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Inside the Lab

After a while walking inside the forest, they finally reached the place indicated in the map (with Sparx's help, since the three of them couldn't even hold the map with their front legs). The place, unlike what they had imagined, was really dense with trees and shrubs with no indication of rusty metal (if there was, it would be hard to find them because they blend with the land). Many small animals were living around there. Birds, foxes, and rabbits lived in harmony around the dragons. They didn't even mind the ancient reptiles to interfere with their own lives, if not for Seraphor drooling.

"Oh, ancestors, you're an embarrassment...," said Spyro.

"I know...but my senses wanted to taste them inside me."

"Dude..."

"Just let him go...," said Flame. "He's good for nothin', really."

They decided to put the point as a meeting point, and so they split out to find the entrance. Three hours later, only Seraphor went back to the assembly point, without seeing any traces of his friends ever returning. Feeling bored, he used his own draconic instinct to hunt for some foods and cook them, thinking his instinct was dull since he never hunted for the past week. Luckily, the instinct awakened his sense of smell, so he could find the other dragons. He felt that the night came by fast, so he started make a fire.

Meanwhile, Spyro and Sparx were wandering around the forest until Sparx said, "Dude, are we lost?"

"Of course we're not! I'm just taking a straight way ahead, so I come back at the same patch."

"We're lost."

"We're not!"

"Lost!"

"Not!"

"Can you two shut your maws up?!"

Flame's voice came from the direction when the sun set. The fiery red dragon's crimson eyes were glittering under the sun, and of course Flame wasn't all that happy seeing the half-brothers fought.

"For all eternity, we're really lost," said Flame. "This is a forest after all, and we don't have a compass."

"Shit...then how are we supposed to..."

Suddenly, Spyro could trace a smell of something burning, and he could clearly see a smoke billowing up on some trees. He also could see the night started to come.

"Is there a forest fire?" said Flame. "I didn't torch anything on accident."

"So do I. But, Seraphor may have done it."

"What is that motherfucking dragon doing inside the forest?!"

"Since that's the case...how about if we go to the place the smoke came from?"

The dragons ran toward the source of the smoke, to find that Seraphor was making dinner to them, including some insects for Sparx. Seeing the well-roasted rabbit and the live insects made the three of them very hungry. Seraphor turned and said, "Hey, it's about time you showed up. What kept ya?"

"We...we're just trying to find the lab, that's all."

"Really? I can hear Spyro and Sparx arguing about lost."

Spyro then became surprised, and said, "H...how do you know?" to which Seraphor grinned and showed his ear leaves under his set of horns. He then said, "I have good ears."

After having dinner, Seraphor approached Spyro. He then said, "Spyro, stumble on something?"

"No...I didn't find about any remnants of a building or a complex," replied the purple dragon with disappointed tone. "Really, man, all I can found are trees."

"I don't find them, too, and I believe Flame doesn't."

"Yeah...I almost think this whole crap was just imagination and not something I can find. I never lose faith, though. I've known Professor for many years and I know he's not the kind of mole that likes to lie. He's scientific, and always trying to find the root of something."

"You know him better than I do, so it's you that can judge the mole. Oh, you can call me Sera if you want to. That's my nickname."

"Sera...seemed Spanish...but I like it. Though I found Seraphor is a pretty nice name."

"Thanks. That's the name my ancestors gave me, just like your ancestors."

"The truth is, Sera, I got the name from a family of dragonflies. I was raised by dragonflies before I realized my true self. Spyro is never a common name."

"Appreciate it even though it's not draconic," said Seraphor to the smaller dragon. "I bet they named you that so you can be living under fire, like a fire dragon."

"Thinking of that...maybe you're right."

"Now since we're out in the forest, you go to sleep. I take watch."

"But...dragons normally never take watch. That's human thing."

Seraphor then turned his head facing Spyro. "In my world, humans taking watch will be reduced to meat lumps in a matter of second, much like the ones he has to watch. It's more dangerous in my world for them, and of course we dragons wanted to take watch if it will save them. If a dragon rider sleeps in the wild, dragons will be the one taking watch. Same goes to a group."

"Yeah, I get your point...but is it okay if you not lecturing me in a middle of a fucking forest?"

"Yeah, sorry. Bad habit."

Seraphor himself knew he was being too harsh on the condition. The world he was into wasn't even in a post-war condition, not even having any eerie forest mysteries shrouding the forests in his world. No mysterious dragons, no bandits, no dangerous wildlife, but...he sniffed some herbs he never knew. He found that...no herbs were better than this world's.

Spyro was awakened by the good smell of a wine, and realized that Seraphor was vainly trying to make some herbs together by grinding them with his tail tip. He then burned them, releasing great aroma. He then shot ice to it and melt it, making a real wine.

"Dude...that's the best shit I've ever smell of."

"My dragon friend taught me how to make the herb in case you're cold. He also taught me how to use my front legs and tail," said Seraphor. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Oh, no...I'm not legal yet."

"Legal?"

"I just want to take a sip, if you don't mind."

But when Spyro took a sip, he felt overwhelming dizziness when smelling the strong smell. Unlike most wines, this was too strong for him and without taking any sip, he was dizzy.

The silver red knew what the dragon got, and he said, "Uh, what happened to ya?"

"I...I felt like I'm being dozed in a place full of spilled wines," said Spyro still dizzy. "That thing is NOT a normal wine!"

"To me it's really...oh fuck, it's strong! What kind of herb is your world having?"

But Spyro fell and sleeping soundly, so Seraphor just put aside the wine he just made, thinking it was a failure. The wine was too sharp for Seraphor's already sharp scented noses, so he threw it away with his front leg. Just when the bowl-like fruit remain hit something did the silver red's ears caught something. The bowl didn't hit any land as it should be, but a weird faint clanging voice was heard. Curious, he inspected the place where he threw the bowl, only to find more lands. Only when he accidentally unleashed his earth power (to give the truth Seraphor still couldn't control his earth power, said to be the most powerful elemental) out of desperation the silver red found out that they weren't even standing on a deep land. The rest was from metal.

"Oh my ancestors," thought Seraphor. "The lab wasn't partially underground, it's...really underground."

This revelation made him needing some nice sharp claws for tearing the metal open, so he ran to the place Spyro slept. But he then remembered being tired, so he went to sleep also after seeing them sleeping like there's a nice tomorrow. But, he couldn't sleep, just resting.

After three hours, he woke up again and tried to wake the two of the young dragons. At first they were very sleepy, but then Seraphor said, "Hey, I found the lab!"

This snapped them and they exclaimed, "What?!"

"Yeah! Follow me!"

After following Seraphor to the place indicated, Spyro sighed then said, "Rust metal...why I am such a dumbass?"

"So? What do you want us to?"

"Can you tear this metal open?" asked Seraphor while showing his claws. "I have some bad sharp things."

"Before you even ask...can you just fucking tell us how thick is this?!"

"Thick?"

"We're standing on a thick metal sheet! That's why we're...what's that sound?"

The next moment Flame felt he was being pulled down when he realized the floor was crumbling apart. Luckily, it was very high so they were able to open their wings so they fell harmlessly, but Seraphor wasn't. He fell down and hit the floor since he didn't have wings.

"Oh, shit, Sera!" exclaimed Spyro after he landed. "Are you alright, man?"

"My back hurts...shit, I can hear something cracking...oh, fuck..."

"Oh, so now you talk the f-word?" said Flame while chuckling and landing near him. He folded his wings then he sat.

"I hate it if I can even reduce the pain...ouch..."

"Slow down, dude. Normally, a dragon on your size would need to get medical attention. You're one lucky dude, man."

"Lucky," said Sparx. "He fell on some rocks. Too lucky, really."

When Seraphor was helped by the two dragons, they realized the silver red didn't get any serious bone fracture. The bony wings were like his spring, stopping serious bone fracture from the fall.

"Anyway," said Spyro while looking up on where they fell. A faint light of sun came from it. "We did fall pretty far."

"And," said Flame with another sigh. "We got two dragons that can't fly properly."

"I can't fly, not can't fly properly," said Seraphor on the comment.

"Yeah, so we're now bound in here."

They were not alone, actually. Many lives were down there. The laboratory, decaying after 30 years of abandonment, slowly merged with the nature. The metal started to rust and go with the ground, many rodents were running and making screeching voices, snakes and small reptiles were also around. The place was like a small jungle, but dark. Only Sparx's glow was the source there and of course, the hole where they fell to.

"It's pretty dark in here," said Flame. "And damp."

"What do you expect? This shithole has been abandoned for 30 years," said Spyro. "We gotta find some lights or we'll end up lost. This place might be huge. Just look on how it's underground."

"Yeah...oh look a lever," said Seraphor when he took a glimpse on a lever.

When Spyro went closer, he could clearly see some writings that it was high voltage. Since Spyro was also an electric dragon, he was okay with the fact. Seraphor realized the high voltage mean that the whole laboratory needed electricity (he learned the term Voltage from Ray), and because he didn't know what Spyro wanted to do, he flowed electricity through the metal and into the power box, making electricity possible moments before Spyro pulled the lever down. The electricity was on and all of the electric appliances started to go alive, making them startled suddenly. The once very dark room became well-lit, making it very clear that it wasn't even from biotic takeover, but instead an artificial biome dome, home to many plants.

The purple dragon could still trace some animals not from the outside world, but most of them were either dead or living partly outside. Some dead trees made the place looked eerie.

"The electricity is still on after all these years?" said Spyro in astonishment. "The electricity company must have given a load of checks for the due electricity."

"Wow, so electricity is used for turning this thing on?" thought Seraphor. "Maybe we'll need a steady dose of electricity if we want to see things around here."

Opening a blast door, the three dragons walked through the well-lit landscape (while at the same time Seraphor gave steady electricity whenever he saw a power box). The laboratory ran under the city, with big abandoned facility also took some of the ancient waterway under Capital Realm. They wandered around until they found a place to lay down a bit. Somehow, Seraphor wanted to hunt, but Spyro said, "Dude, don't destroy the biome dome! It's the only place where those animals were alive."

"But how can we find any food while we're underground?"

"This place runs under Capital Realm," said Sparx while giving them a map. "Maybe if we can find any hatch?"

"Screw that. We're not that hungry, isn't it?" said Spyro to Flame, with the fire red dragon nodded with approval. "Just get a good sleep, Sera. We can go around here for days."

"I...guess you're right."

While sleeping (and Flame on guard duty, on Seraphor's insistence), Seraphor kept dreaming on how his black mate was doing. He was thinking that his mate had mated again with another dragon from another world, having hatchlings, and not being taken in conflict. That was good; at least, she didn't have any bad effect on the forced teleportation. The silver red thought Avila started to lose herself and slowly she succumbed to the dark side and she would destroy her new-found life.

After waking up, Seraphor could only think, "She's out of my concern. There's no way I can meet her sooner or after, considering no inter-dimensional portal existed around here. I am amazed on how a dragon possessed a powerful dragon magic. Oh, Ray...I still can't believe you died in vain."

Suddenly, Flame turned around and gestured Seraphor to keep his head down, which he did. The silver red knew the fire red dragon smelled the odor of fresh blood, and may or may not hear a faint roar that echoed through the metal wall and floor.

"An enemy?"

"It's more like a monster. Oh wait, Professor did say there's another specimen that wasn't got killed, right?"

"But, it can't be alive for 20 years without food and water," whispered Seraphor, knowing the presence of the thing was near. "We don't have any place to hide!"

"Shit, we can't face it. It may be worse that Spyro...wait, where's Spyro?"

Spyro was gone from their place, then the next moment they saw was Spyro was roaring with his might that shook the whole wall.

"That idiot! Is he trying to challenge the monster?!" exclaimed Flame.

"He's not even conscious! Get behind me! He's losing control!"

And thus, Spyro started to emit powerful heat that not only heating the air, but also heating the metal around them to the point Seraphor winced because his paws were burning.

"Fuck! He's burning the whole place!" exclaimed Seraphor while holding the pain on his paws. "My scales are burning!"

"I didn't feel anything."

"You're a fire dragon, after all, so quit the comment!"

The next thing Seraphor saw was the dragon inside Spyro was roaring to the approaching presence of the dragon, but what the silver red saw wasn't even a menacing dragon. Instead, what he saw didn't make him calm or even ready. He was agitated like the dragon in front of him.

The dragon that appeared before them was Red.