FSE

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Chapter 21

Who knows for how long he trained with Volteer, working on his Time powers, in his opinion it went rather quickly and surprisingly well. Definitely the training session, no matter how short or long, was more productive than any individual attempt to manipulate the portals in the past.

As he crossed the halls of the City Hall his mind kept on wandering, lately, every free moment he spends on thinking. For the time being he wondered when and how he became such a sharp student, of course Ignitus always complemented him that he is a quick learner, but he was never THAT fast.

What was the trigger?

Familiarity with the subject?

Unlikely. Fire was the first element he learned, he absorbed the basics quite well and yet no matter how well versed in the element he became the next lesson was never simpler than the previous one.

Experience?

Doubtful. Before he set on the mission to save Volteer from Cynder's forces he had already behind him the severity of the fire training, he knew what is what regarding the elements. It didn't help much, the electricity sessions were just as difficult.

Determination?

Not quite. He was born curious of life, when he learned of his true origins the urge to discover more was overpowering.

Spyro sighed, nothing came to his mind, he stopped and in the confusion that took hold of him reached towards his forehead, his claws accidentally grazing the base of one of his horns. Something was amiss.

The flower was gone.

*

"You are a doll" Cynder commented as she walked towards him, with a brilliant white grin and wonderful sway of her hips

The corridor of the guest quarters was a bit gloomier than usual, perhaps due to the fact that his eyes were clouded by a sleepiness. He had no idea that Time trainings could be so tiring. Even despite the weariness he couldn't get his eyes off her, or the dancing shadow she cast on the walls.

Spyro smiled "I feel my masculinity rising already"

She laughed "Sorry, but from a distance, with that flower stuck around your horn you look like a toy"

"As long as I am a boy's toy I don't mind. Take a closer look and you'll see what I am talking about"

With a giggle she gave his approaching body a once over "Nah" she said with a smirk "You're still a doll"

He reached her and without a warning nuzzled her affectionately.

"Ohhh" she purred, tilting her head to make more room for his loving scales while at the same time she returned the loving attention

"Wish I had the time to play with you" she cooed, her warm breath bouncing off his purple scales like waves of water at a rocky shore

"You know what happens with unused dolls" he purred as he trailed her soft scales with his nose, his breath making her visibly shiver

"They start to break" he planted a kiss right behind her cheek

A blissful tremor ran through her whole body, making her head tilt up, releasing a giggling whimper from her throat in the meantime.

"You're not bothered by being a doll anymore?"

He exhaled a passionate warm breath down her neck, her scales tingling as if a freezing gust would blow across her body, leaving an icy, crystal trail behind.

"If you stay for a while I'll be whatever you want"

Her barely opened eyes shut themselves tightly as he gifted her sensitive neck scales with a lick of his tongue. Drawing a moan from her vocal cords and a smile on her snout.

"Tempting" she cooed, instinctively craning her neck forward, his hot tongue took the hint. She giggled.

"But I gotta run, besides you said something about getting a nap"

"I'll change my plans for you"

His tongue continued to caress her, if she would let him to carry on for a little while longer he was sure he would convince her to stay.

"Oh no" she protested and gently pushed his head away, with her paw still pressed against his forehead she looked into his eyes. He had no idea what she saw in them, but her own orbs glistened, as if charmed by a spell.

And then without a warning she leaned closer and locked her lips with his.

He caught himself groaning hungrily when she pulled away, as if he was an always starved hatchling that was just deprived of his fourth lunch.

She patted his cheek with a smile.

"Here's an invitation for my tea party. On some other day"

He furrowed his brows "Really? I didn't understand it, we need to write another one" he leaned for another kiss

"No" she held his head back with a giggle "Hold right there clever boy"

He whimpered and pressed on.

"Stop" she laughed, her paw bending under the gentle pressure he applied, it's resistance, not formidable to begin with, was waning with each passing second

"Someone's coming!" Cynder suddenly exclaimed in a muffled, terrified voice

Instinct kicked in instantly, with a speed of light he jumped away from her, as far as he could, watching the long corridor occasionally, pretending that the conversation he was engaged in bores him. He wanted to look convincing for anyone that will show up.

It turned out that there was no one there.

He turned towards her with a playful, scolding frown.

"Lying is a sin you know"

She grinned "Look at my scales and tell me if I care"

He faked a sob "You're mean"

_"I have to if that is what it takes to get your head back in the game. There are more important things to take care of first, you know that" _

He sighed, fully aware of the situation that he so unfairly wanted to ignore.

She smiled comfortingly "I know it's a pain but chin up" she rubbed his leg gently "I'll still be here when it's over"

He let out another exasperated breath "So how's Flare doing?"

"Surprisingly well. Amela examined him and said he's perfectly fine, like nothing ever happened to him. When Flare heard I'm going to the training grounds he almost ruined the room when Amela said he's staying one day under observation"

Cynder chuckled at the memory "He thrashed so badly in his bed, whimpering and practically crying that Amela felt sorry for him and allowed him to go, probably thinking he's more safer on the training grounds than in that bed"

She shook her head with a smile "Pity that you didn't see it, he was like a fish pulled out of the water"

He nodded, that sounded like Flare all right.

"Did he at least say what was the cause behind the blood?"

"Nope, he was dodging my questions. But no worries" she stretched her wings with a grin "I'll beat some sense into him"

He smiled "Show them who's the alpha dragon in this city"

A mischievous grin found it's way to her lips "Sure I will, I just hope that no one will hold back considering my reputation and you of course. A tiring fight would do me good, I need to find the vent for the whole bitch energy that fills me up lately"

"Well, Volteer already managed to waste me, I have to shut down for a while, I can't be wasting time to tiredness. A ten minute nap will do me good"

"Wow, you're really into it, aren't you?"

He reached towards his forehead, his claws accidentally grazed something soft. He froze for a second and then his paw began to move again, yet never in the direction of his forehead. His claws started to caress the flower on his horn instead.

"I owe them that much" he muttered

_He had no idea what she was thinking during the moment of silence that befell between the two of them, but he knew what was going inside his own head. _

_All of his thoughts concerned the people. _

And chess.

And hope.

With a combination of strange words drumming in the background he never heard before but could recite out of memory every day of the year.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

"In that case" Cynder finally said, making a step in his direction, pride hidden behind every word "we need to get this flower from you. It's way too pretty to be ruined"

When her claws wrapped themselves around the soft petals, her scales just inches from his nose, he took a mental note that she smells better than any flower.

"What are you going to do with it?" he inquired, watching her as she smelled the flower with a dreamy smile

"Not all days will be easy like this one, you need to remember why you are doing this. You need a reminder"

"What kind of reminder?"

"You'll see"

*

Sense of duty.

He is a purple dragon, a creature born so rarely that most of the people see only in history books. He might not believe in the prophecy himself, but there are many that do. If he wouldn't care about that then cold logic demanded to think of a reason why purple dragons are so rare.

Facts.

And the cold fact is that if something happens so rarely then it has to happen for a reason. For a purpose.

His purpose is to protect.

He was doing it from the day he can remember, now it escalated beyond putting stuff back onto a turned over cart. He was born to solve the difficult problems, to work his ass off so others wouldn't have to. Be it complete strangers or people he especially cares about.

This is why he was born.

A stupid violet he saw in his room the moment he opened his eyes as he awoke from his nap made him realize this.

This is-

His train of thought was abruptly ended by a bump into something.

Spyro blinked, vision shifting back into one full picture, revealing the surface of a door right in front of his nose. He looked behind his shoulder and then looked ahead once more just to repeat the same motion two more times.

"Huh" he huffed to himself, only now realizing that he walked across the whole City Hall without even feeling it and found himself standing in front of the entrance to the training grounds.

Congratulating himself on the ability of teleportation he pushed the massive door open. The sounds of struggle and exertion hit him like a blow of heat from a recently opened oven.

*

"Take this you stupid dummy!" his high pitched shout pierced through the sound of splintering wood with the tone of an arrow cutting through the air

"And this! And this! And this!" the young drake's excited pants were a fitting addition to the flying wooden arms and legs throughout the whole temple

With the snap of stiffening wood another spinning, fragile enemy shot up from the ground.

He smirked and opened his mouth, a wave of scorching fire was sent flying in the direction of the dummy, turning it to ash on impact.

_With a triumphant blare and excited swings of his purple tail he started to jump around, enthusiastically awaiting another foe. _

The battlefield was empty however.

"This is all you got?!" he mocked the invisible, evil mastermind "Bring it on losers! This is so much fun!"

"Fighting is never meant to bring joy"

He turned in the direction of the stoic voice of his mentor, who was pulling down the paw of the statue dragon that served as a lever. The key to releasing the dummies.

"Oh come on Ignitus!" he whined "I'm on a streak here! They haven't even grazed me!"

The Fire Guardian's eyes traveled from bottom to top of the draconic statue.

"Do you know why we are having this training sessions?"

He smirked arrogantly "Sure I know! I'm preparing to kick Cynder's and her army's ass!"

"Martial prowess is not the key aspect of these exercises"

The young drake jerked his head back in surprise "No? Then what is?"

Ignitus poked the statue with his claw "We must not allow ourselves to become cold"

"Eh?"

"We must be better than the ones before us. You must be better"

His young, tensed muscles relaxed. The one thing he learned about Ignitus is that he might not always understand what he is trying to say and when that happens he needs to redouble his brain activity. The lesson that the Guardian wants to share is an important one.

"Look around and tell me what you feel"

Still pretty confused he did as he was told. The scan of his surroundings unwillingly put a smile on his snout, there were like ten thousand ruined dummies here and he was still standing. The smirk only grew wider.

"Pride"

Ignitus nodded slowly "Take another look, but this time imagine that not dummies surround you, but corpses of creatures made from bone and flesh"

The smirk from his young snout was gone in an instant, he began to look around as was asked of him, yet this time every shift of his eyes, every glimpse of the destroyed, wooden limbs sent chills down his spine.

"Imagine that not tinder and wood is scattered around you, but blood and entrails"

There was something magical, something hypnotizing in the low, soft and somewhat melodic voice of his mentor that forced to listen to him no matter the situation. The young dragon closed his eyes with a wince, his still developing, imaginative mind already started to form the gory images. The purple drake turned to the only defensive alternative every dragon his age knew, he kept his eyes shut as tightly as he could, muttering to himself that this isn't real.

"Imagine that every enemy that you just vanquished had family, friends and loved ones"

He shook his head, whimpering pleadingly.

"Imagine the cries of children that witness the death of their fathers and mothers"

"Stop" the young drake whined and despite his best efforts he opened his eyes

His prayer was ignored, the world around looked exactly how the Guardian described it. Shades of children were wailing like banshees over the ruined corpses of apes. Not dummies, but creatures of flesh, some of which still moaned their last breaths.

"Imagine the snapping sound of bone breaking"

In this very moment he accidently stepped on something, letting out a terrified yelp he jumped into the air, making a spin, eyes darting at the spot he recently felt underneath his paws. One day there would a be a wooden arm lying there, now it was a bloody, tattered limb with a bone sticking out from its severed joint, crushed under the weight of his body.

"Imagine the floor being covered in slippery, sticky blood"

A disgusting splashing sound filled his skull.

With an abhorrent snarl he lifted his left foreleg from the floor and aimed his gaze down, seeing streams of thick blood dripping from his claws and paw onto the bloody ground, with the crimson liquid reaching practically the middle of his legs.

It was enough for him. With a scream tearing through the deepest canals of his throat he jumped into the air and without thinking shot straight ahead, towards the nearby corner where he curled himself into a ball, covering himself underneath his wings, violently shaking.

"Why do you scare me like that?!" he let out a sobbing, blaming whimper from behind his wings "What have I done to you that you punish me like this!?" a powerful tremor quaked his body "You said you'll watch over me! P-P-protect me!"

His mentor didn't respond, between his sobs he could only hear the Guardian's claws clicking on the floor.

"I will never fight again! I don't want to kill anyone ever again!"

He whimpered and cried for a while longer, not really remembering what he was mumbling during that time, or if his mentor reacted in any way. He impulsively wanted to get this horrific images out of his mind, and the only way to do that was to scream his sorrows away.

Eventually his body stopped shaking, the sobs ceased ravaging his body, all the tears and shouts resulted in him ending with a burning hiccup, that stung his emptied lungs like cold daggers.

He was calm once more, at least to some degree.

He moved his gold wings out of the way, peaking through the opening they created he noticed his teacher sitting in front of him. His reddish tail curled innocently in front of his forelegs, eyes watching him with concern, successfully blocking the cold and commanding glimmer of a harsh mentor. An image Ignitus adopted during training sessions, an image that didn't suit him at all.

The Guardian never apologized for his actions, no matter how painful, tiring and difficult they were, both mentally and physically. The fire dragon never comforted him, never said not to worry, never said that everything will be alright, never voiced his support.

But that didn't mean it wasn't there.

Even in his young age he could see the signs in the Guardian's eyes, signs of deep concern, regret and even hate for himself. That reverence his eyes constantly displayed, all of those things convinced his young mind every single time that his mentor has his best interests at heart. Those were honest intentions, there was no denying that, a single glimpse of those intentions was enough to lift him from the pit of deepest despair.

With a final sob he lifted himself to a sitting position, one of his paws working on the tears of his moist eyes, head remaining aimed at the floor.

"is there anything you've learned from this traumatic experience?"

There was the question, calm and emotionless, like nothing ever happened. He got used to the Guardian's methods by now that it no longer bothered him.

"I'll restrain from killing"

"Completely?"

"Completely. I won't even hurt a fly"

"Then you will die"

Ignitus got up and walked away. The young drake lifted his amethyst eyes with a wince, observing the moving dragon, knowing that this wasn't the answer the Guardian waited for. The old drake stopped near the statue once more and pulled the inconspicuous lever. Releasing a single dummy onto the arena.

The wooden construct started spinning threateningly, by magical means moving to engage the fire dragon.

"We train to become better than our enemies, to overpower them with our might" the dummy was onto him yet before it could land a strike the Guardian smacked the construct with his paw, toppling it to the ground, completely intact

"Avoiding lethal damage if possible"

There was a sudden rumble of the stony paw once more, the Guardian's red tail unwrapped itself from the lever the moment it pushed it to the bottom. Ten or so dummies arrived on the battlefield, all headed for the Guardian.

One swipe of his tail, and two or three slashes of his paws were enough to destroy all of them even quicker than they appeared.

"Sometimes you are given no choice, when that happens you do not hesitate, you kill or you die. When it's finally over and your enemies lay before your paws, souls long gone from their mortal shells you remind yourself how terrible war is, how terrible it is to take someone's life away. You remind yourself just how disgusting it is. You must remember that morality is the most important trait, we must not lose it"

"Killing speaks for itself does it not? Can we really lose ourselves to the slaughter? It's obvious that killing is bad"

"it might seem that way, yes" the Guardian once more eyed the cold draconic statue "and yet the conclusion is incorrect. Power can corrupt even the purest of hearts, when you become strong your confidence also becomes strong, you start to believe you can reach the stars. You start to believe that everything else is holding you back, and to reach your dreamed destination you need to get rid of the shackles that bind you. One of those shackles is respect for life"

The young drake cocked his head, there was a strange tone in the dragon's voice, like he was not passing another lesson alone, but also relating a story.

"Ignitus tell me, was there anyone else you taught that was just like me?"

The Guardian visibly stiffened at the question, he turned around, his eyes more commanding than ever before.

"I have never taught anyone who was similar to you. You are one of a kind Spyro, you are a dragon of a prophecy. There was and never will be anyone like you. Remember that"

The young drake nodded "Ok"

"You will make mistakes, we are imperfect animals. Do not worry about that, carry the scar of your mistake, let it prevent you from making the same one in the future. You must never doubt yourself"

"Ok"

The Guardian turned to the statue once more, grabbing its stony paw.

"Tell me now why we are training"

"We are training to be better than our enemies"

"And why we do that? Do you remember what I told you yesterday?"

"To become strong, to sow doubt in minds of everyone that thinks about attacking us. Sow fear to prevent the loss of life"

The Guardian's claws slithered across the stony paw.

"We train to become strong, but not as an individual"

"We train to become strong as people" the young drake finished, already familiar with most of the lines but still learning a new one every single day

Like a prayer.

"For it's the duty of the experienced to help the new"

"We show that we can stand against even impossible odds"

The lever went down, horrendous amounts of dummies appeared on the arena, too many to count

He lifted himself up, confidently walking beside his mentor.

"We show that if we help each other..."

"...if we stay united...."

"...we can achieve everything"

He tensed his young muscles, feeling that they became bigger than ever.

"Because that's the duty of a leader"

*

A triumphant roar filled the entire training grounds, effectively breaking through the commotion. Spyro directed his eyes towards the direction from which it came from, seeing Flare toppling to the ground, beyond the circle that served as an arena as he got struck by an earth spike shooting from the ground, created by a young earth dragon who loudly roared his victory.

"Flare"

Spyro's attention turned towards the direction from which the rumbling, baritone voice came from. Up above, on the stony elevation that surrounded the whole training grounds sat the Guardians and other most experienced dragons, all already past their prime time when they wrestled on the arena. Iris' uncle, Ignus, included.

There was quite a number of them sitting above, in pairs, distanced from each group, every pair responsible for their own arena's below. All shouting commands, praises, motivating speeches and the like to their assigned pupils. Younger or older. Mature or adolescent.

Spyro nodded, truly impressed. It was so much different from the time when he participated in his own training sessions. So perfectly organized, it was clear that the Guardians take this seriously and judging from the roars of anger and triumph the trainees do also.

"I remind you once again" Terrador continued patiently "Low energy based elemental attacks are permitted in the ring"

"I know" the fire drake replied as he scrambled from the sand, dusting himself off "I'm doing my best here"

The Earth Guardian shook his head "Take a break you two"

"And who do we have here?" Cyril announced suddenly

Terrador turned his attention elsewhere, spotting a young purple dragon climbing up the stairs towards them.

"Have you come to show these amateurs how a true dragon fights Spyro?"

"I-"

"Trainees!" the Ice Guardian roared, cutting off any attempt to respond properly

"The living symbol of our proud race is among us!" the ice dragon continued "Show that you deserve to be called a dragon!"

Unexpectedly the people below cheered, instead of being offended as Spyro expected every single dragon, currently engaged in combat or not, roared. And those were blares full of determination and anger, a sportsmanship anger he believed, and yet you could sense something else behind it. Like cries of soldiers from a faithful and loyal army.

He hurried up the stairs, the training renewed with more vigor, the sounds of skirmish and general shouting became louder than during the period he witnessed when he firstly arrived here. Even through all the noise he could hear single voices with his name on them.

All this attention felt like an extreme oppressive weight, it didn't matter currently that in a way he accepted his role in this society. Having the faith of every single dragon down there on his shoulders was a burden nonetheless, which, in this moment, he doubted he would ever get used to.

He reached the two Guardians, circled around their backs and sat in between them, keeping slightly in the back, enough for their massive wings and bodies to at least partially cover him.

"You didn't have to do that Cyril" Spyro mumbled bashfully

The Ice Guardian laughed "Oh, I beg to differ my young friend. Look!" he waved his paw, with a single swing covering the whole length of the training grounds below where dragon against dragon was engaged in a skirmish or currently resting before another session

"Look at the fierceness! The determination! All those people came here with a peculiar motivation to begin with, I agree, it was surprising to see them acting this way, considering everything that was going on lately"

"And we have you to thank for that Spyro" Terrador chimed in

The purple dragon looked at the ground, timidly scratching the stony ground.

"I don't think-"

"I agree" Cyril added before he could finish "They came here with your name on their lips, there was so much ambition in some of them. Now?" the Guardian laughed almost menacingly

"Such fire is in all of them! Your presence was the missing ingredient!"

The dragon laughed again, however now there was no doubt about anything. This was a truly sinister laughter.

Both the green and purple dragon observed the overjoyed ice Guardian with amazed frowns.

"I hope that you won't forget on which side you are on Cyril" Terrador commented with a smile "That evil laughter is pretty creepy"

"Can you blame me?" he growled in amusement "Take another look! This is MY race! Those down there are worthy to be called true dragons. Worthy to be compared to me!"

"At least one thing didn't change"

"Whoa, that's a quite big line. For what all of them are waiting for?"

The Guardians eyes immediately spotted the sight the surprised voice of the purple drake was referring to. Anxious and confident line of dragons was waiting for their turn to get in the ring which was currently occupied by a young black dragoness, who in this very moment successfully disposed of another challenger. Proudly returning to the middle of the ring, preparing for another fight, much to the displeasure of her defeated opponent and every soon to be contestant.

"Ah, that would be the line of volunteers naively believing that they are strong enough to take on Cynder" Cyril commented casually

Spyro pushed himself up in alarm, stepping in front of the Guardians, not really liking the look of that.

"Doesn't she get any breaks? There are many dragons who want to fight with her, one after the other"

"This is unfair" a growl rumbled within his throat as he turned towards the Guardians, eyes narrowed angrily

"There is nothing to worry about Spyro" Terrador explained, pretending that he doesn't see the specific look the young drake was giving the both of them

"Cynder asked for this herself. We purposely took her under our wings, that way we make sure that anger doesn't escalate beyond sportsmanship"

"We are grateful for her decision" Cyril added, obviously not bothered at all by the young dragon's protest. His eyes were locked on the ring where Cynder fought with another contestant. His orbs surprisingly sparkling with a glimmer of arrogant pride and sincere awe.

"She dispatches them one by one with magnificent ease. People return to the ring, believing that they practiced long enough to walk away victorious. And every single time they are wrong, no matter how angry, how wounded their pride is, they always lose"

As he finished his sentence the most recent opponent just hit the ground.

The Guardian sighed longingly "Do you know what that means Spyro?"

He turned towards the arena below, even from here seeing that Cynder is obviously enjoying her unfair struggle. It might have been her decision but he still had a bad feeling about this.

"I see a bright future for our race" Cyril continued, not really caring if the young dragon is listening

"All those years I believed that I was overpowered by Cynder thanks to her numerous army, but now I have to admit, proudly I might add, that even if she would be alone I would stand no chance against her. And when I'm saying that somebody would defeat me without breaking much of a sweat it means something"

A roar came from below, which shouldn't be much interesting considering that the training grounds were filled with fighting dragons, yet this blare came from the ring which currently received the most attention from the elevation the three dragons currently occupied.

Another contestant tried his chances and had just got up from the ground after a slightly demeaning strike. The challenger retaliated instantly, but Cynder's graceful and swift moves made the drake hit empty air. In his confusion he didn't notice when she attacked him, pushing him onto the ground and from the ring as a result.

Cyril grinned, his smile having practically an evil tone to it "Admire the moves, the effortless and yet powerful strikes. She would slice the throats of every single one of them and they wouldn't even notice her coming. Such a killing machine that girl is and she's on our side. We have Lightbane on our side, people will only benefit from the humiliation she has to offer"

The grin on his snout grew wider, together with the arrogant icy shimmer in his eyes "We have Lightbane on our side. We have the prophesied purple dragon on our side. We cannot lose with the two most powerful dragons the year of the dragon has ever brought fighting under the same banner. Let them come, let them all come. We will squash them all like the bugs they are!"

"I think that's enough Cyril. Don't get too excited, watch for that old heart of yours" Terrador commented with a smirk

Cyril took a deep breath "Watching my kind thrive makes me younger than ever friend and yet, this is not perfect"

Spyro frowned surprised "Not perfect? You guys got it perfectly organized, I haven't seen so many dragons practicing...well...ever"

"it is good to see the dragons training, but they are nothing more than lesser fighters"

"Cyril!" the Earth Guardian admonished his friend "Show some respect for those who might in the nearby future risk their lives for our Realms!"

The Ice Guardian rolled his eyes "Spare me the cuddly speeches Terrador. The truth is that we are as powerful as our strongest links. The improvement of our draconic citizens is a secondary aspect, the most important matter is to further develop the abilities of our most powerful fighters. The rest will follow to some degree"

"Sadly we can do nothing for Cynder, her martial skills escalate beyond the abilities of every dragon in this very room. Her Dark element has potential, but without a more experienced black dragon there is nothing we can do to develop her skills even more. She has to figure it out by herself or face stagnation and waste time like now"

"Waste time?" Spyro asked indignantly "if we are the most experienced here it's our duty to help the ones who are new or less talented"

Cyril nodded indifferently "Yes of course, all of this is very important"

"Don't overdo the excitement friend" the Earth Guardian added sarcastically

"By wasting time I mean the lack of any development. Let's face it, there is no one here from who Cynder or you Spyro can benefit regarding martial skills. The only way for you to improve is to train with each other. However both of you are very talented already, the progress would be there but it would be a slow one. We don't have that much time"

The ice dragon scanned the training area below with a thoughtful frown.

"This is why we need to focus on elemental abilities. There is nothing you can gain Spyro from group sessions, you need an individual program for it to be quick and successful. To make it happen you need a training partner"

"Unfortunately as for now there is no one who could help to develop your elemental powers" Terrador continued instead of his ice friend

"There are some dragons here who possess a certain amount of skill, but nothing that would be especially worthwhile for you"

"So all of this" Spyro gestured at the arena, embracing the whole training ground with one swing of his paw "Is meant to find me an appropriate training partner?"

"Yes. Everybody wins that way. You gain more power and knowledge, your partner benefits from your skills and eventually everyone else does either by observing or sparring with you"

"Wow. You really thought this through"

"We aren't Guardians for nothing boy" Cyril snarled irritated, as if he had to remind him of something extremely obvious

Terrador glared at the ice dragon "What Cyril is trying to say here is that the plan seemed to work fine. However we didn't foresee that it would be so difficult to find an appropriate partner for you"

Spyro scanned the training grounds, his eyes spotting several dragons that were worth mentioning. However they never picked any of them. His orbs stopped moving the moment they shifted away from the rings where they focused on an area near some pipes, some were still dripping water.

A sole, literally burning fire dragon was sitting there all by himself.

"What about Flare?" Spyro asked, observing the drake stretching his bones tiredly and occasionally sipping water from a recently filled bucket

"Worthless" Cyril said bluntly

Terrador scolded the Ice Guardian with another stare.

"Flare was our first choice, his burning features and origins made us to believe that he is the ideal pick for your training partner. He most likely possess fire abilities that are foreign to our knowledge, he comes from a different age after all"

"Sadly Flare shows no signs of hoped potential, which is odd considering his rather frail build and weak fighting skills. It's clear that he bases his strength on the magical side of our nature and yet he showed no such promise. He lost every single fight, we tried to pit him against Cynder, thinking that he feels unsure around other dragons. Unfortunately the result was the same or even worse, he seemed even more reluctant fighting her than anyone else"

Terrador looked at the young fire drake with a sad sigh.

"We haven't seen him displaying any extraordinary fire power, he seems to only breathe the basic flame every fire dragon is known for. He is either holding back for some unknown reason, or he is on the very beginning of his road to become a true fire dragon"

"Have you tried talking with him?" Spyro inquired, curious about the whole situation, especially considering what he saw in Munitions Forge

"Of course, even Cynder did, she seems to be the only one having some influence on him around here. The result was the same however, he said he is doing his best and kept losing further. We would try another element without fire out of the way for now, but Iris didn't show up. Ignus promised to get her here, but I fear it might take some time, we all know how arrogant that girl is"

There was a moment of silence as every dragon from their three numbered group was lost in thought.

"I would like to train with Flare" Spyro finally said, deciding on the only reasonable and ironically risky path

The Guardians exchanged dumbfounded glances between each other, before Terrador focused on the young purple drake.

"Spyro didn't you listen? Flare has nothing to offer you"

"Trust me, he does. We can help each other"

"If that is what you think is best then so be it. I propose however that you start right now, test the waters so to speak"

Spyro shook his head "No. I need the arena empty and hopefully locked. Just the two of us"

Cyril narrowed his eyes suspiciously "That's an odd request, is there something you want to share with us? Because I must warn you that there is absolutely no chance that you will be left here alone. You need someone to supervise your training"

"That's a bit harsh" the drake replied "Almost seems like spying to me"

"Call it as you will. One of our jobs is to gather information, be it on our own people or murderers from outside. We ignored too many things already, we won't allow that to happen again, especially in our own home"

"What Cyril is trying to say" the Earth Guardian threw another, obviously fruitless, admonishing glance at his friend "is that our people are important to us. When they spend time in our home it's our role to help them in any way we can. Better to stand against known problems united than face them alone"

The dragon tapped his claw meaningfully against the stony floor.

"Isn't that right Spyro?"

The young drake instinctively winced, hit by the burning arrow of shame.

"I'm sure I can get Flare to show more of his abilities, he doesn't like me very much and he has VERY big anger control issues"

Cyril laughed heartily "Really? Him?" his claw fiercely pointed towards the arena

Their eyes followed the sharp, draconic road-sign, which pointed at no one else but Flare. The dragon was busy figuring out how to operate a valve of one of the water pipes, or perhaps he was figuring out what the hell is a valve, or pipe.

Whatever the case may be...he was busy.

The valve, like most of the other new things proved to be too difficult for the drake to understand. He behaved like a cat, scratching at the pipe and biting at the small tube at the end of the valve that connected it with the main pipe. Knowing that the dreamed treat is just inches away, taunting him from its hiding place.

It was beyond everyone's understanding why the young fire drake didn't turn the round mechanism so obviously constructed to spin under pressure. Sometimes Flare placed both of his forelegs on the valve, when everyone expected that he finally managed to figure out how the mechanism works the drake surprised once more.

Instead of pushing the round valve into motion Flare leaned forward, doing something at the back of the small tube, it was impossible to see what exactly, their best guess was that he tried to bite through the metal.

There was always the possibility that the valve got stuck, things like that happen all the time, but it was obvious that the dragon didn't take that option into consideration.

"We should-"

Cyril never managed to finish his most likely full of mockery opinion since suddenly a loud, sharp ringing sound of creaking metal echoed through the arena, magically silencing every grunt of struggle. The tube together with the valve fell off, it was impossible to bite through the steel, so the young drake had to melt it off, or weaken in some other familiar way.

It was unimportant however in the sight of events that followed soon after. The pipe transported water, that water to flow under a provisional control, since you can never fully control the forces of nature, required pressure.

Unsurprisingly the young dragon had no idea what happens when suddenly the pressured, steady flow is broken.

Water shot from the recently created hole with such a force that it seemed like a water dragon would be sitting in that pipe all along, fully charged on elemental energy, awaiting an excuse to release it.

And the oblivious fire dragon was that excuse.

The pressurized water hit him like a wet cannonball, with a squeal unsuitable for any male Flare was hurled practically towards the opposite side of the training grounds. At first he flew through the air, gurgling and squealing, his burning body barely visible through the splashing water.

The pressure weakened some distance away from the ruined valve, it was no longer strong enough to carry his draconic body above the ground, nevertheless it was still strong enough to push him. Flare hit the sandy floor with a smack, the yellowish ground being moistened by his body and the shooting water became mucky and sticky.

Unable to regain balance, no matter how deep he dug his claws into the earth, Flare kept rolling along the ground, sand sticking to every part of his body and getting in practically every possible hole. He no longer squeaked, the gurgling remained however, together with coughing as both water and the wet sand got inside his mouth.

People started screaming, rushing to block the shooting pipe together with some moles who thanks the Ancestors were here to supervise the construction. Others dashed towards the tossed away fire drake, ready to help if necessary.

Spyro was also one of those people, yet his attempt at throwing a helpful paw was stopped by an cold and firm paw on his shoulder.

"Stay" Cyril said casually "There are already enough helpers as it is. Stay and let's contemplate on my another fair argument"

He already got used to the fact that the Guardian has troubles seeing past the tip of his nose, so his comments didn't bother him any longer. In any other situation he would ignore the old drake and rush to help, but it was truthfully not necessary. Flare was already getting up on his own and Spyro really doubted that his presence there would make the dragon feel any better.

"I didn't change my mind. I still want to train with Flare. And if there has to be someone watching us I would like it to be Volteer. No offense, but he has an eye for oddities"

Cyril snorted "Whatever, if you want to waste your time so be it. I'm glad that I won't be the one sharing the agony with you"

Terrador nodded, scanning the piped construction running through the training grounds.

"As you like Spyro. I suggest however that you come back in a while. We need to reserve some time for repairs, seems to me like there might be a problem with the main distributing pipe thanks to Flare. At least you have some time to convince him"

Spyro observed the dirty fire drake anxiously "This is one of the things I need Volteer for. In case I'll need some paralyzing effect"

*

All the yelling was still ringing inside his head, he couldn't find a moment of peace even in an empty corridor. Ok, he might have broken that strange thing but this isn't a reason to be so mean. Cynder was the only one he could listen to from that yelling crowd, since he knew her shouts were sincerely supporting.

And yet he declined her offer to tag along. She was really surprised to hear that, however his stubborn and stupid sense of pride disallowed to forfeit his previous decision. For a good reason now when he thinks about it, she really enjoyed the never-ending skirmishes. She was having so much fun.

Of course he had to ruin it.

Out of shame and sense of guilt he couldn't look into her eyes, let alone talk with her. Sitting here alone with the destroyed valve in paw as a memento given by some stupidly clever mole he tried to forget about everything, calmly and smoothly.

The sound of creaking metal as it curled in his paw from heat was the first step in achieving that dreamed peace. He was so focused on the noise, with his eyes aimed at the ground as if looking for footprints that he didn't hear the sound of clicking claws. He wouldn't even notice that someone is walking if not for the sight of draconic paws stopping right at the edge of his vision.

His yellow eyes widened at the sight. A pair of pretty draconic front satin blue paws stood before him. Clearly feminine, with white toes. He recognized them immediately.

"Iris?" Flare asked raising his eyes. He found the answer for his question as his gaze traveled up the perfectly curved body, even before reaching the pretty snout

The happiness that circled through him vanished however when he locked eyes with those cold, diamond orbs of hers.

"Have you come to make fun of me like the rest?" he asked with a voice full of pain

She sniffed the air, besides the smell of nauseating shame there was also the scent of burnt metal. Her eyes shifted to the side gently, finding the melted piece on the floor next to the dragon.

"You were right" she said with her alluring accent, the white orbs took his features into their whole focus. Sadly it wasn't one of the pleasant type of attention.

Flare whined, with difficulties containing his wounded fury "Go away, I'm not in the mood to listen to your taunts"

"You were right, I'm not unique"

He looked at her with a surprised and partially suspicious frown. She wasn't the type that willingly admits ones flaws or considers oneself as an equal creature with the rest.

He knew that she was one of a kind and Iris...well, she lacked modesty to think otherwise.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked, a bit too harsh perhaps, but in his current mental state it was hard to tell right from wrong

She looked to the side, down the corridor.

"I thought you were training"

There was such pity and sadness in her voice that he visibly flinched, cursing himself for offending another one of his friends with his rude tongue.

"I was, things just got..." he bit his lip "...complicated. I don't know if I want to go back there"

Her usually still tail wavered a little, as if displaying the hidden feelings of its lady. Judging from the shaky shivers the tail resonated only the bad kind of feelings, like irritation or dissatisfaction.

"Why?"

Her voice was ringing with concern, it was strangely soft, almost sounding like that one time in the library. He had no idea if she was faking it or not, his mind was busy processing the fact that she seemed to care about him.

Why?

He looked around the corridor, scanning it up and down, left and right. Besides the two of them it was empty.

Maybe she is different when nobody is watching? Meaning she is truly herself?

"I badly treated Cynder, my first friend" Flare replied painfully and entirely honest, feeling extremely comfortable around the ice dragoness. His eyes widened in terror when his mind, in its own traumatic way recited inwardly every rude word from earlier

"I didn't mean to oOffend you I swear!" he blurt out in panic "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"It's ok, I'm not mad and Cynder isn't either"

Flare's eyes widened in overjoyed shock "Really?! How do you know that?"

Iris shrugged "I told you that I'm not unique and to my great displeasure I found a common trait with Cynder. We both are fierce and like to display that in a fight"

"Yeah! Cynder loves fighting!"

She nodded "The simplest way to test if someone hates you is to offer the offended person the thing she or he likes most"

Flare tapped his claws on the floor thoughtfully "So...I should offer Cynder a friendly fight?"

The dragoness nodded.

"She fought with me and many others already. How another duel will solve anything?"

"If you are a true fighter nothing is better than a fight that you feel in your muscles two days later"

He watched her confused "What does that mean?"

Unexpectedly her tail twitched again.

"The type of girls like me and Cynder value a REALLY tiring fight"

He raised his head hopefully "Seriously?"

"Yes. But a fight alone isn't the only thing a warrior values. After an EXTREMELY exhausting duel a true warrior like Cynder appreciate some rest. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT anyone around so she could relive the fight in her mind while the body rests. This is the best way to improve"

Hope and determination filled his heart once again. There was so much wisdom in Iris' words.

"Hey you're right! I think she will like that!"

Iris looked at the floor where her claws were scratching the stony ground, tiny sparks flew from underneath her razor weapons as she sharpened them.

"I'm sure I will" she whispered icily