Spyro

Reena began showing me around the new area: where a few of the portals were located, where the best gems could be found, and so forth. It reminded me a bit of Cloud temples, but I slid that thought into the back of my mind.

"This is where you live?" I asked Reena.

"I've been here most of my life. I visit the Tors and the City often enough, but Draco Reaches is where the dragons live, for the most part." She told me. "I'm a Temple worker, myself. I've shown you most of the outer courtyard � how about we head through the castle? The Temple's on the other side."

"Sure." I answered her. She raced through the castle, over a fountain in the courtyard, past a few portals in a tapestry-filled room, and to a wooden door, which she promptly stopped at.

"Damn!" She hissed. I saw her kick the door a few times. "OPEN UP!"

"Uh, Reena?" I responded. "I don't think it'll open."

"I know that � LET ME HAVE A MOMENT OF FUTILE ATTEMPT, ALL RIGHT?!?!?!"

I sighed. She kicked at it a few more times until she was satisfied. "Oh, for . . . They've sealed this up tight!"

"Yeah . . . How do we unseal it?" I asked her.

"The scrolls � there's enough energy in them to bust ANYTHING open! They'll do the trick!"

"Where are they?"

"Different portals; one per place. If we're lucky, we'll get a few before these guys start turning bold enough to attack us."

"How do you know they'll attack us?"

"Because no one in their right mind would hide out in a temple. They could be attacked from any of the three areas in the Shadow Lands. Unless they've already taken those sections over . . . which still means they'll start attacking this area soon enough!" Reena ran, hoping to get outside of the castle, and quickly. She stopped at the first portal she had shown me, Draconis Dojo.

"Why start here?"

"Why not? It's the portal furthest away from the temple . . . if they start attacking from the temple, this will be the last place hit. Let's go! Bring your dragonfly friend along, too."

"Sparx? He follows me everywhere." I say, pointing to him.

"Only because you can't stay out of trouble!" Sparx retorted. "I've saved your tail so many times . . .."

"Boys (and I use the term loosely), Let's just get the job DONE . . .  and fast!" Reena spoke, jumping through the portal.

"Wait up!" I shouted, and then headed in myself, with Sparx right behind me.

Reena

I entered the realm a few moments before Spyro Prime did. I watched as he glided down from the high umbra, braking to a stop with his wings. He stood up again, trying to look . . . maybe it was just me, but I liked that little trait of his, to be able to stand on his own like that . . ..

"Well?" He spoke. "How do we get the scroll here?"

"The first thing to do is ask the teacher, so if I can JUST get this door OPEN . . ." I grunted as I realized it was locked. "Damn! who took the key?"

"HAHA!" A voice barked. I looked up, and frowned, just barely missing a rock from the slingshot.

"Smash, you little delinquent! Give me the key!" I stood on my tipclaws, holding out my hand.

"NO!" He shouted and then sat on the key, perched on the fence. I frowned. I was worried about some Marians overstepping their boundaries . . . and here I was being held up by some two-bit kid?

"Spyro, handle him. I'm not exactly a great fighter." I asked him. Yes, I could have done it on my own, but I had to face it: he may as well get used to doing things for himself.

He quickly jumped up and shot a stone at Smash, sending him tumbling over the fence. I grabbed the key and nimbly unlocked the door. "Was that all?"

"Watch the mouth, Prime. It'll get plenty harder when whatever we have to fight gets here." I spoke, as I opened the door. And Frowned.

The next door was locked . . . and again, Smash had the key. "Give!" I barked at him.

"NO!"

Spyro Prime chased Smash around a little, by which time I had caught the little bugger and sat on him, forcing him to give up the key. I let him go, and unlocked the second door.

I looked over to the other side, where a bridge was. Smash had finally learned his lesson, I suppose, and sat down to play with some blocks. Of course, Now we had a bigger problem: The path stopped. The bridge that should have been there was rolled up, cutting us off.

"Dang!" Spyro Prime noted. "How do we get across?"

"Hmm." I spoke, looking around. I was about to dig into one of my pockets, when realized I had no pockets. "Great. I must have left my rubber ball back in my coat, and that's still in the courtyard. We'll have to go back."

"Fine . . .." Spyro grumbled as he jumped into the air again, hitting the high umbra quickly to leave. I followed, and we soon ended up in Draco Reaches again. "Now what the hell is so important about a rubber ball?"

I ran to the courtyard, and slipped on my coat, pulling out the rubber ball soon afterward. I jammed it between Spyro Prime's horns. "You know how to hit the ground with your head, right?"

"You mean headbashing?"

"Whatever."

"Sure I do! Watch." Spyro jumped, did a fine little somersault, and—

BOING!

Spyro Prime rolled in the air, reaching a considerable height, before he landed on the other side of one wall. I was relieved, as I was afraid he would fall over the edge.

"Got the idea now, Spyro?" I asked him.

"Yeah . . . but where do I keep this thing?" Spyro Prime said, as he unjammed the ball from his horns.

"Where do you keep all of the other stuff you collect?"

"I don't know . . . whenever I get a gem, it just seems to get 'absorbed'." He answered me.

I rolled my eyes, smirking: he didn't have a word for his inventory! I guess there would be time to explain to him later that only males had inventories; it was why I wore a coat to house my inventory. "That ball's 'absorb'able, too. Just think about it and you'll be able to call it on when you need it. That way, you'll still be able to headbash."

"Good. Let's finish up that Dojo area before it gets any harder."

We headed back through, unlocking the doors again. I waited on my side while Spyro jumped into the air and glided over to the other side. With a charge, the bridge unfolded, and I picked up the key that was rolled inside, racing to the final doorway before Smash could snatch the new key away from me.

I ran up to a gold-colored dragon standing next to a blackboard and a circular platform. He had glasses on, and blinked at me. "Ah, Reena! But what's Spyro doing without his staff . . . or for that matter, the rest of his clothes?"

"This isn't our Spyro, teacher . . .. He's from a different realm." I explained. The teacher nodded. "We need to get the scrolls together � urgent matters. Can we borrow yours?"

"Sure!" He grinned, unfurling the scroll. He locked it into the platform to activate the whirlwind, and then gave the scroll to us so we could use it. "I wish you luck!"

"Trust me, Teacher— we'll need it. And by the way, make sure Smash back there gets a time out." I smirked as I grabbed Spyro, and jumped into the whirlwind. It carried us up into the high umbra, where we could find the gateway we entered at and go home.

"Now we just fly home like normal?" Spyro asked me.

"Yeah, just like normal." I answered, making a lazy glide for the archway. I looked ahead . . . there shouldn't have been . . . there COULDN'T have been . . ..

"Spyro, can you fly up here?"

"Sure, why?"

"Because there's something blocking the way . . . I hope you can fight up here!" I said, breaking away from him and flapping towards the thing. Spyro kept pace with me. I looked, and saw . . . Sparx? In his Large form?

"What are you doing here?!"

"Spyro wanted me to make sure you weren't having any trouble with that newcomer." Sparx spoke. I frowned.

"We're doing just fine, thankyouverymuch!" I snorted at him, grabbing Spyro's arm and pulling him along until we landed back in Draco Reaches. "You okay, Spyro Prime?" I asked, pulling out the scroll.

"Yeah. Now what?"

"Now we head over to get the next scroll. I'm worried, though . . . usually Sparx isn't that far away from Spyro . . ." I spoke to myself. "Something's up . . ."