Trondo Translates to Trouble

Scioness Djari

"I can't believe I didn't think of that first!" Reena spat out, shocked. "Mai'ko did a naming ceremony for a little tyke by that name three months ago. Surprised I couldn't remember . . .."

"Relax. It worked, didn't it?" My cousin, Spyro, watched as the waxy seal on the door began to crumble and blow away in the night wind. "A few more minutes and that quasi-magnetic effect on the scrolls should wear off."

"Too odd for me." The second spyro looked over at the door, seeing only a few hints of light where the wax once was. "I still say it's all a trap."

"WHAT?!" I looked over at him, with Reena glaring at him as well. "Look, I'm just here because Reena invited me to the ceremony, so if you know something I don't involving certain dangers, tell me right NOW!" I swung my lantern at him, almost blowing the light out. 

He backed up a few steps. "Quiet! You'll be the first to-"

The door opened just enough for Candace to walk though and close it behind herself. "Scioness, I have something of the utmost importance to tell you. In private."

"Oh, er . . . pardon me, everyone. I'll be inside the temple before long." I bowed my way out of the group, and then walked over to the courtyard near Sensei Sadiki's legendary dojo. "Now, what is so important and private that you had to interrupt our conversation and take me to the other side of the area?"

"I just thought that you might like to know that he was right— it is a trap. I had to take a bit of a detour to get inside the temple myself and make sure that you wouldn't accicently walk into danger. I'm here for your protection, after all."

"I suspected as much . . . well? Why didn't you just say so over there? It wasn't that private of a message!" I held my arm out towards the temple.

"More specifically, I'm here for your protection only."

"I don't believe this! 'My protection only?' If it's safe enough for my cousin, his fiancee, and their look-alike of a guest to be inside that temple, then it's safe enough for me!" I began to walk back towards the temple.

KLANG!

I sat up on my knees, checking to make sure I didn't cut myself on a rock. I slowly noticed what had made the noise, and saw by the light of my lantern the outline of a lockbox. On my feet, nonetheless! 

"What in the name of Tahla is going on here?" I glared at Candace, who was sheepishly hiding her wand behind her back, sitting on a nearby bench.

"I cast that on you a few moments ago to make sure you wouldn't try to play 'heroine' and get yourself in trouble. Now just relax . . . they won't be able to hear you scream from over here, and by the time I let you out, it'll be over . . .."

"Over?! Candace, explain yourself right this instant! What is this, some police situation?"

She looked over at me, still toying with her wand. "If anything goes wrong, it will be . . .."

 Spyro

I peered into the temple from the doors, watching to see if there was anything inside that may be of concern.

"Anything?" Reena asked.

"Looks safe. Beautiful temple, by the way. The one back home at Misty Bog was just a bunch of propped-up sticks compared to this work of art." "

"Well, I did help put in that fountain grass by the pond." She noted.

"Where? Oh, that! It is a nice touch, but I was paying more attention to the blue crystal faerie statue over there. Very realistic." I replied to her, doing my best to keep Sparx from going in first and eating every butterfly in the glass domed sanctuary. 

"Blue crystal faerie statue . . .?" Reena looked in as well. "That's no statue, that's Mai'ko!" She flung the door open and jumped off of my head, running inside to the statue. I held my head and watched as a bolt of magic energy struck Reena and turned her into crystal as well.

Shadow blinked. "No way am I going in there. Never seen ANYTHING like that!"

"I have . . . dirty Gnorcs. How they ever got here, I'll never know; just be ready to duck." I stood in the doorway. "Now I regret not letting Sparx recharge himself before we got here. This was a trap!"

"There's plenty of butterflies inside. Just run in and free those two, or uncrystallize them or whatever you call it." Shadow tightened the grip on his staff. "Looks like Djari got away at just the right time — I have a nasty feeling about this."

"Enough talk. We need to go!" I dove into the temple sanctuary, waiting for an enemy . . .  and saw none. 

The temple, as I said before, was beautiful — I had not seen anything like it since I'd gone searching in Haunted Towers to free that priestess faerie with the long-lasting superflame spell. The sanctuary was a dome formed with lots of little glass triangles, allowing the moonlight to shine in and show off a large glass sculpture of Miu the Butterfly, which was hung from/welded to the ceiling. The grass under my feet gave way to a traditional circular pathway of cobblestones, with a small pond in the center about as wide as my wings. The only thing that marred the landscape of bushes, trees, and cattails were those two statues that I now realized were not meant to be there. I quickly went and tapped on them, and my natural resonance of life would transform those crystals back into Reena and this new faerie.

Reena watched as the crystal broke away, revealing a tall faerie  with black hair in a yellow and red outfit. She darted her head around, looking for something. I stood back up, hoping to find it myself. Shadow walked in, now certain there was nothing wrong here. I noticed he'd hidden the scrolls back under his uniform. Sparx had also grabbed a extra butterfly while I wasn't looking, returning him back to full health.

"You must be Mai'ko, right?" I looked over at her.

"Major Canjoral Mai'ko, at your service." She shook my hand a little gingerly, considering that she was still holding her wand. "I must warn you, however, that we have a slight infestation of Cairo at the moment . . . you may not want to stay here for too long."

"Cairo?"

"I'm hardly an infestation, Mai'ko . .  . although now that he's arrived, I will be leaving soon." I blinked, and looked to my right to see a shorter, wingless faerie, with brown hair and white leggings. I could see a tattoo on her left arm. "That is, if he will come with me, of course." She giggled slightly and grabbed my left arm, hanging onto me. I smirked. 

Mai'ko glared at her. "Don't trust that girl, Spyro. I don't know why she wants you so badly, but she's evil!"

I looked at the cantoral for a few moments, and then laughed. Cairo was still holding onto my arm. "Mai'ko, I've fought a lot of 'evil' people, and I know that Cairo's not one of them. Evil people are always fat, ugly, nasty, dragon-fearing freaks who think that for some reason they should rule the world. I can tell you right away that Cairo here is, by that definition, not an evil person."

Mai'ko just groaned and held her head for a few seconds, while I walked back over to the cobblestone pathway with Cairo. She giggled again, looking up at me. "Spyro, is there anywhere we can go that I could talk with you? Personally?"

Reena looked over at her. "Is there something that you can't say in front of the rest of us?"

She snorted. "Hmph! It's not polite to discuss business in front of uninvited company."

Reena stood in front of our pathway. "Uninvited company? I live here!"

"My condolences, child. Now, Spyro, if you'll just walk this way, I think we can properly discuss this 'business' . . .." She walked around Reena and out the doors of the temple, shutting the doors behind her. "I must apologize for their rather paranoid attitude towards me . . .  they don't like visitors that much."

"They didn't treat me like that."

"Of couse they wouldn't treat you like that; you're a dragon!" she jumped a few steps closer to the Sushi Shores Portal. "You've probably had such an easy life that if a real fight bit your tail off, you wouldn't—"

KLANG!

I noticed the beating of heavy wings as Djari landed, still holding her lantern and trying to stand up in the lockbox. I looked over at her. "How did you do THAT?!"

"Lockboxes prevent walking, not flight. Besides, I've trained for the past six years in weight training and survival tactics — you know, for situations like this." She grinned, wiping the hair out of her eyes. "Now, since I'm not the only one who's surprised, answer me this; what are you doing with that ADC hybrid bitch?"

"Who?"

"Cairo! The one I just knocked out!" She pointed to Cairo, who had picked up a nasty blow to the head and was bleeding to boot. I noticed Candace running towards us.

"[I TOLD you it was best to stay put until I got those off! Now look — you've knocked out an innocent bystander!]"

"Since when has Cairo ever been innnocent?!" Djari protested. "She was about to do something really nasty to Spyro — I just know it!"

"[Why? You've never been paranoid before.]"

"Listen to me, you excuse for a-"

"HEY!"

"[Spyro?]" Djari and Candace both spoke up at the same time and looked over at me oddly as a large dragonfly — and a strong one at that — snatched me off the ground and carried me over to an arena right next to Shadow's Home/Pagoda. I looked around as I sat on the floor, trying to figure out why Sparx didn't tell me just to come over here. A few seconds later and I realized it wasn't Sparx at all.

"Okay, you!" I glared at the red dragonfly. "Come on, Blitz, don't crawl back into your tiny form so quickly now — I'd like to hear what you have to say!"

"[Oh, now would you?]" She flew around me, giving me stinging shocks. "[ That, my dear dragon, is for Cairo to explain — but she's knocked out, so I guess I'll just have to shock you senseless and let her explain it AFTER you're our prisoner.]"

"Then I guess I'll never know."

Reena

I burst out from the temple doors, running over to Djari and Candace first. "Her condolences, my foot . . . Djari, what is going on here . . . and why is Cairo knocked out? Where's Spyro Prime?"

"One question at a time!"  She hissed. "Candace here was trying to keep me from 'getting hurt', even to the point of putting me in a lockbox to keep away from the temple! I saw that dirty hybrid with Spyro, so I flew over and knocked her out. Now some red dragonfly just took Spyro behind the Dojo for some reason."

"What?!" I blinked. "But there's a battle arena back there . . . who knows what could happen!" I ran over to the arena, Candace and Djari flying right behind me. I stopped when I noticed a faint dome shape over the arena. "What is that? Some specialty of the arena?"

"'Arenas are not allowed to have barriers that extend over the lip of the circle, or do not allow for an object to be shoved out of the circle.' Section 6, Paragraph G of the Combat Arena Code." Candace quoted. "In other words, that barrier is a spell — I'm assuming the dragonfly did it, since I doubt that vagabond is capable of any real magic himself."

"Vagabond?!" We both turned towards her, glaring.

"Well . . . in any case, He won't escape from that arena." She pointed to the faint flash of light from the dome. "That's an electric barrier. If he tries to escape, he'll get quite a jolt."

"What about for someone going in?" Djari crouched down, getting ready to fly again.

"You wouldn't dare! It'll shock you if you even touch it, and the extra metal you're wearing — from your gold-plated mask to that iron lockbox — will conduct enough amperage to kill you on the spot! I won't allow it!"

"Well, you cast the stupid box on me — how about taking it off?" She asked, and then snapped at her. "Why didn't I just do this before . . . I ORDER you to take this lockbox off of my feet!"

"It's your head if something happens . . .." Candace sighed, removing the box. Djari quickly darted over to some smooth cobblestones lining the pathway, picked one up, and pitched the rock right into the arena, barely missing Spyro.

At first, neither Spyro Prime or Blitz saw the rock. But as soon as Spyro saw it, he quickly pounced on it, gobbling the stone up. A few moments later, as Blitz slowed down, He spat it right at her head . . . and hit! I didn't see much visible damage yet, but it had to be there.

"Brillant!" I ran over to Djari, helping her toss more rocks in. "Spyro Prime can use those rocks as weapons without either of us getting hurt. Great idea!"

"Actually, I was trying to knock him out so that the two of us could do the job. Your idea works better, so I'll switch over to that." She continued throwing the rocks into the arena, piercing the barrier without hurting anything. "So, how long should it take before that dragonfly tries using those rocks herself?"

"I think once she realizes that she dropped down to yellow instead of red, she'll get the hang of it." I pointed, noting that the damage was finally adding up to hurt Blitz. "But dragonflies don't spit rocks — what could she do?"

"DUCK!" Djari yanked me to the ground as a barrage of pebbles flew from the arena like hail. "Apparently we'll need to be careful ourselves. Grab some more stones and get closer to the arena. We'll give that dragonfly a fight yet!"

Spyro

I collasped on the floor, finished. Luckily for me, Blitz was unconcious about ten seconds before I fell, so it still meant that I had won the match. It took a little longer for the electric charge around the arena to dissipate.

"Should I go get a stretcher for you?" Reena looked over at me, and Djari was already helping me up.

"That would be nice . . . " I mumbled, still having trouble getting back up. "Blitz was harder than quite a few of the baddies I've fought before — only other creature to put that much voltage in me was Spike."

"Quiet! We'll get Sparx some nice butterflies so he can heal you back up. And I will admit that was a long match — took you a half-hour." Djari mentioned, and then looked up. "We'll get you out of this arena soon enough. Djari's already found the stretcher."

The two picked me up and put me on the stretcher, carrying me out of the arena and over to the temple,where Sparx went to work 'healing' me up by eating butterflies. Within a few minutes, I sat up.

Shadow ran over to me, kneeling down. "What the hell happened out there? I would've come out to help you, but we had company."

"Priestess Angelica showed up, found Cairo bleeding and unconscious, and ran back to the whirlwind with her to get proper treatment." Mai'ko noted.

"What would Angelica be doing here?"

"I contacted her as soon as Cairo took your friend outside. Surprised she didn't help you out . . .  she must not have seen the fight."

"[I know she saw it!]" Candace blurted out. "[Er, what I mean is there's no way she could have missed it. The electric shield around that arena lit up a great deal of the courtyard. It should have at least made her curious.]"

Mai'ko raised an eyebrow. "Well, I just don't know, Candace; why don't you go stick your head in a-"

"Er, Candace? Why don't you head back to the palace now. I'm sure I won't need protection inside the temple." Djari stood between the two, keeping them apart. After a tense moment or two, Candace backed away and left the room, running off for the Golden Rock portal.

"What was with her, while we're at it." I stood up, pointing towards the door. "I mean, I know she's supposed to guard you and all, but she doesn't seem right."

"She's very protective." Djari shrugged.

"That's a new word for 'insane', isn't it?"

"What's it matter . . . she's not causing trouble inside the temple anymore, and that's perfectly fine." Mai'ko pulled out a white scroll and a pair of golden bracelets. "Should I wait for the parents to arrive first, or just perform the wedding now?"

Cairo

"My head . . ."

"[Is that all you're worried about?]" Angel stood over me, inside the Monarchial temple. I looked at her watch, which she always kept the face on the inside of her wrist for some reason or another. One of those displays that reads right side up no matter which direction you look at it from. If it was 2300 now, and sunset was at about 2100 . . .

"Oh, for the love of — I was knocked out for two hours?!" I sat up, feeling my head and coming up with dried blood. "Who knows what might have happened!"

"[That's one way to put it. I had to go back a few minutes after picking you up to get casualty number two. In case you're interested, Cancer says it was Djari who gave you that concussion.]"

"Figures." I healed off my head wound and stood up."Who else did she knock out?"

"[Oh, she didn't knock Blitz out. That mongrel of a prime dragon did.]" Angel sneered.

I bit my lip, looking over at Blitz, lying some distance away in the grass. "He's stronger than I thought, if he could beat Blitz. I assume she took matters into her own hands once I was incapacitated."

"[Pretty much.]" Angel looked over at Blitz. "[I thought we agreed to no one-on-one combat with him. He's good at that, right?]"

"Exceptionally." I kneeled over Blitz and healed up some immediate wounds."Now, a handicap match would be worth it . . . or better yet, an ambush."

"[Did someone say 'Ambush'?]" Cancer walked up to us, appearing over by the pond in the far right. "[If it pleases the court, I have a far better idea. All the resources are in plain sight, and we're sure to get Spyro right where we want him.]"

The two of us both stared at her, and Angel climbed up onto my shoulders so that she could actually stare Cancer down. I spoke first. "And what is this plan of yours?"

"[Like I said, if it pleases the court . . ..]"

Spyro

"Are you sure you have to go with your father? It's not exactly right for a guest to be sleeping out in the cold..." Shadow asked me, toying with his wedding bracelet.

"He insisted! Besides, with your parents so asleep that nothing less of an explosion would wake them, there's no room in the building." I replied, wrapping myself in a large flax comforter big enoughfor a cloak.

"You can use my bed! It should be good enough for — OW!" Shadow offered, and then was given a sharp elbow in the ribs by Reena. "On second thought, maybe a night under the stars would be good for you after all. But Sparx should be able to stay in here.

I nodded, wrapping up a little more. "That would be nice. I probably won't be sleeping much of the night."

"What in the world could you possibly do all night with your father? Talk?"

"Exactly." I stepped out the window and onto the edge of the roof. "I'll see you tommorow morning. I've got a deal to cash in on." Once I shut the window to the second story, I jumped off of the roof and glided to the ground. From there, I headed for a small orchard that was a distance behind the Stormy Terrace Portal, which was where Dad decided to curl himself up.

I ran over to the orchard, making enough noise to wake Dad from his light nap. He lifted his head up and looked at me. "I see you plan on taking up my offer as soon as possible."

I sat down, leaning up against one tree and making sure that I was covered up in the blanket as good as I could get it. "Yes, Dad . . . now, I think you have a long set of explainations to make tonight . . . "

"THAT'S the way to make hatchlings?!"

Dad looked me right in the eyes. "That's how most dragons make them."

"So Sparx wasn't making that stuff up after all. " I sat up, still wide eyed. "So if weddings are a declaration of that, then Shadow . . . and Reena . . .  they're . . . GACK!" I coughed. "Who'd want hatchlings that quick?"

"Just because they can make hatchlings doesn't mean they're going to." Sadiki looked back at the hut. "At their age, it's not likely they'll be able to make much of anything except for a lot of noise. You, for example, didn't even come about until about ten years or so after I married your mother."

I looked at the dojo, noting a small light flickering behind the translucent window, since there wasn't much else to see. This was all too much . . .  how was I going to remember it all? "What about her?"

"A sweet purebred Peace Keeper named Sabri; that alternate of her at the library looks a lot like her, except the one I married was a lot bigger and had muscles to spare. Sabri was one of the top officers in the Peace Keeper World; she had an amazing track record inside and outside the worlds that you might even be able to surpass one day."

"Inside and outside . . . She went realm-hopping too?" I stood up, and had to jump to keep from being swatted by Dad's tail.

"Absolutely! I went with her some of the time , but not very often." Dad bowed his head. "Actually, this has been the first time since about three years before you were born that I've even stepped out of the dragon worlds. It's been that long . . . hard to believe I've stayed so still."

I stepped closer to him, hoping not to get swatted again.  "What was she like?"

"You're more like your mother than even she was. It worries me at times — headstrong, suave, daring, with some notions of invincibility — neither one of you ever seemed to think you could hurt yourselves beyond what a dragonfly could heal. That's why it took so long for the two of us to ever have a clutch — Sabri always ended up miscarrying while she was on mission somewhere. Finally I convinced her to switch to safe detectivework so that she wouldn't risk losing the clutch on the job again."

"It worked?" I took another step forward, but this time Dad swung his tail to pick me up by the waist.

"To a degree. We finally got our clutch, but the price . . .  I don't want to talk about it now. Too many bad memories." He curled up next to one tree, stretching his wings out and placing me just underneath one of the wings. "I'll tell you what I can of her later. Maybe even tommorow night."