated opponent.

"Good job there" Ember turned to see the fire dragon get up.

"I have to admit I never saw that coming"

"Neither did I" Ember murmured.

She walked out of the arena still with the mystery of the mysterious attack in her mind. The attack almost seemed like her specialty but with range. What was it?

As she walked out she was greeted by her friends.

"Ember, how did you do that?" They all asked her the question she couldn't answer.

"I have no idea" Ember shook her head "What did it look like?"

"Well it looked like white fire" Georga said although she knew it sounded stupid.

"White fire?" Ember was very intrigued.

Somehow she had summoned it by deactivating her specialty and launching fire stream at the same time.

It clearly had an overwhelming effect on her opponent and she didn't even need to get close.

"Could this be the alternative strategy I've been looking for?" Ember hoped.

"When is the match of Flame?" Ember asked.

"Well it is about to begin" Georga answered a bit encouraging.

"Well then what are we standing around here for" Ember already started running towards the honour box.

"Hey wait up Ember!" They shouted as they all ran to catch up.

---

Ember stormed into the honour box. She was panting both from running and from her battle but her energy levels were high.

Also her friends were panting but they seemed a bit annoyed.

"Why the urge?" Ember suddenly spotted that Nina and Flash had rejoined Spyro.

"I don't want to miss the fight of Flame" Ember said as she turned her eyes to the match.

It took a couple of minutes but Ember didn't mind.

"Oh hi there Ember how did-, Au!" Frost started but suddenly he yelped.

Ember looked at him and saw that Spyro had just stabbed in, in his back. He whispered something to him but Ember didn't really pay it much attention as she now heard the words she longed for.

"And now the Inferno King Flame will face Power Vulcan Heaïas!" Cyril declared next.

Ember looked and spotted her friend Flame appearing.

He was looking full of confidence and a dangerous dragon for sure.

Ember just loved it to see him like this although she most certainly didn't mind his shy side.

Having seen Flame many times already she turned her attention to his opponent.

It was a male fire dragon but unlike her opponent this one was colossal in size. He was even taller than Volt and Ember guessed his weight almost twice as much.

Ember couldn't remember to have ever seen this dragon before but with a city like Warfang it was possible he just lived somewhere else.

The two dragons clashed tails however Flame seemed so tiny it looked very pathetic.

"Ready, get set, Fight" Cyril declared.

---

Flame was the first to move and fired a fire stream towards his opponent.

The fire stream was full on in the first attack and Ember saw that Flame wasn't going to pull any punches in this battle.

The fire dragon roared as he duck his claws into the ground.

He didn't show any signs of defending and the fire attack enveloped him in moments.

To everyone's awe he stood his ground in the raging fire stream and even moved against it towards Flame.

Flame increased the power of his attack but that seemed to have no effect at all.

Ember couldn't believe it.

This dragon wasn't as tough as he looked. He was even tougher.

Flame kept increasing the power and the dragon kept closing in.

Ember knew that this was going to be a short battle.

The dragon kept walking against the fire and Flame kept forcing more power.

The dragon now was within just a metre of Flame and suddenly Flame's fire stream almost doubled in strength.

Ember knew what this meant. Flame's rage was turned on and he was into his battle mode now.

The colossal fire dragon cringed in and was forced backwards.

However he was showing no hints of giving in.

He gathered his strength and once again moved against the stream although it was clear it took everything he had.

Ember could hear Flame roar through his fire stream and it suddenly doubled in size once more. Flame could also see it was now or never so he unleashed everything he had.

This was more than the dragon could ever take.

He was blasted off his feet and crashed hard into the wall.

He landed on the ground and by his breathing it was obvious he wasn't conscious.

---

"The opponent is unable to battle so the winner is Inferno King Flame!" Cyril declared.

You can also win a sparring match if your opponent faints or for some other reason can't fight. Heaïas was just so exhausted that he had fallen asleep.

Ember now rushed out of the honour box again to catch up with Flame.

She sprinted through the citadel and because she did she had to wait for multiple minutes before Flame finally showed up.

"Great job Flame!" She said in her excitement.

"Yeah, that guy sure was something" Flame was still into his battle mode so he was still cocky.

"Well I really ought to get going now" Flame said as he already turned away from her.

"Hey Flame!" Ember shouted before he got away.

"Yes?"

"Good luck with your next match!"

"Thanks" Flame said as he flew off.

"Because you're going to need it" Ember whispered to herself, her muzzle forming a wicked grin.

Now that she had watched the match of Flame and the next match was near the end of the afternoon she decided to go home now.

She ran back to the honour box and said goodbye to all her friends.

"I'm going home now okay" Ember said but just as she was about to walk away again Georga jumped in front of her.

"Why don't you go to the dojo instead" she suggested.

"Huh? Why?" Ember said cocking her head.

"Um, they have much better equipment there" Georga said.

The argument was a very lame one. What kind of equipment would Ember need?!

"Okay Georga, I will" Ember nudged as she ran away now.

She flew out of the citadel and headed towards the dojo.

She still was feeling pumped as she wanted to learn this new power. The semi final round was going to be the most difficult one she had ever fought and even if she won she had to face an even stronger opponent.

If she wanted to have any chance at beating them she needed to master this new power.

As she flew there as fast as she could she also thought about how she was going to master this ability in just one day.

"It is in these times that I wish he was still here" Ember really longed for her mentor but he was gone so she had to learn it herself.

With her pace she arrived at the dojo in only a few minutes and she almost ran inside.

She ran through the doors and looked around.

There were a total of 5 doors that led to training rooms.

She just picked the second one to the left at random and got inside.

The room was the same as most of the other ones.

It had white walls and a beige floor. There was a stage for the instructor.

The lessons hadn't restarted yet so the dojo was mostly empty.

"'pant' 'pant' can't you slow it down Ember?" Ember turned and was very surprised that Georga had followed her.

She was panting deeply as she was out of breath while following Ember.

"Why have you come then Georga?" She asked. Though Georga suggested she got here she never mentioned that she was coming along.

"I've got nothing better to do so I just guessed that I help you with your training" Georga said after she had regained her breath.

"Thanks Georga" Ember said.

"Sure" Georga said smiling.

---

"So how did you do that anyway?"

"Well it just came out when I breathed fire" Ember said as that was still a mystery to her too.

"But I think it had something to do that I deactivated that secret of mine at the exact same time" Ember said.

"Why do you say that?" Georga asked.

"Well, how can I put this-" Ember said "I could feel the energy flow in my body. The fire didn't just come out of my core but out of every part of my body"

"I think I get it" Georga said.

"Well try it again"

Ember calmed her mind and unleashed her inner fire.

Georga could see her starting to glow and she took a few steps back from her. She didn't know how Ember felt when it was active but with what she had seen she also didn't want to find out.

Ember opened her mouth and Georga could spot the glow disappearing.

She couldn't see it from such a distance so Georga crept a bit closer.

This didn't prove to be a very good idea as she suddenly was deafened and almost blown off her feet by a humongous explosion.

However she ground her paws down hard and cringed down so that she wasn't blown away.

She looked up again to see Ember staggering back to her feet.

"Well I thought you got over that habit" Georga said as she approached her.

She stretched out her paw to Ember's face.

"Well guess not" Ember said as she put her weight on Georga and lifted herself up.

"What happened?"

"Well I don't know" Ember said.

"Somehow I just couldn't control the energy"

Georga wished she knew something to assist Ember. However Ember knew way more battle moves than Georga did and she also was of a different element. There wasn't so much that Georga could say.

"Well maybe I should reduce the amount of energy stored" Ember suggested.

"Could work" Georga shrugged.

"Well, let's try it" Ember said as she readied herself for another try.

"Wait!" Georga said.

"What?"

Georga concentrated and with a high swing slammed her tail-globe into the ground.

Suddenly the earth rumbled and a small wall of earth shot out from the ground.

"What is that for?" Ember asked puzzled.

"Well I just guessed that it might help if you actually had a target" Georga said.

"Good idea" Ember agreed.

Ember focused her attention on the wall and the light of her body returned.

Georga walked back almost 20 metres from her on the other end of the room because she didn't want to be blasted again.

She couldn't see all that much but the glow of Ember grew slightly less but suddenly and she opened her mouth again.

Suddenly Ember exploded again and the wall was blasted to pieces.

Georga ran over to her to check if she was alright.

She stopped as she spotted Ember already getting to her feet.

Ember had blown herself up more times than Georga could count in learning her secret weapon so by now it didn't hurt her anymore.

"Well you destroyed your target" Georga said as the wall she had created lay in rumble.

"Yeah but not the way I wanted" Ember complained.

Georga made another target for her, Ember tried again and she exploded.

Georga made one, Ember tried and exploded, again and again and again.

---

They kept going this way for who knows how long. Georga was really starting to get annoyed by the lack of progress but Ember didn't seem bored or frustrated at all.

When she exploded the fiftieth time Georga decided to call it.

"Maybe we need to try something else" Georga suggested as she had the feeling going like this wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"Like what?"

"Try to breath fire without the boost" Georga suggested.

She had little training but she did have had some. When she had learned the earth ripple Terrador had taught her to zero it down to the basic concept and start from that.

Ember didn't ask for explanations and breathed a stream of fire.

"Now try adding a little bit of your 'secret' into it" Georga still put an annoyed tone on the word 'secret'

Ember did that and the fire stream was slightly orange.

Georga couldn't see her body light up but she just guessed she missed it.

"Try upping it further and further until you finally can fore everything into it" Georga felt a bit strange in instructing Ember while Ember was by far her superior in battle.

Ember did as Georga had just instructed and the fire was still lighter in colour.

Georga used very little energy on the walls she summoned and Ember knocked them down over and over again.

The two kept going like this for more hours.

Georga had to admit that she was very impressed by the extent of Ember's energy supply.

She had seen Ember battle before but she had no idea that Ember could have so much stamina.