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About time, huh?

Kinda stealing a few ideas from my friend IceFlame1019 regarding Alex...then again, Ice and I both like the movie Final Fantasy: Advent Children so there's some common ground there. Actually, I've had these ideas but only recently read Ice's works, he's kinda unwittingly inspiring me here. We write so similarly it scares me at times...

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-- Chapter 6 --

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"JUST DIE ALREADY!!"

Spyro roared and spewed fire on a gigantic scorpion blocking his path. It struggled towards him but finally fell to the ground and disappeared in a small flash of light. He snorted and raced on through the frozen fortress. Solar had gone ahead in hot pursuit of the black-cloaked menace that had a crystal in its clutches, and Spyro had gotten separated somehow. Up ahead he heard Solar and the enemy battling, and using his time-powers he raced through the hallways, his time-control giving out just as he entered the room they were in. A long, tense battle followed--this creature was a lot like Alex, only not draconic in form and it used magic in addition to melee combat. Finally, Solar's tail caught it by the neck and sent it spinning to the far wall, where it almost fell out the open window into the gorge beyond. It laughed weakly and pulled itself back into the room, still holding the crystal.

"Stupid scalies! The Dark Master will return...all his power needs to be returned to him!"

It lifted its free hand and the room grew dark, but suddenly snapped back into reality as an icicle from Solar's mouth pierced its heart. It coughed and fell over, disappearing from inside its cloak in a dark flash. Panting and a bit dizzy from the fight, Spyro stood up slowly and walked over to the crystal and looked it over. It looked awfully familiar...casting a side-glance at Solar as the ice dragon looked out the window he decided to play an ignorant eye for now.

"Solar, what do you make of this?" he asked, sliding the crystal along the floor to Solar. Solar studied it closely.

"Have you seen one of these before?"

"Yeah, a few times, when I beat a really hard enemy."

"This looks an awful lot like the crystals on that troll I killed a while back...the one that stole Flare and threw her here."

"Could there be a connection?"

"Very possibly...it occurs to me, remember those dark crystals around the Dark Master in that last fight?"

Spyro nodded. "Yeah, Cynder had no problem taking those out."

"Spyro, I have a feeling these crystals are wherever your old foes were slain...if the Dark Master did indeed charge them with his power..."

At that moment the building they were in suddenly rocked violently as a huge explosion tore through the far wall. Spyro felt rough hands grabbing him and restraining him, and Solar roared and there was an icy burst of energy. Spyro coursed electricity along his body and his captors were flung to the side.

"RUN!!" he shouted, and Solar collected the crystal and they both ran down the hallway as fast as they could. Behind them they heard the angered shouts of more of those black-cloaked creatures. Finally reaching the outside they took off without a second thought. Out of nowhere they were ambushed as more enemies leapt from the fortress walls at them. Spyro yelled as he was pulled down, and he hit the snow hard and rolled for quite a distance, his attackers holding onto him tightly. He madly struggled against them and finally blasted them with fire. More leapt after him and one grabbed his hind leg as he took off, but he whipped around and sank his claws into its unseen face. To his surprise, more appeared in midair and flung themselves at him. One of them raked his side with a claw-like weapon and he yelled in pain.

"We need to retreat!" Solar shouted, spinning around and slicing an enemy in half with the crystal ending his tail. More creatures grabbed Spyro and he fell under their weight, but before he hit the ground he blasted them with ice, then proceeded to freeze all the others with a powerful Ice Fury before wearily following Solar. More came at them in the air, and it was all they could do to avoid these enemies.

"Dammit, there's no end to them! They're like swarming bugs!" Spyro growled, finally blasting one with electricity as it flew at him. The arc jumped from its primary target to the other ones around Solar and all were knocked dead, giving the two dragons enough of a chance to fly away. More creatures still came at them, but their numbers were dwindling. Finally, as they swept past the huge glaciers outside of the island of Dante's Feezer, the creatures stopped altogether, and they relaxed and flew a little more easily.

"You gonna make it?" Solar asked seeing Spyro's left wing straining from the cut along his side.

"Yeah," Spyro grunted. "Boy, I thought Alex was hard..."

"You know, I can carry Cynder, but you're more muscled than she is...do we need to stop and get you healed?"

"No, I'll make it there," Spyro said, trying to hide his pain, but the weapon had cut him deeper than he guessed. Within sight of homeland Spyro suddenly fell from the air, spiraling down with a yell as his left wing finally gave out. Solar dove after him, but he wasn't fast enough; Spyro fell into the ocean with a huge splash.

"NO!" Solar shouted as Spyro went under. The purple dragon resurfaced with a loud gasp, madly paddling to stay afloat, but his injuries were keeping him from moving properly.

"So-Solar!" he coughed. Solar swooped down and grabbed his paw, but the water on his scales made him too slick and he slipped from Solar's grasp and went under again.

"Spyro!" Solar called, hovering where he was. There was no way he'd be able to swim; he wasn't built for swimming in deep water. "Spyro, no! Come back!"

Cynder and Flare woke up at the same time with a shriek, out of breath. They looked at each other, confused.

"I...I just had the weirdest dream," Flare panted, her paw on her head.

"Me too..."

Flare looked at her oddly. "Did it...did you see Alex in your dream too?"

"Yeah...he was going after..."

Their eyes met in realization and fear; this was no coincidence they'd had the same dream. Flare looked at the dojo entrance anxiously, paranoid that Alex might be watching them.

"We should try to locate a safer place for them," she whispered.

"Better now than later while Volteer's got him outside. C'mon, I think I know somewhere." Flare followed Cynder quickly the the underground tunnels, and Cynder led her to the small passage used by animals. From there she led her deeper into the demolished tunnels until they reached her secret spot.

"Wow, this is cozy," Flare said with a half-smile. "What happened down here?"

"This is what happens when you're roughly transported via magic to the Dark Master's parallel world." She hopped up onto her cushion-shaped fragment of wall. "I used to come down here while Spyro was away...no one else knows about it, not even Spyro."

"But Alex has been wandering around these tunnels."

"He's only been through the main tunnel to get outside, he told me he doesn't like the feel of these other branch-offs."

"Well that's good..." Flare looked around a bit more closely. There were some glowing plants along the walls, giving off an eerie but somehow comfortable yellowish-white light. "This place is just big enough for us and the guys."

"Spyro and Solar?"

"Yeah, they're gonna wanna be with us!"

Cynder hit herself with a grin. "Duh! Where am I today?"

Flare laughed and lightly knocked her on the head. "Nope, not there..." They both laughed, but then Cynder suddenly gasped, feeling like she had no air, like she was floating. Flare looked at her, concerned. "Cynder? Cynder, what's wrong?"

"Spy-Spyro!" Cynder gasped. "No! Spyro, why can't you swim?! NO!!" To Flare's confusion the black dragoness ran off, looking around frantically and whimpering. "No, please! Spyro, come back!!"

"Ignitus may be able to help," Flare said to herself, and rushed off after Cynder. "Cynder, settle down, let's go see Ignitus. He might be able to see something." Without a second though Cynder rushed off. "Whoa! Cynder, geez!" Flare ran off after her.

"No, Cynder...I'm sorry, but I can't see either one of them."

Ignitus stepped back from the pool and Cynder lay down, crying. "I just know something's happened to him..."

Flare tried to think of something to say but choked on her own words and fell silent. The silence didn't last long, though; outside they heard Alex and Volteer yell, and there was a loud clashing of metal against metal. They raced out to the balcony and found Terrador, Cyril, Volteer, and Alex engaged in combat against tall two-legged black-cloaked creatures that somwhat resembled Alex, but lacked tails or horns. Not much could be seen underneath their black cloaks and hoods, but they attacked viciously and seemed to be very intent on Alex in particular. Alex was wielding two large swords in an impressive show of skill, but the majority of his fighting was ducking and dodging attacks.

"We gotta help them!" Cynder said, and flew down. Ignitus followed her and soon fire joined the fray as the two fire dragons added their breathpower to the mix. For being pregnant, Cynder was still fast and agile, and before long the enemies were backing away from her as she worked her way towards Alex. Not being a fighter, Flare could only watch the battle unfold below the balcony as the five dragons and one dragon-human fought for their lives. Flare screamed as something grabbed her from behind, and before her assailant knew it her claws had skewered its eyes, and she shoved it off herself and blasted it with a small but powerful fireball. More appeared and she jumped backwards, releasing a more powerful fireball that blew her attackers backwards with its fiery explosion. From where she was she could see that a larger company of these creatures was sneaking through the woods towards them, and she spat several fireballs towards them.

Cynder looked up sharply as Flare screamed, and saw the yellow dragoness surrounded by a large crowd of these creatures, hovering in the air and attacking her. At the same time, the fireballs detonated at a distance and Cynder looked over to see more of these enemies pouring in from the woods. One nearby hit her upside the head and she skidded along the ground by Alex.

"I'm the one they're after! You get back inside!" he shouted, and grabbed a foe roughly and cracked its back over his knee. Every fallen creature disappeared in a dark flash, leaving its black cloak behind. Cynder struggled to her feet and whipped her tail to the side, catching a nearby enemy right through the chest with the blade-fin ending her tail. She brought her tail back around to strike another, but fell on her side as her tail didn't move as fast as she needed. She rolled out of the way of an attack and saw why her tail wasn't moving well---the cloak was stuck on the fin and she couldn't shake it off. She set another enemy on fire as it charged at her, and held her tail by the flames as she turned around and unleashed a fireball. The cloak didn't burn and she swore under her breath. Something hit her hard and she skidded along the ground again, rolling to a stop by Ignitus. He yelled and clumsily stepped backwards as he almost stepped on her.

"Cynder, you shouldn't be here!" he said, and headbutted another creature as it came at him. It grabbed his horns and he roared and flung it off towards Terrador, but fell down as it blasted him with a dark bolt.

Nearby, Flare landed and screamed as one of the creatures dug its claw-like gloves into her hide, and Cynder jumped up and flung herself at Flare's assailants. She was blasted backwards as another one launched a flurry of dark bolts at both her and Flare.

"There's too many!" Terrador growled. These things were negating his earth attacks, severely depriving him of an advantage. The six dragons were slowly being pushed back against the stone wall of the cliff, but Alex was still holding his own. Cynder and Flare both screamed as a huge crowd of these things surrounded them and held them down, but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't free themselves. One of them held up a dagger above Cynder's head...

The blow never fell. The air seemed to shimmer around the dragons, and suddenly the black-cloaked fiends went flying, many of them cut in half or suddenly torched. Cynder looked up and saw a purple blur racing through the enemy group at breakneck speed, the air still shimmering. Not too long afterwards, though, the shimmer stopped and Spyro appeared out of the blur, and his foe was taken by surprise as Spyro's claws ripped along its chest.

More of them came at the two dragonesses, but were thrown back as a hail of icy spears came down. Flare squealed excitedly as Solar swooped over her, grabbing two of these black-cloaked enemies and carrying them into the air. Before they could react he smashed them together, their heads colliding with a sickening crack, and he flung them both down at Alex's attackers. Alex jumped back in surprise as two black things fell onto the ones he was fighting.

Now that Spyro and Solar were carving a large dent in the enemy forces, Cynder and Flare leapt into the brawl. Fifteen minutes and several cuts and bruises later, Flare suddenly flew up high and seemed to explode with fire. A beam of thermal energy smote the ground below her, sending up a powerful dome of fire and obliterating the last of the black-cloaked creatures. Solar flew up and caught her as she fell back to the ground after her Fury, and they all wearily headed into the temple. Spyro picked Cynder up and carried her on his back---her leg had been hurt. Everyone gathered in the dojo and Ignitus lowered the stone statue to open up the room a bit more.

"Now that the fun's over...Alex, mind explaining to us what all this was about?" he asked, and all eyes turned to Alex.

The green teen-dragon sighed with a growl. "What we just fought were my 'followers', though a much larger group than what attacked us earlier. They were after me, but with you guys here I believe they figured they'd need to kill the rest of you to prevent you from stopping them."

"It hasn't been two months yet, though," Cynder said, and inhaled sharply through her teeth as Spyro tended to a large cut below her wing.

"These guys are not in league with the shadow," Alex groaned, pacing. "Why they're suddenly so bent on killing me, I have no clue...but this means that not only do we need to worry about the coming attack, but also surprise attacks from these mages."

"They're not the only ones planning to attack us," Ignitus said, and everyone looked at him. "Earlier, when Cynder wanted to see what happened to Spyro, I saw remnant ape forces mobilizing not too far away. Their base is underground, from what I gathered, but where they are exactly I have no clue."

Solar suddenly stood up. "I just remembered, Spyro and I found this at Dante's Freezer." The dark jewel appeared, and Ignitus' eyes narrowed.

"A crystal infused with dark energy," Volteer grumbled.

"I remember seeing those during my captivity in Munitions Forge," Terrador said, thinking back. "The volcano was a prime source of these crystals."

Cynder's face contorted. "Now I remember...I had them mine those crystals for testing purposes."

"I remember seeing them fall off of difficult enemies," Spyro said, "but they always quickly disappeared. I didn't pay them much mind, they usually looked like pieces of armor or something."

"So these mages are after the crystals...but why?" Alex asked himself, thinking back. "Why would they want crystals with the Dark Master's power?"

Cynder sensed apprehension from Spyro and looked at him. "Spyro?"

"What?"

She hesitated--apparently he had no intention of telling her right now. "Nevermind..." She yawned and stretched, then jerked as her cut pulled at her.

"You and Flare need rest, you shouldn't have fought," Ignitus said sternly. "It's nearly night, you should get to sleep."

"Yes sir," they yawned at the same time. Cynder leaned against Spyro as he led her to their room, and he nudged her as he felt her suddenly growing more emotional.

"You okay?" he asked as they stood next to the bed. To his surprise she suddenly wrapped her arms around him and started crying against his shoulder.

"I-I thought I lost you earlier," she choked. "Y-you were drowning..."

Spyro sat back and hugged her tight, rocking her gently and folding his wings around her. "I almost did...had I not found my air powers I most likely would have drowned."

"But how did you survive?" she asked, wiping her face.

"Ice is lighter than water--I froze the water around me and it carried me up."

She held him tighter but he didn't think to tell her he could barely breathe. "Please don't do that again, Spyro...I was so worried..."

"Had a previous run-in with Alex's enemies and one of them injured my side...my wing gave out not too far off shore," he grunted, but Cynder didn't notice he was straining to breathe. He pried her off himself and she relaxed as he kissed her. Her side suddenly throbbed and she grunted, and Spyro broke away. "Let's see about that cut now." His paw went to the wound below her wing and she felt that healing warmth from his paw flow into her, not only curing the wound but also the bruises riddling her, hidden by her black scales. Outside, thunder rumbled, but they hardly noticed it as Spyro hugged her again.

Four fairly quiet days went by without any enemy activity. Even the blue mystery creature that had been stalking the temple was nowhere to be seen. Alex continued to seclude himself after training sessions, not wanting to be around. Whatever was holding onto him was growing stronger and it was more of a battle every passing day to keep it at bay. Spyro and Cynder returned from a fly over the river, Cynder pretty worn out and having to lean against Spyro for support. Her belly was noticeably bigger in comparison to the rest of her body as she stood against Spyro.

"Why am I so tired now?" she whined, letting Spyro help her into the bed.

"Dunno..." He stood up and ran his paw along her face, and she took his paw in hers and sighed.

"Spyro, when are you gonna tell us what you were doing? Earlier, when you were gone every day?"

"Tonight I'm gonna set out and see if I can't resolve my uncertainty," he said. "I might not be back for a while, though...maybe three days at most. You can last that long without me, right?"

"Maybe... I just don't like not knowing what's going on..."

She closed her eyes, and sighed happily as she felt his mouth against hers.

"You yourself proved that nothing can keep me from you," he whispered. "Don't worry, I'll be back." With that he ran off and she faintly heard him fly off into the evening air.

Out in the air, Spyro nearly ran into Solar as he looked back at the temple.

"Spyro?! Where are you going?"

"I need to find out if this curse or whatever it is is gone...I'm tired of keeping my activities a secret from Cynder."

Solar shrugged. "Better get going then."

Spyro nodded and flew on, thinking to himself. Without even thinking about it he started using a bit of his time power to fly farther in less time, and his light power also flowed over his body and partially hid him from view of anyone on the ground as he shot through the air.

"Why would Alex's followers want to bring back the Dark Master? I can see why that shadow does, but if those others have no connection to him, why bother?" He thought back to a month ago, and shook his head. "There's gotta be some connection...me having dark matter, my enemies having dark matter and wearing those jewels...it's all too random to be random coincidence."

* * * *

The next day Alex woke up with a groan, his limbs vibrating slightly as he stretched. He looked at the ceiling and sighed heavily...his dreams had all been filled with memories of Christine...he could still feel her head on his shoulder...

He shook his head and stood up. "Just great," he grumbled, and hitched up his worn pants as they slipped down. With all the training he'd been doing, his jeans were now very worn along the edges and seams, and were in constant danger of slipping off his hips. Flexing his wings he silently walked out onto the balcony. Solar and Flare were wrapped in each others' arms and wings, and Alex felt that sharp pain of longing shoot through his chest. With a pained sigh he flew off, stretching his wings and still getting used to the feeling of flight.

He didn't make it far, though--his right wing suddenly cramped and with a startled yell of pain he fell into a spiral, flipping at the last second and redirecting his kinetic energy into the ground. His shins hurt a bit but that was to be expected, and he stood up and shook his legs quickly before looking around. He wasn't all that far from the temple, he'd chased that blue creature much farther than this...but something felt a little off.

Alex whipped around as a twig behind him snapped, and he saw a very faint blue blur. Wasting no time he shot off after it, but quickly lost sight of it amid the mushrooms in the early-morning light.

"Dammit," he said under his breath, and turned to leave. He froze in his tracks---there it was, standing right behind him with a sword just inches away from him. "What do you want with me?" he asked warily. Instead of a reply, he saw the figure's arm twitch and he jumped to the side as it lunged at him. After a few frantic rolls and dodges Alex finally kicked out at it, bringing his tail around as he spun. His enemy avoided his clawed foot but came up right into his tail, and suddenly shot off in a blue blur. Alex gave chase but again lost sight of it. "How the hell is it doing that?" he grunted, confused.

Something above him moved and he ducked as his foe suddenly swung down, aiming a kick at his head but missing. Picking up a long, thick branch Alex met the sword it was holding. A quick brawl ensued but again, as Alex finally hit the blue-dressed enemy it flashed off in a blue blur. Its sword dropped as it ran, but before Alex could get a good look at the blade it vanished in a swirl of light.

"Hopefully that's the end of that today," he said, and ran back towards the temple. With a deep breath he took a running leap and shot up to the balcony, almost running into Solar as the ice dragon was about to fly off.

"Alex? Where've you been?"

"Nowhere in particular...wanted to stretch my wings but kinda fell."

Solar looked at him oddly. "You seem like you've been fighting...is something out there?"

"Yes...unfortunately once again I couldn't catch it. It openly attacked me this time, though, instead of popping up briefly and then rushing off." Something fluttered overhead and they both looked up to see a strange bat-like creature shoot through the air past them and vanish into thin air. Cynder ran out after it and looked around for it.

"It disappeared again..." she grumbled. "What the heck is that thing?"

"Again?" Solar and Alex asked at the same time.

"The first time I saw it was the night Alex appeared and it keeps on popping up every now and then."

Alex looked off towards where the thing had disappeared. "That's odd..." He shook his head and groaned. "Oh man, that fall really did me worse than I thought..."

"Need healing?" Solar asked.

"No, I'll be fine...but I was trying to stabilize myself with my wings as I fell and it didn't really work; in fact it worsened the dive."

"Well, practice makes perfect, better get inside and train a bit more. If you want, when I come back from getting Flare and Cynder their breakfast I can help you."

"Thanks...by the way, where's Spyro? Doesn't he usually get food for Cynder?"

"He's off trying to solve a problem," Cynder said very simply. "He said he may not be back for a while."

There was a rush of air and Alex turned quickly. It was only Solar taking off. He turned around again, rubbing his head. "Man, I am so jumpy today..."

Flare yawned and looked at them sleepily. "Hey guys...what's going on?"

"Solar just left to get food and Spyro's gonna solve an unresolved issue," Cynder said. At that moment Alex whipped around again, holding still except for his twitching tail. "Alex?"

"Sh," he hissed, and crept over to the balcony railing. Flare stretched and stood up, anxious. "Why do I feel like Christine's near?" Alex whispered to himself. He felt her very close by, but at the same time he also felt something coming for him, something bent on attacking him. Before he knew it the feeling was gone and he saw the blue blur rush off through the woods below. He growled and shook his head, turning back to the dragonesses. "That blue thing is after me, but it never openly attacked me until this morning." Cynder opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly both she and Flare cried out in pain. Alex looked at them oddly. "Okay, that's really wierd. You two are feeling the same pains?"

"Apparently," Cynder groaned, the pain slowly throbbing away.

"How long do you have left?"

They looked at each other warily, remembering that dream. "About...another month or so? Somewhere around there."

"You seem wary around me..." Cynder and Flare sudenly looked at each other in surprise and a bit of guilt, but Alex looked away with a sigh. "I understand why...it's this damn thing plaguing me." After some silence he turned back to them. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll be a guardian of sorts. It's my enemy we're dealing with here anyway."

"That's very noble of you," Ignitus said as he walked out onto the balcony, "but are you sure?"

"I'm stuck here anyways, Ignitus," Alex said, looking out over the mushroom forest below. "I might as well make myself useful instead of moping around all the time. But I really, really wish I could get out of here and go back home..."

"You will when it's time," Ignitus said reassuringly. "Perhaps you were brought here for a reason and cannot leave until that reason is achieved."

"I hope it's just that. Nothing against you guys but I'd go nuts if I had to stay here my whole life. Something about this world...I like it and all, but I don't belong here." He looked down at himself, running his paws over his scaly arms. "If my current form isn't proof enough I don't know what is. The fact I had to be transformed to fit here means I don't belong."

Flare cleared her throat. "Or maybe you were transformed so you could better fight your enemies here...there's that possibility too."

"Flare's right," Ignitus agreed, and Cynder nodded. "I think you're being too hard on yourself, Alex. Maybe if you took a little more of a positive outlook, your plague wouldn't have so much dominion over you."

"That does make sense..." Alex sighed and ran his fingers over his eyes. "But...I...without Christine, without knowing if she's safe or not...I can't find anything positive. I miss her so much, especially since that..." his fists clenched and shook, his scales turning white at the knuckles, "that shadow told me he'd seen to her safety...if he's done anything to her..."

"Uh oh," Cynder said, backing away as an animal look came over his face. At the same time his scales seemed to slowly turn darker, but with a violent shudder he brought himself back and the change disappeared.

"See what I'm saying?" Ignitus asked as Alex slumped to the floor. "It uses your negative emotions to gain more of a foothold."

"But how can I be positive if there's nothing here for me to be positive about?"

"Something will come up soon, if it isn't already here. You just need to find it."

Flare craned her neck around, looking over the forest. "Where's Solar? He isn't usually this long..."

"Something's wrong," Cynder said, feeling the air.

"You getting something from Spyro?" Flare asked.

"I have a feeling something happened that wasn't supposed to..."

Solar suddenly flew up over the edge of the balcony, and Cynder yelled and rushed over as he lay Spyro on the floor. Spyro was badly beaten, looking like he'd been hit dozens of times by a huge weapon.

"What happened?!" Ignitus asked as Cynder cradled Spyro against her chest.

"Spyro appeared out of his time-warp and fainted in mid-air," Solar explained. "Good thing he was headed for me or else I might never have found him. I have no clue what happened to him, but whatever it was, things obviously didn't go according to plan." Cynder tried to pick him up, but in her condition she couldn't, so Solar picked up Spyro and carried him, walking on his hind legs as he followed everyone into the temple. He placed Spyro on the bed and Cynder jumped up next to her purple mate.

"Oh Spyro," she said sadly, running her paw over a large bruise on his side.

"Sorry about the breakfast, Flare," Solar said, but Flare rubbed her head against his neck.

"Spyro's safety is more important," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Though...if you don't mind..."

"I was on my way out," he said, but he sounded tired.

Alex approached Solar. "If it's not too much trouble, I'll go and get food for you guys."

Solar nodded and Alex rushed off, and Solar and Flare left Cynder with Spyro.

"Spyro...what happened to you?" she whispered, restraining tears. Who could have done this to him? He was the best fighter around...Spyro coughed and groaned, obviously in a lot of pain. A tear fell down from his eye and Cynder buried her face against his side, crying. "Who could've done this to you?" she demanded. What upset her more than the fact he was unconscious and beaten senseless was that it meant something was out there that could possibly threaten them. At that thought, Cynder felt a strange, protective anger she'd never felt before...it scared her a bit, but it calmed her down enough that she could think clearly. Sitting up, she put her paws on Spyro, and used her light power on him. Small tendrils of healing light flowed from her into Spyro, and the bruises slowly faded and his shallow breathing became less labored. He didn't wake up, though, and Cynder wrapped herself around him, feeling his heartbeat and breath against her red underbelly. She happened to look back and couldn't help but double-take---she'd always been so slender compared to Spyro, but now that she was carrying and was due in almost a month, her midsection was almost as wide as his! It took her by surprise even though she'd noticed the difference earlier...

"Cynder..." Spyro whispered faintly, and Cynder nuzzled against his cheek sadly.

"Spyro, please wake up soon...I wanna know what happened to you," she said, putting her wing over him.

By midday, Spyro was breathing normally but still wouldn't wake up. A bit frustrated and anxious, Cynder had her meal, courtesy of Alex's foraging earlier, and set up Spyro's meal for him by the bed. Solar was sparring against Alex in the dojo, and they were obviously having a good time---several times Cynder actually heard Alex laugh with Solar as some stupid mistake was pulled off. Ignitus and the other elders had flown off to investigate a suspicion Ignitus had had regarding a vision in the Pool of Visions.

Cynder stayed by Spyro's side as the afternoon drew on, her mind wandering as she waited for him to wake up. She snapped out of her daydream about their times by the river when he faintly pushed against her. She pulled away to see what he was doing; he was kicking and clawing at something in a dream.

"Spyro!" she said, shaking him. He bolted up with a startled yell and she jumped back in surprise. Spyro fell back, panting and staring at the ceiling. Cynder regained herself and took his paw in hers, but pulled back and looked at her in fear. "Spyro? What's wrong?"

Cynder grunted as he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, but as her initial surprise dwindled she felt him crying and wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh my gosh...Cynder, I thought they'd..." He shuddered and sobbed. "I-I thought you were dead..."

"Shhh...it's okay, Spyro, this isn't a dream. I'm here."

"Thank the ancestors," he whispered gratefully. "It was all so real...it was so horrible..." He sniffed and pulled back, wiping his nose on his paw. Cynder delicately wiped the tears off his face and their eyes met, green worry meeting waning purple sorrow.

"Spyro, what happened to you? You came back almost beaten to death...I was afraid you wouldn't wake up..."

He looked at the bed, visibly drooping. "I don't know, Cynder..."

"How can you not know?! You were obviously in a fight!"

"In the parallel world it's hard to tell exactly what you're fighting...whatever it was, it felt familiar, but I couldn't tell."

"But why haven't you faced it before?"

"What I've seen and experienced there so far, is only a dust-speck in this temple. But what I fought...it's been there for a while but...I duno, it seemed different."

Cynder hesitated. "So, was this some new enemy?"

"More than that..." She sat up and Spyro's eyes met hers. "Remember that dark crystal Solar and I found at Dante's Freezer?"

"I think so...doesn't he still have it?"

"Yes, and it needs to be destroyed or cleansed as soon as possible. Cynder, those crystals you had them mine from Munitions Forge; they're appearing again. The remnant ape forces are collecting them...as are Alex's enemies."

"But what do they want with them?"

"I don't know, but they are charged with fractions of the Dark Master's evil power...I'm afraid that if they collect all the remaining jewels they may be able to either bring him back...I have a feeling what I fought was brought back with their power. Whatever it was, I was completely unprepared for..."

She looked at him closely. "So...is that why you were so badly hurt?"

"Yes...I was there, trying to stop them when it happened. It took me completely by surprise...only my time power and light breath saved me. Cynder, he's too strong...not even the two of us with Solar can defeat him now."

She gaped. "But what about our battle against the Dark Master? We weren't nearly as good back then as we are now!"

"He was a shadow, not his complete self. This thing though..." He sighed. "Remember how I said my dark-matter form needed something to control it?"

"Yeah..."

"Whatever this thing was, the enemy had a dark-matter host ready. But it seemed far stronger than anything I've faced...almost like the spirit itself was charged or something." He looked up at her, and she saw something in his eyes he rarely showed: fear. "It was so scary, Cynder...I was afraid I wouldn't survive, that I wouldn't be able to keep it from getting to you."

If Cynder's scales allowed her to pale, she would have been deathly white. "Where is it now?" she asked faintly.

"Fortunately, I was able to damage him enough as I escaped that he can't get out himself for quite a while...the downside of that, though, is that the longer that thing stays in that realm, the more dark power it gains, and thus the stronger it gets."

"Spyro...can we protect our children?" she whispered, and clutched him tightly. "I'm so scared now..." she whimpered.

Spyro hugged her comfortingly. This new thought, coupled with seeing her so scared and upset, triggered the same protective anger in him that Cynder had felt only hours ago. "Cynder, I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to keep our family safe."

She glared at him. "Oh no you don't!" She pushed away from him. "Last time you said that to me, you went and jumped in front of a powerful dark blast and died. I'm not losing you again, Spyro, once was hard enough."

He met her powerful glare with his. "Cynder, don't you think I know that? What's important to me is your safety...and that of our family. I learned from that day, I need to be around to protect you. I'll do whatever it takes short of risking my own life, unless there is NO OTHER WAY around it."

Seeing his mind was dead-set, Cynder gave in, sitting by him and leaning against his shoulder. "You're a real pain, you know that?"

"Yes."

She laughed at his solemn response. "But at least you're my pain."

He smirked and put his wing around her and she nuzzled against him. Spotting the food she'd set up for him earlier she grabbed a berry and held it in front of him, and pulled it away sharply with a giggle as he went to bite it. She brought it closer again and laughed with a small shriek of surprise as he snatched it out of her paw. They just sat there on the bed for a while, Cynde feeding Spyro and occasionally teasing him, until there was nothing left and she leaned against his shoulder the way she usually did. Five minutes later, Spyro broke the kiss they were lost in and looked sharply towards the dojo, his pupils wide.

"Cynder, something's wrong," he said, and she followed him. Alex was training against wooden dummies under Volteer's supervision, and Spyro walked up to Volteer. "Volteer, Alex needs to stop training."

"Why? He's doing marvellously!" the electric dragon said, watching Alex.

"Something's not right, there's something evil here."

Volteer's face went serious and he looked at Spyro. "What is it?"

At that moment, one of the larger dummies Alex was beating the stuffing out of threw him backwards, and they watched in horror as it grew and a hideous dark slime bubbled up from within it and solidified quickly into a corporeal form. Spyro rushed towards it but rolled to the side as it swung at him with two huge swords that materialized from the same dark matter. On where its face should've been, a single green spot glowed and seemed to lock onto Spyro.

"Cynder!! Stay back!" Spyro shouted, and just narrowly dodged another sword-swipe.

"I wanna help you!" she shouted back, edging closer, but Alex stopped her.

"Cynder, you have more to think of than just Spyro," he said, and then snarled as he whipped around and flung himself at the huge black monster that was coming right at him. Cynder's eyes widened -- Alex was right. It wasn't just Spyro she needed to protect... She flew back as she avoided a stray electric jolt from Alex.

"You're not alone in your protection, Spyro," she said to herself as she watched her purple dragon dig his claws into the enemy's back and lash it violently with his tail. "So long as I'm their mother nothing will happen to our children on my watch."

At the same time, Spyro and Alex unleashed powerful blasts of electricity, and the huge dark-matter enemy roared and fell to the floor. Spyro was about to finish it off, but as he did a horn-dive right at its neck it vaporized, and Spyro hit the floor with a hard crack as the dark vapor flew out over the balcony.

"You okay?" Alex asked, helping Spyro up.

"Lucky most of the sound was my horns hitting the floor," Spyro groaned. "Damn, that hurt..." He had a bruise appearing on his forehead, and Cynder came over and rubbed against him.

"You did what you could."

Alex grunted, still looking at where the huge infested dummy had disappeared. "Why do I get the feeling...I've seen that before?" he asked himself.

As Cynder watched Alex, she suddenly remembered the dream she and Flare had had. "Spyro, c'mon, let's walk off that fight," she said, pressing against him. He just nodded and followed her out of the temple into the garden. He felt that something was bothering her.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Spyro, I've been forgetting to tell you with everything that's been going on...Flare and I had a dream a while back. At the same time."

"Like a vision?"

"Kinda...but in it, we both saw Alex going after the eggs. He was...in one of those moods of his...it was awful." She shuddered and Spyro wrapped his wing around her.

"Maybe it was a warning, not a vision."

"I sure hope so...all we saw was him being possessed, and then rushing towards the eggs. Nothing more...but it scares me, Spyro. I'm so worried..."

"Don't worry, Cynder, I won't let anything happen to our family."

"Neither will I...if someone dares touch our eggs they'll have the old Cynder to face." The ferocity in her voice caught Spyro's attention, and he nudged her.

"Boy, remind me not to tick you off anytime soon."

She laughed and nuzzled against him. "C'mon, let's go for that walk...I'm a little tired of staying here all day."

"You up to walking?" He glanced at her midsection briefly.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yes, Spyro, I'm fine! Just 'cuz I'm almost bigger than you doesn't mean I can't walk!"

He laughed. "I didn't mean it, Cynder." He stood up alongside her.

As they walked through the mushroom forest they played their little fireworks game, spitting tiny fireballs and trying to get them to collide in the air. Gradually they stopped and just quietly walked. Spyro watched her out of the corner of his eye--she was much rounder in the midsection now than a few weeks ago, and seemed to be having trouble keeping up with him, even though she hid it rather well.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" she giggled, nudging her cheek against his.

"I dunno...you're just so nice to look at."

Her breathing was slowly becoming more labored as they ambled until Spyro finally stopped and turned to her. "Cynder, don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

"I need to stay in shape, Spyro," she retorted. "I don't wanna be a complete loaf after I give birth...if something happens I need to be able to fight back somewhat."

"Okay, suit yourself," he shrugged. "C'mon, I'll carry you back to the temple."

"You can when I say so," she half-smiled, turning around with him to head back, the sun setting through the trees and shining on their sides. Halfway along the path she finally gave in and climbed up onto Spyro's back, resting her head between his horns. She was heavier now than she'd been last time he'd carried her like this, but he trotted along as he bore her back to the building. Spyro rolled his eyes up at her as she started mumbling, "Flame...Flare...no, already taken..."

"What're you talking about up there?" he asked.

"Names," she replied. "We've been trying to think of names, remember?"

"Oh yeah...got anything so far?"

"Flame, Ember, Blizzara, Glacia, Marina...mostly female names, male names are harder for me to think of..."

"Spyro Jr.?" he suggested with a joking grin, and she punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Come on! Be original, dummy!" she laughed. "I like Glacia if we have a little ice female..."

"So what're you trying to do? Come up with a male and female name for each element?"

"Yep, covers all bases."

They chatted on about names even as they entered the temple, but didn't get anywhere. Lots of suggestions, but no definites. Spyro felt Cynder suddenly slow down, as if her body suddenly realized how much energy she'd expended and was shutting down. She yawned and he set her in bed, jumping up beside her.

"I'm so tired all of a sudden," she mumbled as Spyro helped her up onto the bed.

"Well, get some sleep," Spyro said, concerned. "You need it."

"You still need to consider some names," she said with a grin as he pulled himself into bed beside her.

"I'll think of some, we've still got a little over a month," he said, kissing her. She giggled and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep. Spyro lay his head back with a smile, but after a while his face fell--he couldn't think of any names at all. "Oh great..." he said to himself as he stared at the ceiling. "She's not gonna be happy if I don't come up with something..."

Outside, Solar was having the opposite problem. As Flare slept peacefully on him, her neck draped over his as they lay side-by-side, his mind was racing with possible names, but he couldn't narrow on any at all.

"I know we've got a few more months but she wants names as soon as possible," he thought to himself, frustrated. "What do I do?"

___________________________________________

Well, guess what? Time for a little "reader participation"...Spyro and Solar need your help deciding on possible names for their children! Try coming up with names for ice, fire, earth, and electricity, both male and female names. Cynder predicts two, and Flare predicts three (although Aurora/is is a definite), so they need enough suggestions to have a decent selection from. As of now, four names will be needed, but if you wanna get real technical in the event they have two of the same gender and element, suggest more than one for that gender/element combo.

Of course, it's a surprise, so no one knows yet what their childrens' elements or genders will be... :P

NOTICE: submission time is between now and Chapter 7's posting. After Chapter 7 is up on YiffStar I will no longer accept suggestions.