"Okay, so," Andrea clapped her hands, "your name is Spyro."

        "Yes," said Spyro.

        "And you're chasing after shadow apes being led by some new commander."

        "Right."

        "Now YOUR name is Spyro."

        "You bet," said Spyro Two.

        "And you're chasing after rhynocs who are also being led by someone new."

        "Youuu got it, fifty points!"

        "And you both never met each other before?"

        "Not unless you count the funhouse mirrors at Dragon Shores!"

He raised his paw and a wide grin, leaving it hanging until Spyro One gently high-fived him with a tender smile.

        "This is extraordinary," Haytham plucked his beard, "two creatures of the same birth and nameling yet have branched into different phylums of existence."

        "This is the first time we've had this happen," said Thomas crossing his arms.

        "Not unless you consider Meridian-Five of which came from an alternate world parallel to yours."

        "Yeah but that was OUR world," Dixon slapped her hands on the table, "we just sucked up two dragons from DIFFERENT parallel universes beyond this is a big fucking deal!"

        "I wouldst consider it no greater a misfortune than that of your lunar base."

        "You guys got a moon base?!" Spyro Two cried.  "Wow that's pretty cool!"

        "I've never been to a moon," Spyro One looked up at the ceiling, "is it good?"

        "I dunno, I never been, too many space cows you know those guys are jerkwads."

        "Okay we're all caught up," Thomas tapped the table, "the big problem now is what this island is and who's leading both the apes and rhinos."

        "Why do you think someone's leading both?" asked the taller darker dragon.

        "Because rhynocs are morons," the shorter pale dragon shrugged, "I wouldn't trust 'em with a door that says Push."

        "Hhhah, hahah, what I mean is how could someone from one of our worlds be leading armies from two different worlds?"

        "You got portals where you're from right?" Spyro Two snorted.  "Someone had the idea."

They sat back and pondered around the meeting table, both dragons next to each other whilst Haytham and Andrea stood opposite and Thomas at one end of the room pressing against the wall.  Haytham wrapped the hairs of his beard round his finger, pondering at the drakes who looked at each other and to the humans.

        "Is Jeremy alright?" the taller Spyro asked.

        "He's just having a lie down," said Thomas.

        "What was up with that guy anyway?" asked shorter Spyro.

        "He REALLY likes dragons," said Spyro One, "don't worry he's nice, just a little intense-"

        "You have to understand," Brightman pushed away from the wall, "dragons don't exist in our world and he's always had a fascination for them."

        "Ohhh yeah, gotcha," Spyro Two nodded, "know how that feels too."

        "You mentioned that before," Spyro One looked to Thomas, "what happened in your world that dragons disappeared?"

        "They never existed," he shrugged.

        "But you talk about us in your legends, how could we not exist?!"

        "Because they're stories and stories are fiction, at least in our world."

        "Well now we're here so they're not!" Spyro Two grinned looking at his other self.  "So what's the plan then?"

        "Well firstly," Dixon walked round to before them, "we have to give you both different names because we can't call you both Spyro."

        "Why not?!" both Spyros said.

        "Because it's confusing the hell outta me!"

        "Hey that's your problem not ours," said Spyro Two.

        "Well, maybe she's right," Spyro One rubbed his neck, "I mean, we are teaming up together right?"

        "You bet, why wouldn't we, we're like the only two dragons here!"

        "Wait are you two serious?" Andrea backed up.  "You really just don't mind you're meeting your other alternate-universe self?!"

        "Ehh, I've seen weirder," Spyro Two shrugged, "I mean it's KINDA weird but I've been through a lotta worlds and seen it all."

        "Hahah you sound like a hermit," Spyro One tapped his head, "maybe I should get you a cane?"

        "Hey I'm younger than you!"

        "Are you?!

        "Well...yeah?!"  The shorter drake put his hand to his head and then swivelled it to the other.  "I mean I'm pretty sure I am."

        "Whatever the case may be," Haytham joined Andrea's side, "I would consider it prudent to take Dr. Dixon's suggestion on assuming different pseudonyms for the sake of clarity."

        "What?"

        "He wants us to have nicknames so we don't confuse them," said Spyro One leaning over, "I think it would help, but how about we choose the nicknames?"

        "Mmmm, sure."  Spyro Two stepped back to stretch his hindquarters.  "So, when you guys heading out to this island?"        

        "Soon as we can," said Thomas heading out through the door, "we're taking a small ship to scout the islands."

        "Because I wanted to see if I recognised it," said Spyro One following him, "the shadow apes must have come from there."

        "And the rhinos mentioned a master of some sort," added Brightman.

        "Well guess I'm joining ya then," said Spyro Two walking up beside his other self, "With two Spyros this whole thing's gonna be EASY!"

        "Do not tempt the whims of fate," Durai warned behind them, "they are cruel in their jest and succour is but fleeting to those who obstrigillate the arts of preparation."

        "...okay, what?"

        "He said don't get cocky," said Spyro One, "we don't know what we're dealing with."

        "How do you KNOW what he keeps saying?!"

        "Iiii know someone who talks like this, you get used to it."

        "How about I show you the lab?" offered Andrea heading a different way.  "It's gonna be a bit before we get the ship ready."

        "Sounds good, I actually wanted to see this portal of yours."

        "Oh you guys HAVE a portal?!" Spyro Two hopped mid-turn.  "Sure I'll go see, better that than waiting around."

        "I'll call on you soon."

Thomas nodded as he went to the hangar whilst the two dragons followed Andrea and Haytham to their chamber of science.  They saw a great silver ring hooked up to several terminals on the other side of a glass screen, from where they stood in a separate control room.

        "This is my baby," Dixon swept her hand proudly, "my little TEG, the one that brought you both here."

        "Cooool!" Spyro Two lifted his paws onto the console.

        "A-AH caution please!" Haytham shooed him off.  "Tis a very delicate machine!"

        "All those machines are running calculations," said Andrea pointing to the monitors, "every cycle we tweak them a little bit in hopefully getting closer to home."

        "Sounds amazing," Spyro One peeked over, "are they power sources?"

        "Not exactly, the gate is hooked to the station's power grid since we had to keep it regulated-"

        "So you just hooked up a bunch of computers?" Spyro Two cocked his head.

        "Kom...pewter?" the taller drake squinted at the screens.

        "Yeah what you never seen one?"

        "N-no, I just thought these were showing a crystal's resonance."

        "It is not unlike that!" Haytham raised a fingerpoint.  "Whilst the principles be the same, the energy formed by this conflagration tear apart the very matrices of existence like pulling the thread of the camisole."

        "What if you added more computers?!" Spyro Two bounced on his feet.  "Would that make it more powerful?!"

        "Mmmm no," Andrea shook her head, "doesn't quite work that way, you don't make a stronger fire by having a bigger mouth."

        "HAH, hahahaha, hey that's pretty good!"

        "Thanks," she smirked rubbing her hands, "I was thinking of writing a book on all this but trying to make it easy to understand."

        "I would gladly assist on that venture," Haytham patted her arm.

Both Spyros looked at each other on hearing this, tightening their lips and keeping schtum before Andrea further explained the basics of third energy research.  Once the ship to depart was ready they went to the hangar, navigating through the halls of steel passing between humans and robots where they found Holt standing between Thomas and the Ducky whilst Lizanaich watched on whilst leaning on his spear.

        "Sergeant I make the rules-"

        "Whut difference does it make?!"

        "Cuz that's not your decision to make!"

        "BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ME!"

        "What's going on?" asked Andrea.

        "That guy's arguing with the chief," Liz pointed at Holt, "said he was demanding to join me an' that drago-...uh."

He turned towards the now two dragons as he rubbed his eyes.

        "Uhhh...okay did someone slip me a drink at that lunch, or were you just hiding an evil twin?"

        "Woah woah WHICH one would be the evil twin?!" Spyro Two gestured between.

        "He's not a twin," said Spyro One waving his paw, "he's my other self from an alternate universe."

        "...yanno what fuck this," Liz threw up his hands, "I do not have time to deal with all this and Din knows I got too much on my mind."

        "Wow, nice to meet you too," said the smaller drake.

        "Look, sorry I'm having a real bad week and I don't need to start getting deep on some timeline theory bullshit."

        "So why are YOU here then?"

        "Someone stole his friend's treasure," said the taller dragon leaning close, "it's all he has left of his memory."

        "Oh.  Uhh...sorry."  The second Spyro walked up beside Lizanaich and offered his paw.  "Just so you know, if I find the thief I'll torch his face off for ya."

        "Hhhah, you serious?" he looked down to him.

        "Sure, I chased down thieves all the time, and not one of 'em ever escaped from me!  Bet you now this one won't either, and I'm gonna make them regret ever trying to steal from you!"

        "Thanks...uhhh, Spyro, yeah?"

        "Yep, same as him," he cocked his head to Spyro One, "what about you?"

        "Lizanaich," he offered his hand to shake his paw, "nice to meet you again."

        "Haha, cool!"

        "I am going with them," Holt tightened his arms crossed, "whutever you tell me's not gonna move me."

        "It's not that I don't want to," Thomas sighed, "but you haven't been showing a level head and the last thing I need is someone getting emotional on a scouting mission."

        "Fer fuck's sake you don' think ah can be emotional AND handle a mission?!"

        "That's not what you're trained for!"

        "YOU never trained me, ah wuz trained already an' it served me well enough!"

        "Yeah and you got captured, your point is?"

He tapped his foot waiting for a response as Holt snarled before the dragons walked forward.

        "Sir?"  Spyro One looked up to Thomas.  "I'd like Jeremy to come with us."

        "Wait, what?"

        "He's made me feel welcome here, and he...you said he knew a lot about dragons right?"

        "That I did."

        "So having him with us would be a lot more useful, his knowledge would help us more if this is another realm of dragons that neither of us know about, right Spyro?"

        "Y-yeah!" Spyro Two grinned.  "I mean, I know a lotta things about us but, yanno, book-reading, not my thing but that guy, he looks like he reads."

        "Hmph."  The soldier shook his head with a sigh as he threw his hands.  "Alright, fine, if you think he'll be useful as that."

        "Thank you sir," Jeremy bowed with relief.

        "But you are a soldier of this base, first and foremost, are we clear on that?"

        "Perfectly, sir."

He walked off as the dragons stepped up to the sergeant, his smile creased beneath his stache as he knelt down with a shotgun strapped to his back.

        "//Thank you,//" he muttered in Cymraeg, "//I'm sorry you had to see that.//"

        "It's fine," said Spyro Two, "so you're Jeremy huh?"

        "//That I am, and you're uhm...also Spyro.//"

        "Yep, nice to meetcha!"  He offered his paw which Holt shook.  "So you wanna help us check out this cool island?"

        "//Well it's not every day I get to help two dragons, let alone one, so I'm practically obligated to.//"

        "Your boss didn't think so."

        "//He's a yank he don't understand.//"

        "Hey uhhh," Lizanaich approached with a wave, "we getting on this thing or what?"

        "OH, righ' sorry," Jeremy cleared his throat and stood to attention, "so uhhh the big plans are, find out who this commander is, get back yer friend's wok-"

        "His skillet," Liz corrected.

        "An' kick everyone's arses along thuh way."

        "Sounds a good plan," Spyro One grinned, "we didn't even get to giving ourselves nicknames."

        "Oh righ', yeah...that...hmmm."  The sergeant rubbed his chin.  "If we're gonna be goin' at the enemy we'll have to be tactical, an' that's pretty hard when both of you got thuh same name."

        "Well I was thinking we could choose our nicknames."

        "Awww, an' ah wuz gonna call yous Owain an' Arthur."

        "Arthur?!"  Spyro Two snorted with a laugh.  "HECK no I don't wanna be called Arthur, that sounds like a nerd's name!"

        "Could you just get this over with so we leave?" Liz tapped his sides.

        "Alright, chill!"

        "I like Owain," said Spyro One cocking his head with a grin, "I'll take that then."

        "AWW BRILL!" Jeremy pumped his fists.  "He wuz one of thuh legendary fiercest leaders of mah country, whose banner wuz a golden dragon."

        "Woa-woa-woah, GOLDEN?!" Spyro Two thumped his paws.  "Aw that sounds cool a-ahhh!"

        "Do you want it then?" the taller dragon cackled giving his smaller self a noogie.

        "N-NO, HEY, uhhh, I-i mean if you don't want it!"

        "I'm fine with that, actually I do have a name I'd like to use.  Flash."

        "Flash?!"  Holt cocked his head.

        "Yeah, it's my dad's name."

        "Awww...alrigh', fair do's that settles it, you're Flash an' you are Owain."

        "Got it!" said the shorter Owain raising his paw.  "Ready to kick some rhynoc butt, Flash?"

        "Not before we kick some shadow butt, Owain," the taller Flash fistbumped him.

        "I been ready fer like two hours!" stomped Lizanaich.  "Just get in the damn flying machine and let's get this over with!"

They all nodded stiffly at the chief's fouling mood as they walked onto the ship, the Ducky cleared for transport as the hangar roof opened with a groaning creak towards the pale looming sky.  Lizanaich noticed they were the only people on the small ship with exception of the pilot, as he Ducky took flight heading west-by-northwest, whispering in flight with its serene ovid shape and peerless small wings like that of a dove glistening even in the dreariest afternoon.  Peering out of the windows they watched the Brokentooth Sands whistle past, the cluster of the Sunmoon Trees where troodons slinked in the smaller jungle as they approached the extinct volcano peak.

        "Is this all we have?" he muttered.

        "We're just on a scoutin' mission," said Holt, "we'll rally a bigger force once we seen whut we're dealin' with."

        "Good plan," Flash nodded, "how big are these islands anyway?"

        "Big enough to be more than a few days' walk across 'em, least that's whut Andrea said."

        "Hey what's that place over there?!" Owain pointed at the peak.

        "That's thuh Death Nest," said Holt looking back, "don' worry it's not going off anytime."

        "That sure is a name I'm not going to ask why."

        "Does anything live there?" asked Liz swivelling his eye to the window.

        "Naah," Holt waved, "maybe just little bugs that feed on the minerals, though Oddie telt me that it has sum of THE best water to drink in the entire world."

        "Yeah volcanic water tends to be the best, people bottled the stuff that came off Death Mountain, even when it had the Gorons' backwater in it."

        "Backwater?" Flash cringed shaking his head.

        "I mean they are basically rock people, so they got minerals an' shit-WOAH!"

The ship suddenly bucked throwing them against their seats.

        "WOT HAPPENED?!" Holt shouted.

        "S-somethin' hit us!" the pilot cried.  "S-some kinda bolt!"

        "Someone attacking us?!" Liz cried bracing his seat.

        "It came from the other side of the mountain!" Flash peered at the peak.

        "Best hold onto something," the pilot pulled at his handles, "I'm gonna try to land in the shadow, maybe we can-GHRRKH!"

        "OHHHH SHIT!"

His head exploded across the console, splattering two seats as Holt staggered back from a piercing arrow of energy that ripped through the cockpit like a neon lightning bolt.  The ship started to freefall as the sergeant leapt into the front and wrestled the steering, trying to force it back up as they went searing past the mountain in a hard curve as Holt took aim towards the desert region.  The sounds of a roaring wind shrieked past their ears as they felt their bodies float towards the ceiling.

        "OKAY!" he shouted back.  "EMERGENCY TACTICS, AHLL OPEN THUH DOOR AN' WHEN AH SAY GO, YOU FUCKIN' GO!"

        "I DON'T GOT ANY WINGS!" screamed Lizanaich.

        "THAT'S OKAY, AH DON'T EITHER, BUT THUH DESERT'LL CUSHION YA!  YOU LADS READY!?"

        "OH I'M GOOD!" Owain shouted clinging onto his seat.  "AT LEAST I DIDN'T PAY TO GET ON THIS DEATH TRAP!"

The desert opened before them as a sea of deadly beige, hot sands rippling against the hull on the wind as Holt opened the exit.  They jumped out soon as he shouted, both Spyros flying as quick as they could, the one known as Flash flapping his wings to gain brief heights, whilst the smaller Owain took a gliding circle before divebombing into the sand.  Lizanaich threw his body out with limbs spreadeagled as he prayed for the desert to catch him, flumping harmlessly into the dunes as Holt was the last to grab his pump shotgun from his seat and scrabble out to roll as best he could across the sands.

The Ducky crashed with a small explosion, scattering the large scorpions with fright at the firey burst that sent a shockwave through the arid winds, a smouldering dot of a crater left in a golden expanse watched by the eyes of a strange beast in the shadow of the peak.

        "Hm.  Sturdier than I thought."

His voice growled with the rabid bite of a smoker's cough, piercing eyes of a smouldering pink sunk in a mouthless skull.  His hands were monstrously larger than his feet in pale boots, his outfit resembling a primal astronaut with a large bone tooth twisting from his shoulder.  He tapped a few buttons on a wrist communicator as a voice snobbish came through.

        "Yees what what is it you blithering-"

        "Watch your tone."

        "O-OH!  Sir, f-forgive me I thought it was one of my um, minions!"

        "Who failed to obtain the dragon."

        "And that is EXACTLY why I was going to give them a good thrashing!  It is so hard to find good help these days, but I assure you that the rest of my army are more than capable-"

        "There are two of them."

        "....I'm, sorry?" the upper-class voice stuttered.

        "Two Spyros.  Both mine and yours."

        "S-so it's true!  There really is more than one!"

        "You doubted me?"  The skull grasped a blade at his belt.  "Perhaps your soul will obey me more."

        "N-NO, NONONO no, I-i-i just, what I MEANT was that I was rather a-astonished to come to the reality of it despite its truth from your words!"

        "Hmph."  His hand moved from the hilt.  "I'll check on the crash site, is your weapon ready?"

        "Absolutely!" boasted the twit's voice.  "And never you fear, I was quite the champion at university-"

        "I fear nothing."  The hunter's snarl caused the rocks to shift beside him.  "Keep to your station and kill any intruders that come."

        "Well I-i was, ahem, rather more expecting to just bludgeon to a pulp rather than KILL-"

        "You want your reward, you'll spill their blood."  He clenched his fist with a shaking strength.  "As for me, their deaths will be my reward."

        "Ulp...y-yes, sir."

He tapped off the comms and whistled to the east, the sounds of a roaring engine burning through his ears.

        "Everyone alright?!" asked the first Spyro.

        "Y-yeah!" the second Spyro glided to a stop.  "I mean yanno it's just another day flying!"

        "Not the worst desert jump I ever did," Liz brushed the sand from his scales, "one time we dived off the Highlands tower with a cloth sail and see who could hit the ground fastest."

        "That sounds a righ' fuckin' lark," Holt smirked, "craziest thing ah ever done wuz smash up a house."

        "Wait why'd you do that?"

        "Well uh...yanno whut let's not get into that."

        "I'm sorry about your friend," said Flash looking at the smoking dune, "the pilot that is."

        "We'll get his body back after this, but we're buggered now without transport."

        "You can't just call the base?" Owain scratched his head.

        "Not yet, whoever shot at us is still 'ere, don't wanna send 'em to a trap."

        "Let's find some shelter first," the lizalfos pointed east, "I saw some stones when we were flying over and you're gonna need it."

        "Dontcha mean 'we'?" asked Jeremy.

        "Three of us are reptiles, deserts are a breeze but you're already losing water."

        "He's right," Flash nodded, "this isn't a bad place for us, but mammals don't do well in the heat."

        "Wow alrigh'," Holt grimaced rubbing his sweating neck, "ah mean nice of you all to be considerate but feels pretty weird."

Heading towards the stony pit, Lizanaich went ahead of the group to scout out for dangers as he gripped his spear, finding a large scorpion who brandished its stinger for combat as he twisted its tail past him before leaping on top and plunging his harpoon deep through its brain, cracking its carapace to bleed yellow over the sands.  The sheltered stones offered a perfect shade for Jeremy, a small cluster of overhanging plinths where he took his uniform off to reveal his white shirt underneath, drinking from his flask water besides the two dragons whilst Liz kept watch above the dune.

        "Anyone there yet?" asked the stub-nosed Owain.

        "Not yet," said the Lizalfos shielding his eyes, "whoever shot us down ain't gonna show themselves so easy."

        "Man...what WAS that shot anyway, like some kinda space laser!"

        "You seem to know a lot about machines," Flash looked to him.

        "I mean yeah, they exist, what you don't have them?"

        "Some places do, like the moles in the mountains, they use a lot of machines to pull stuff, lift things, mining."

        "Sounds pretty old-school," Holt chuckled before turning to Owain, "whut sorta machines they got in your world Spyro?"

        "Oh all sortsa things!" he waved his paw.  "Gnorc Cove had like lifts and pulleys, the Peacekeepers got cannons, but Avalar's where it's really at!"

        "A-avalar?!"  The other Spyro gasped.

        "Yeah, they got this whole city that's just full o' robots, and they got a farm that's also full o' robots, with robot bugs and these GIANT buzz lights and windmills-"

        "W-wait, wait, did you say Avalar?!"

        "Uhhh, yeah?"

        "Tha-...th-that's where I came from!"

        "You wot?!" Holt flicked his head between them.

        "I was living in Avalar, helping the cheetah tribe fight off grublins!"

        "Wait, cheetahs?" Owain cocked his head.  "Like, big cats?"

        "Yeah!"

        "...so, do you know a guy named Hunter?"

        "YEAH!"

        "NO WAY!" the smaller dragon thumped his paws.  "This is unREAL, like is he a big lanky guy, kind of a doofus, uses toy planes and obsessed with aliens?!"

        "Uhhhh, n-no," the taller dragon scratched his neck, "he was more of an archer, wore this cape and a hoad, very brave, you could always rely on him in any fight."

        "Pffft hahaha, ohoh that is NOT my friend Hunter, I mean no offence but he's kind of a wuss in a straight-up fight."

        "Hahahah, so I guess we're still different worlds then."

        "Yeah but that's WEIRD!" Spyro the Owain jutted his head.  "Your world's got an Avalar too, you know a Hunter who ALSO uses bows and arrows-"

        "But your Avalar's got more machines," said Spyro the Flash stretching his wings, "I mean, I've never heard of a row-bot."

        "They're pretty cool, just people made out of metal, they talk weird but they're all cool-"

        "GET DOWN"

A piercing shriek ripped through the air as the lizalfos rolled down into the shade, causing them to duck their heads beneath the stone raise as a neon bolt tore against the sands.

        "He's here," muttered the lizard.

        "Nooo REALLY?!" said Owain.  "I thought the mail-balloon arrived with my package!"

        "We should split up," said Flash, "two of us one way, two the other way, one Spyro each since they're after us."

        "Yanno I'm getting real sick of being this popular!"

        "I'll go with Lizanaich, you go with Jeremy, right?"

        "Right," they all nodded.

They peeked over the ridge to check for any laser fire, seeing more shots come screeching through as they scarpered in two directions out of the stone well and swerved between the dunes.  The lasers kept firing,  taking shots at Jeremy and Spyro-Owain as they dodged and strafed beneath the burning arcs, trying to catch a look at the assailant from across a wide barren plain where nothing grew, dunes undulating like serpent husks across the expanse beneath a looming sky with the false promise of rain.

        "Alrigh' well he chose us," said Holt, "whut you wanna do?"

        "Give him what he wants!" said Spyro.  "Give our pals a chance to get close."

        "Don't get cocky lad he shot us out the air."

        "I'm a lot harder to hit."  He crested the top of a dune and wagged his rump towards the desert.  "HEY, SPARKY, OVER HERE!"

        "WHUH, thuh fuck are ya doin'!?"

        "GOT A NICE DRAGON BUTT FOR YAAAA, I'LL STAY STILL, PROMISE!"

He watched the sheen of a rifle appear in the sands as he fell forwards straight back to Jeremy before the laser screamed towards his head, cackling before he peeked round the side of the dune and whistled sharply.

        "SORRY 'BOUT THAT I SLIPPED, YOU WANNA TAKE A SHOT AGAIN?!"

        "Fer FUCK'S sake!" Jeremy yanked him by the tail.  "Are you fuckin' daft?!"

        "No I'm a dragon, sheesh I thought you knew!"

        "There's bein' a distraction an' there's been a fuckin' twat!"

        "Well it's working right?!"

The laser shot straight past the dune missing them both as they kept low against the sand, watching and hoping to see their friends pick out the target.  On the other side of the stony pit, Liz and Spyro-Flash had made their way round circling with their heads low and their bodies flat to the dirt, crawling on their bellies as Lizanaich stopped the dragon from moving further when he saw the glint of a steel bow.  He motioned him to keep watch as Spyro nodded, sticking close to one dune as the lizalfos blended himself with with the sands as his body turned to a pale grit texture.  He slinked forwards round the dune and crept closer with eyes constantly searching, flicking to different directions as the laser kept firing to Holt's location.  His spear he kept buried underneath his body, masking its sheen with his shadow as he ducked flat in the desert plain every few seconds.  The sniper had ducked against a ridge of vermillion stone, carefully gauging their shots and scanning the horizon briefly.  The lizalfos got his first look at the hunter, a strange humanoid with a very inhuman skull that to him resembled an onion.  But it was something much more damning he saw dangling from the hip of the shooter.  An old rusted skillet.

It took all of his restraint to not scream upon his lunging thrust, but the moment he leapt his target turned fast and thrust his metal bow against the spear in a horizontal guard, blocking his strike before kicking him with both boots over his head.

        "YOU!"  Liz turned in a half-roll and skidded to a crouch.  "YOU'RE THE FUCKER WHO STOLE IT!"

        "Get lost."  The hunter shouldered his bow to pull out a long rusted blade.  "I'm here for the dragons."

        "AND I'M HERE TO TAKE BACK WHAT YOU STOLE!"

He charged for the brigand with a feinting thrust, twirling his body in mid-run to make his harpoon spin forwards with momentum as the hunter dodged with a sharp strike against its point to deflect him.

        "Only thing I steal are lives."  He patted the skillet at his hip.  "This rusted tool was left behind by its master, I am giving it a new purpose."

        "THAT'S NOT YOUR RIGHT YOU FUCKING THIEF!"

Lashing his tongue out like a whip to strike his eyes, he briefly made the hunter rear back before he leapt into the air with a brutal downthrust that his opponent deflected hard with the full sweep of his sword, countering with a double-slash that Lizanaich parried with a twirl of his shaft.  But he did not expect the hunter to suddenly sweep his leg with a hard slam to the back of the lizalfos' knee and send him on his back, blocking the sword from above with his spear in a brief struggle of strength before a purple blur came charging from the side to slam into the hunter.

        "You alright?!" Spyro cried.

        "Yeah!" Lizanaich stood shaking his leg.  "That fucker's got Mohberra's skillet, he's the thief!"

        "We meet again, Spyro."  The hunter kept his blade towards the dragon in front of him.  "Second verse shall sound as sweet as the first."

        "I don't know who you are," he snorted tightening shoulders, "but I know you're behind the shadow apes.  Why are you commanding them?!  What do you want?!"

        "I want your death, your extermination and your very name to be erased."

        "Wh-what?  Why!?"

        "Your kind's existence is a stain upon the cosmos," he swept his sword stepping a half-circle round him, "a wretched subspecies who poison the sky with your wings and ravage the earth with dreadsome claws."

        "Are you...serious?" the drake pulled a face of disgust.  "You just despise dragons, that's it?!"

        "It is more than IT, it is a noble pursuit.  One that I intend to complete."

        "Too bad yer outnumbered," the lizalfos stepped up with his spear, "four versus one, shoulda aimed better at our ship."

        "Correction."  He raised his other hand.  "Four against two, strength is not in numbers, but in strategy."

He clicked his fingers sharp.  The sound of rumbling fury could be heard in the distance as they looked towards the plains to find one of the dunes started moving by itself.  Something burrowed with a frightening speed straight towards where Holt and the other Spyro hid.

        "JEREMY, SPYRO GET OUT OF THERE!"

        "Wh-WHUT?!"  He heard the taller Spyro across the way.

        "SOMETHING'S COMING RUN!"

They dodged out of cover before the sand dune exploded with a shower of sand bursting over their backs, the sound of a roaring howl above as they watched hot fuchsia scales ripple furious past their vision, the shadow of a purple beast landing hard on the sands to turn fiercely upon them.

        "Wot thuh FUCK?!" Jeremy backed off with shotgun ready.

        "That is one BIG ugly face!"

The monster before them resembled a car, open-topped with truck-sized wheels made from dragon scales of a coral pink.  Bones stretched out of its back to form hollowed exhaust pipes that pumped foul fumes in the simmering heat, a plush seat of velour at its core above an animated face of rose-burned eyes with four giant teeth forming a maw that gnashed with feral glee.

        "You ever fought a monster car?" Spyro asked Holt.

        "Fought a few tanks," he muttered, "not a bastard this fast."

        "Well I'm faster, I never lost a race and I'm not losing today!"

He arched his back with wings outspread in a ferocious stance, the beastly vehicle howling with response at the challenge as he burned his wheels in the sand and charged with jaws wide in snapping frenzy.  Spyro dodged in a swift roll as it roared past, Holt taking a shot at its rear with a cracking boom of his shotgun that pelted its steel hide with a snarl as it turned sharp over the dune, drifting to bear down upon him as he rolled in a leaping pounce.  Spyro leapt upon its back trying to get in the seat of the runaway car-beast, but it bucked powerfully with a hard pneumatic flip that threw him straight out unexpected, the dragon tumbling through the air to land on his feet just before it leapt in a bouncing crush towards him.  He rushed straight underneath it before it crunched the sand with a bursting splash, a golden wave that almost became a shield when it spun in a violent whirlwind of scorching wheels, forming a sandstorm that forced the dragon and soldier to back off quick.

When it stopped the sand had not yet fallen, surprising the two with a flying leap and open jaws of its grilled steel plate as Jeremy stood his ground and gritted his teeth.  He fired just before he leapt sideways, crunching one of its eyes with hard buckshot that made it yelp as it staggered upon two wheels, kicking Holt down when it caught his face against one of the raised wheels to leave a scarring deep red over his cheek.  Slamming its whole body down it shook its face, the scaled motor blinked with its one eye remaining as the other now resembled a cracked headlight turning dim.  Rushing to Holt's aid Spyro lifted him up with a nudge of his back, pushing the human up as they saw the devil machine racing towards the nearby dune and ramp off of it with a frightening shriek, tearing down upon them with a psychotic grin as they ran opposite ways from its dreadful impact upon the desert.

        "F-FUCK, FUCK!"

        "OH COME ON!"

The tidal wave of sand that followed was much larger than they expected, the monstrous vehicle crushing its face halfway deep into the desert as a tsunami came swarming towards them both, the soldier staggering in his run with sweat running hard off his brow to outrun the sand storm, Spyro galloping swiftly out of harm's way before the surging dune subsided at last.

        "YOU ALRIGHT?!" he cried to Holt.

        "YAH!"  He waved staggering as he grabbed a quick swig of his flask.  "K-keep 'im busy ah need me fluids!"

        "Got it, HEY FARTMOBILE YA MISSED!"

As one Spyro antagonised the beast,  another Spyro fought the hunter across the other side of the barren plains with lizalfos at his side twirling his spear.  Charging first Lizanaich thrust his harpoon with several jabs whilst the dragon ducked underneath both their blades meeting in a clash of steel, the hunter twisting his long rusted sword fast enough to make Liz stagger back as Spyro rolled and blasted a shot of flame to avoid the chopping blade.  The fiend covered his face, his eyes of neon seething towards the drake as he thrust his blade towards his head and kicked a flurry of sand to try to blind him.  Spyro shielded himself with a wing and slammed his head forward into the hunter's belly, flapping both wings to make an upwards strike and knock him into the air before somersaulting fast with a slam of his tail.  But the brigand blocked him in mid-flight, his blade horizontal against the tail strike before he kicked both feet into the dragon's head to knock him back, backflipping onto his feet and rushing forth in an attempt to carve his belly.  A lancing spear came to counter, knocking the sword aside as Lizanaich shrieked with a wild spin of his harpoon in a deadly dance, sweeping the skull and feet as the unknown enemy ducked and jumped before running forwards with a shoulder barge to knock him down.

The lizalfos turned fast in his fall to plunge his spear in the dirt, swinging himself round with a roundhouse kick against the hunter's skull as Spyro followed up from the air with a divebombing strike, slamming his horns against the hard-cast head to send him tumbling.  Stopping in half-roll he pulled out his bow and took aim towards the dragon, a burning arrow appearing from his fingers that he let flight with a piercing shot through the air as Spyro dodged fast and Lizanaich tapped his spear with the shining horn before hurling it like a thunderbolt.  The hunter rolled fast to the side to evade its lancing screech, but it was enough a distraction for Spyro to come soaring like a comet, burning fires from his throat that swarmed his whole body and pummelled deep into the fiend's chest to send him on his knees as he holstered his bow.

        "HNNNGH!  Filth."

        "I can keep going all day," said Spyro arching his back, "give back what you stole, and tell me what you're up to."

        "The dragon dares lecture me about thievery?"  He chuckled shaking his head.  "I can smell the dust of gems from your wretched CLAWS!"

He swung with his blade scarring the drake's snout, the dragon dodging sharp with a shiver as he tasted his blood trickling down his teeth before the hunter came swinging with his wicked sword.  Two strikes the dragon dodged with a ducking weave before he thrust his horns and twisted his head fast to trap the blade between, the sharp crimson rust dangerously close to his skull as he turned his head fully before slamming all of his feet into the earth to make a shockwave that forced them both into the air.  The brigand was surprised and pulled his sword back, swinging for Spyro's throat who somersaulted forwards with a flap of his wings and cracked down both feet on his head.

The hunter stumbled back as soon as he touched the earth, head throbbing with a furious sting as he saw Lizanaich reclaim his spear and come charging towards him with a scream, crunching against the fiendish blade that shimmered with dragon blood as the hunter slammed his foot forth against Liz's chest then followed with a brazen haymaker that near-twisted his eye as he staggered gasping to clutch his face, bringing his harpoon up before him to block the sword that came cleaving down on his face.

        "GUH!"  The lizard strained with quivering limbs.  "GIVE, BACK MY FRIEND'S SKILLET!"

        "You would deny it a better purpose?" he leaned closer pushing harder against the spear.  "If you cared so much for your friend's memory you would not let it waste itself like his corpse."

        "SH-SHUT UP, SHUT UUUUP!"

        "One so obsessed with the past is unworthy of holding such relics close."

        "THAT BELONGED TO MY FRIEND, IT WAS MOHBERRA'S, IT BELONGS TO MEEEE!"

His horn shimmered with a blinding light as he slammed his head against the fiend, shocking his skull with electric jolt that sent a small sphere of sparkling jade around his body making the hunter shudder and fall with a deep-seated roar, swallowing his fury briefly with a gritted throat.  He gazed upon the lizalfos who pulled his gloves free from his hands and stuffed them in his satchel.

        "I woulda given you a chance if you said sorry, but after the SHIT you just said from your entitled ass I'm gonna shove lightning up your ass and thunder down your throat until your heart's fucking MELTED AGAINST YER RIBS!"

He tightened his fingers rubbing them fast, causing static across the harpoon as it suddenly glowed with crackling emerald volts with the dragon landing beside him.  The hunter shook his head before pulling out an odd whistle that rang in the air by itself, summoning something towards them.

They felt the shuddering tremors of a beast approach, looking to each other with a nod as they tightened their feet and waited for the loudest moment just before the monstrous vehicle would roar over the sands and leap through the air with a howling lust, crashing down upon the ridge as both reptiles jumped back and down the dunes to escape its landing.  Rolling down the hill they ended up on the plains, staring up towards the fiend who now sat upon the seat of his dreadsome mount, wide-plated teeth grinning down upon them.

        "What was that you said about being outnumbered?"  He pulled out his bow with an arrow reappearing.  "I believe I said strength was in strategy, not numbers."

        "STRATEGY DON'T MEAN SHIT WHEN I DRIVE THIS SPEAR UP YOUR ASS!" barked Lizanaich with fuming volts.

        "Then let us see which way the storm blows, for you and the vermin you have allied yourselves with."

        "VERMIN?!"  Holt came running with Owain-Spyro behind him.  "TAKE A LOOK IN A FUCKIN' MIRROR YA ARSE-FACED WANK!"

        "I DON'T THINK HE CAN!" shouted the smaller dragon.  "EVERYTIME HE LOOK AT ONE IT JUST BREAKS RATHER THAN DEAL WITH HIS STUPID FACE!"

        "At least I will still have a face unlike YOU!"

He fired upon them as they scarpered in twos, the beast-car roaring down the sand hill and charging upon the first dragon it saw, the larger nicknamed Flash who pounded his feet swerving between dunes and arrows from the hunter's bow.

        "SCALE BITER HOLD FAST!" the hunter cried.  "Let me aim for his head."

The rolling wheels slowed down as it snarled with slavering gasp, the brigand peering down his sights. and aiming for where the dragon would run before a screeching blast of lightning tore in an arc over his head.  He pounded the motor in a signal to turn and run, swiftly evading the lance that came thunder down with a crackling spark that jolted a sphere through the earth, followed by Lizanaich leaping from a dune to slam his fist into the hunter.  He missed by a few feet, thumping into the sand as the Scale Biter turned with a roar towards the lizalfos who fumbled in his satchel for something.  Then he felt the steel pistol and grinned as he fired with a gunslinger's stance, sending his shot into the motor's remaining eye to briefly blind it with a yelp as it swerved violently sharp.

        "DO NOT FALTER!" the hunter pounded his steed.  "FEAR IS BUT WEAKNESS, CLOSE YOUR EYE AND AIM WITH YOUR TRUTH!"

The beast seemed to calm itself with a slavering whimper as it shook the sting of the pistol off, revving its wheels as Lizanaich grabbed his spear and charged it up once more.  The hunter fired at the harpoon's head, throwing the lizard down with the force of his shot and knocking it out of his grip as the machine roared with bloody fury.  They were almost upon the lizalfos with a screeching thud before Spyro-Flash came lunging from the side and suddenly blocked the entire front grill of the wrothful beast with a crackling thud.

        "W-, WOAH!"

Lizanaich shuddered from a deep chill that misted over him, the dragon's tail having formed itself into a giant sword of solid ice bristling with purest blue.  The monstrous car almost launched over his tail like a ramp, screeching upon two wheels to turn as Spyro-Flash looked to Liz.

        "You alright?!"

        "Y-yeah what the SHIT did yer tail just do?!"

        "Magic, I told you I had it!"

        "How much magic do you got?!"

        "As much as I'll need for stuff like this!"

Before the Scale Biter turned to attack them again, Jeremy came shooting from the sand dune with his shotgun blasting the back of the vehicle to make it turn for him.  The hunter kept his bow aimed upon the lizalfos and the drake, firing shots of blazing neon whilst his machine went tearing up the dune as the human took another blast of buckshot at its wounded eye to try and blind it fully.  In vengeance the Scale Biter thumped its wheels hard to make the hill shake beneath his feet, causing him to fall off and stagger down in a stumbling run as the creeping machine turned sideways around the dune and surprise him with a howling snap, ripping its teeth against his back as he roared and turned shooting off another blast that almost threw the hunter off his seat.  Bearing down upon the sergeant it was ready to crush him before a voice called out from the ridge.

        "HEY MOTORBREATH!"  The beast-car looked towards Spyro-Owain sitting atop a long-sloped rock.  "HOW 'BOUT I SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL DRAGON DOES?!"

        "DON'T."  The fiend dragged his fingers along its steel scalp.  "Do not let that thing goad you-"

        "OH I'M SORRY, I THOUGHT YOU WERE A CAR NOT A CHICKEN!"  He bowed his head and pawed the stone in dominant stance.  "COME ON CLUCKMOBILE, YOUR DRIVER MIGHT BE A PUSSY BUT WHAT ARE YOU?!"

        "I am warning you now, do NOT let him-"

        "ARE YOU GONNA LISTEN TO MISTER 'SHOOTS FROM THE BACK LIKE A COWARD' OR YOU GONNA FIGHT ME HEAD-TO-PLATE?!"

        "WATCH your tone you smouldering lizard!" snarled the hunter taking aim.

        "YANNO EVEN THE SHEEP I BARBECUE HAD MORE GUTS THAN YOU!"  Spyro waggled his rump like a playful dog.  "BET YOU A MILLION GEMS I COULD KICK YOUR BUTT THE SECOND YOU EVEN TOUCH ME, CUZ I'M A DRAGON, AND YOU'RE JUST A SNOT-SKULLED PUNK WHOSE STUPID MUTTMOBILE'S GOT MORE BRAINS THAN YOU!"

        "ENOUUUUGH!"

Revving its engine with a brazen snarl, the champing monster of steel pumped fumes of blackened ash from the bones of dragons as the hunter fired straight for his head.  The dragon dodged with a cocky grin as the vehicle roared in its charge screeching towards the drake, who in turn charged down the sloping ramp as his feet gathered speed with clouds of dust gathering behind him.  His paws became a blur, almost forming wheels by themselves as he lowered his head with a hidden smile of glee, flames burning behind him to become a brilliant amethyst hue like nitrous oxide.  The wretched machine burned fast across the ridge, but nowhere near as fast as the smaller dragon as the closer they came to each other, the more the hunter realised he would lose this joust.

        "GEEEEEEEEET WRECKED!"

With a deafening crunch Spyro slammed his head into the grilled maw of the beast at supercharged speed, crushing its entire face so deep that its teeth bent inwards and the entire machine flipped forwards through the air with a screeching shock.  The hunter leapt off the moment they collided, rolling fast with his blade out and ready as he watched his steed fall onto its back, wheels spinning uselessly with snarling whimpers of its cracked half-face.

        "SEE THAT?!"  Spyro thumped the sand turning to him.  "THAT IS WHAT YOU GET, WHEN YOU MESS WITH A DRAGON!"

        "Arrogant little RAT!"  He stomped forwards with his sword still shimmering with red.  "I will flense your hide into a worthier purpose than you could ever live to have."

        "Ooooh I'm shaaaaking!" he mocked rattling his paws.  "What are ya gonna do, turn me into a costume so your face looks better for once?!"

        "No, your head will survive on my wall, next to every other dragon I shall erase-"

        "GHHRRAAUUUURRRHHHLLL!"

The scream of the Scale Biter pierced through the desert winds, a sickening howl of anguish as they all turned to see a small grey cloak plunge its claws deep into the belly of the beast.  Black engine oils poured free across the sand, guttural snarls and whimpering rasps before it slumped with its single eye turning dim.

        "Lights.  Out."

The cloak turned with a quadruped's body, eyes of seething white beneath its hood that pierced towards the hunter who put a hand behind his back.

        "Now what?" he muttered.

        "Now you DIE!"

The shadow streaked across the sands like a silver comet, flames of smouldering black wrapping around his cloak as the brigand swiftly dodged in a roll before tapping a button on the back of his armour.  A pair of wings snapped out of his back, shaped all too similar to a dragon's by its leathery texture.

        "Seems you were right," said the hunter looking back, "I was outnumbered eventually."

        "DON'T YOU RUN AWAY!" barked Lizanaich.  "GIVE ME BACK MOHBERRA'S SKILLET!"

        "My only advice is this.  Ignore your past, or your future shall be naught."

        "HEY HEY, HEY!"

He burst into the sky with a sudden flame that jettisoned his body, straight towards the north with a searing blast as they stared in frustration.

        "NO!" the shadow screeched.  "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME AGAIN!"

        "Hey-ey hold up!" Spyro-Owain rushed up to it.  "What do you want with him, we're after him too-"

        "GET BACK!"  He blasted a sea of flame forcing them back.  "This...is NOT your fight."

        "THE FUCK IT IS HE'S A THIEF!" screamed Liz.  "HE STOLE FROM MY FRIEND, I'M NOT LETTING HIM-"

        "SHUT UP!"

The shadow blasted a a beam of black fuchsia that ripped through the desert, forcing them to dodge as it split an entire dune in half.

        "This has nothing to do with you," he snarled with hidden teeth, "go...go back to where you came."

        "Who are you?!" cried Spyro-Flash.  "What did he do, we can't just leave without helping-"

        "I DON'T NEED HELP!  And if you don't turn back now then you'll be DEAD!"

        "Says who?!" shouted Spyro-Owain.  "You know who I am, I'm Spyro and so's my buddy!"

        "NO!"  The spectre stomped his unseen feet.  "Don't...go after him, this is my battle alone, if you come after us...after the Dragon Hunter then you'll die, all of you...and your worlds will die next."

A pair of black wings sprouted from its back, crackling snaps before it flapped off into the sky taking after the fugitive.  The four stood watching, looking at each other as Jeremy rubbed his scoured cheek.

        "Welp, guess ah should call thuh base fer another ducky to pick us up."

        "So we're totally still going after him right?" said Spyro-Owain.

        "DAMN RIGHT!" Lizanaich balled his fists.  "That FUCKER stole Mohberra's skillet!"

        "Alright chill, we'll get it back, we're not letting him go!"

        "Right, right...sorry."  He clutched his face sitting in the sand.  "I just need a minute."

        "You okay Jeremy?" the taller Spyro stepped up beside him.

        "Yeah ahm fine," he chuckled rubbing his face, "couple scratches don't bother me, gettin' a bit old lahk."

        "Hey don't say that, you put up a pretty good fight!"

        "Awww thanks dab."  He petted the drake's head before pulling out his radio.  "Great Valley this is Kitchener, you copy me over?"

        "This is Great Valley," said the comms, "what's your status over?"

        "Ducky's cracked an' we're fryin' eggs, think you can flip us over?"

        "Negative, we got carollers at the door over, can't send any chefs out."

        "Whut sorta carollers, over?" Holt squinted near the sun.

        "Same ones that sang at the village, we'll be busy entertaining guests, sorry over."

        "No prob, give 'em a good toast fer me over!"

He clicked off the radio and sighed rubbing his head turning to the bemused reptiles.

        "Seems them shadow apes're attacking thuh base!"

        "What?!" Lizanaich shot up to his feet.  "There's more of them?!"

        "Ahh don't worry they'll be fine, s'not as bad as thuh demons we fought a few years back."

        "D-demons?!"

        "Yeah an' we kicked their arses, don't fuck with thuh human race we nailed our god to a stick!"

        "Wait what?" Spyro-Owain jerked back.  "Was your god really tiny like a bug?!"

        "Naw, anyways we'll hafta get sum other way out to that island."

        "Well you guys are too small," said Liz rubbing his neck, "and we're getting no ships...wish we had one o' them aeralfos hangin' around to tame."

        "Aeralfos?" asked Spyro-Flash.

        "Yeah they uh, they got these long beaks an' real leather wings, they're always diving in the ocean grabbin' fish-"

        "OH, you mean pterodactyls!" Holt clicked his fingers.  "Yeah thassa great idea, actually!  Spyro, you lads think you could call over one o' them to give us a ride?"

        "Really?"  The taller drake scratched his chin.  "Would they want to?"

        "Sure they would, just tell 'em that we're friends of Oddclaw an' we need us a flight out the desert, they'll come flyin' down fer us no prob!"

        "Oh, are they friends with him too?!"

        "Well ah mean he's our ambassador, friends with everyone out 'ere."

        "Alright, Spyro you coming?"

        "U-uhhhh actually," the smaller Spyro cringed flexing his wing, "I-i think I sprained my wing in that charge, didn't wanna say anything but I don't think I can fly for a while-"

        "Good idea, don't strain yourself.  Alright, I'll be back, just say I'm a friend of Oddclaw and we need help out the desert."

        "Thassit," Holt clapped his back, "alrigh' we're gonna head back into thuh stone pit, see ya in a bit?"

        "You got it!"

The dragon left with a flourishing wind into the sky, strong amber wings flapping through the breeze as his cool-purple body faded into the blue.  Jeremy sat back under the shade with Spyro the smaller and Lizanaich who fingered his spear with twirling fingers to keep them busy.

        "So this uhh, Oddclaw?" the dragon scritched his cheek with a back leg.  "What's he like?"

        "Aw he's thuh best wee dab," Jeremy grinned elbowing him, "though nothin' about him's wee lemme tell ya heheh!"

        "Whaddaya mean is he like twenty feet tall?"

        "Naw naw, he's about my height, he's thuh one that helped us humans settle in wi' the other tribes, his tribe the raptors, the pteros up there, thuh ones over in thuh birthlands an' such."

        "Also my village too," said Liz laying on his back, "can't understand him but he helped us figure out a few things to get us settled with the humans' help."

        "Sounds like you guys got a good deal," said Spyro flopping his head, "your place didn't seem like it was uhhh-"

        "Belonging 'ere?" Jeremy bit at his fingernail.  "Yeah we came from thuh future, travelled back to sort a few issues."

        "Woah, jeez you guys are time travellers?!  That stuff's pretty dangerous, even if it's kinda cool."

        "Yeaaah you dunno thuh half of it.  But we made sum good friends, an' well thanks to Oddie ah feel less alone in thuh world fer sure.  Even though ah don't see 'im much now he has a family."

        "Lemme guess," the dragon rolled his eyes, "he found a girlfriend?"

        "Well more than that, a proper mate."

        "Ugh..."

        "Whut?!"  Jeremy squinted at him.  "You got a problem wi' that?"

        "Love is just, ugh, I don't get it."

        "What the actual emotion?" Lizanaich gestured vague.

        "No like OBVIOUSLY I know that, I mean like having a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever, just like...ugh!"

        "Wow how many times did you get jilted?"

        "Everyone I know who fell in love always acts different," he shrugged, "they're always off doing stuff, they're running around, getting tired with their others, having kids and getting more exhausted!  Just looks like so much work and I'm like why even BOTHER, just stay friends!"

        "Ohhhh ah see whut you mean," the soldier nudged him with an elbow and a wink, "livin' thuh bachelor lifestyle are ya?"

        "Wha, what?!"  Spyro reared back.  "No, what does that even mean?!"

        "Either you're gay or afraid of commitment," said the lizalfos crossing his legs, "or both yanno I don't judge."

        "I just think it's dumb to get all serious about making someone a girlfriend or boyfriend when it's so much work an' you gotta commit to WAY more stuff, not like your friends who you can just hang with and not care about anything!"

        "Well yer young dab," Jeremy nodded pressing his back to the stone, "one day you'll understand, find someone who makes you feel special that no one else can."

        "And even if that someone loves someone else you'll just do your best for them," said Lizanaich.

        "Aye...cuz loving someone means you want whut's best fer them, not always whut you want from them."

        "Yeah...what they wanted most."

Both the older males fell silent, much to Spyro's frustration as he looked back and forth between.

        "Okay, see THIS is what I'm talking about, people get weird when in love and it just looks the worst, like who's gonna be happy getting tired all the time?!"

        "It's not tired dab," said the sergeant, "it's summat else.  You'll learn when yer older."

        "Hhhhrrrrrraaaah I am sick of people tellin' me that, I saved Avalar, the Dragon Realms AND the Forgotten Realms, I think I'm old enough to know!"

        "If you keep asking questions like that yer not," said the lizalfos, "that sorta stuff isn't somethin' you learn, but somethin' you'll do.  Trust me on that."

After thirty minutes passed there came the sound of wings from the southwest as they peered out of the stone well to see two black slivers on the horizon.  One was the dragon returning whilst the other positively dwarfed him by the sheer stature of its wings, stretching over the desert with looming shadows that covered entire dunes like an eclipse.

        "H-hoh...sweet Nayru," gasped the lizalfos.

        "Wh-what the heck IS that?!" cried the smaller Spyro.

        "AwwwhawhawHAW!" Jeremy clapped standing up.  "You fuckin' BEAUTY that is PERFECT!"

Climbing out of the shelter he went to greet the two landing beasts, Spyro-Flash taking a slow circle to land whilst the other flyer flapped carefully downwards before folding their giant wings to dig their long-reeded talons into the sands.

        "Well this is a surprise, normally I never see warmbloods in the barren plains!"

        "Well we had a wee bit o' trouble," Jeremy shrugged, "take it you saw thuh ship o'er there...aw, right don't have me collar on uhh, Spyro you wanna-"

        "Yeah I can translate," said Flash.

        "Your friend Spyro explained it all to me."  The 40-foot quetzalcoatlus bowed with enormous beak.  "How can I help you?"

        "How do you KNOW this guy?!" Spyro-Owain gawped up at him.

        "He's Oddie's friend, this is Suneater!" Holt gestured to him and then back as Spyro-Flash translated.  "Sunny this is Spyro an' this is Lizanaich."

        "Ahhh yes," he clacked his beak towards the lizard, "I have seen your tribe many a day near the Deep Mountain, you make good hunters from what I have seen."

        "Heh, thanks."  He nodded crossing his arms.  "So, we need someone to take us to these islands floating in the north-"

        "Oh, those islands?  We did scout them ourselves but the air is foul, we do not like being so close to it."

        "We just want someone to drop us off," said Jeremy, "not gonna make you hang round if ya don't want to."

        "Will you not be trapped on the islands without me?"

        "Ah got me friends back at thuh base, by the time we're done scoutin' thuh place they'll be able to come pick me up, they're just busy with sum intruders."

        "Understood."

He stretched out his terrifying wings to cover them all within its shade, the reptiles noticing that one of his wings was made of synthetic leather.

        "Climb on from the back and try not to move too much."

        "We'll follow beside you," said Spyro-Flash before turning to his smaller self, "you should climb on too, rest your wing until it's better."

        "Thanks," Spyro-Owain nodded, "normally I'd be all swoopin' and divin' but, yanno-"

        "I know," he nodded smiling.

The smaller drake leapt on beside Jeremy and Lizanaich, sitting up in the human's lap as they settled on top of the quetzalcoatlus.  Suneater took a cautious breath, gathering his strength and flapping fast with a gust of wind that blasted the sands from underneath, pushing his body up into the air with a mighty lift as he soared straight towards the northeast.  Spyro followed beside him, watching himself with the human and lizalfos stridant upon the great beast's back, grand leathery wings that creaked with the rising colder winds as they flew higher above the world.  Twenty minutes passed as they carried over the sea, the grand ocean blue almost eternal beneath them as they caught sight of icthyosaurs skimming beneath the waves in pods as Spyro flew down lower with a wave and a smile.

        "ERE, THERE IT IS!"

Holt pointed towards a grand set of islands stretching across the horizon, a palette of brown, green and white that turned more clear the closer they came.  Jeremy gasped at the splendour of heavens, the grass a perfect clear jade and the mountains shining like mirrors of the sun.  The closer they came to it, the more majestic it seemed by its vastness over the sky, floating over the sea with an effortless grace.  Then they realised that it wasn't just one single island, but dozens of smaller isles drifting beside each other.

        "Woah," Lizanaich muttered, "that...th-that's the island?"

        "It must be," said Holt, "it looks...lahk someone shattered it in pieces."

        "Is this what...the Skyward lands looked like in the legends?"

Landing upon the edge of the isle they found themselves in a vista, a round plaza of pale cobblestones that looked out towards the sea.  Suneater landed carefully in the grass as his passengers departed.

        "Are you certain you are fine without me?" he asked.

        "We'll be fine," said Jeremy via Spyro, "once we're done 'ere I'll contact thuh base, so you just head back."

        "As you wish.  Take care hairless one, may your hunt feed you well."

Taking their steps back they watched the great beast of the sky flap off the edge and fall into the sea, spiralling to catch the wind and shooting off back to the mainland.  The four turned towards the islets, dotting the sky like pieces of emerald where flowers bloomed and trees stood drifting upon their own little lands where roots twisted downwards to the bottom of the miniature isles.  They saw the remnants of a civilisation, towers and turrets that had crumbled from some unseen attack where pieces now hovered in the air between islands, softly turning by some unseen force that binded the world together.  Beyond these fractured lands they saw giant mountains with snowcapped peaks, the sky above an eerie expanse of blue without a single cloud or creature to be heard.

Taking their time they leapt from island to island, close enough to not be too much trouble, but so numerous that it was exhausting except for the dragons who glided between lands whilst the lizalfos and human scrabbled and leapt over floating hills and broken valleys.  Waterfalls came from unseen heights above them, pouring ever constant into rivers which in turn poured out into the sea far below, as they vaulted over stone parapets and broken cannons.  There once had been townships, small houses and villas now twisted and crushed by the hands of gods but soon they discovered a worse truth within.  Statues of people, a race resembling sloths and lemurs who either cowered in fright and clutched their children, or whose faces were shattered in five little screams mirroring that of their young, whose arms had fallen around those their failed to protect.

        "What thuh fuck happened here?" muttered Holt.

        "I don't...know," said Spyro the Flash, "they've all been petrified."

        "That or it's some freaky art museum," said Spyro-Owain.

The further they walked through the towns the more apparent their fate became, creatures huddled in prayer around fountains that were shattered as deep as their bodies with some who had actively fled in mid-fright.  They found sheep who had tried to run and in turn were rendered to stone, bleated cries that mortified their faces to eternal shock in rigor terris.  Wagons were crushed, barrels split apart with rotting food and windows smashed to a thousand glinting shards across the cobblestones.

        "Christ this is just like France," he whispered.

        "You've seen this before?" asked the taller Spyro to his left at the waist.

        "Back in thuh war aye, small towns being blasted to frighten thuh folk."

        "A war, back in your world?"

        "Went on fer six years."

        "You mind if I ask something?"  He stopped in front of Holt.  "You seem...different from the other humans, like not always in step with them."

        "That's cuz ahm not from their group," he shrugged, "got shunted through time, ah wuz in thuh war sixty years before they were even around."

        "Oh, you travelled through time, THAT'S what the scent was!"  Spyro-Flash shook his head.  "It was bothering me all this time I wasn't sure where I smelt that before."

        "You been through time yerself?"

        "Not, exactly, I froze myself at one point, it's...a long story."

        "Mebbe when we get back we can talk about it."

        "Sure, I mean...if you want to talk about what happened with you."

        "Sounds fair, be nice to curl up an' chat with a dragon," he broke a sheepish grin, "but...still never had anyone bein' turned to stone an' getting smashed to pieces, that one is new."

        "I seen that happen," the smaller Spyro stared up from his right knee, "twice even!  One time my own kind were all turned to crystal, then another time I was in Avalar and all the satyrs got turned to stone."

        "How did you get them out?" asked Lizanaich.

        "I just...broke them out," he butted the air, "just yanno, only thing I could do!"

        "So why are these guys all in pieces?"

        "Must be some kinda stronger magic, cuz the magic I dealt with, you just had to touch them and they broke free but these guys..."

He walked over to one intact statue and tapped with his paw.

        "Nnnno...no this is something worse, this is serious magic."

        "Let's keep going," said Liz marching onwards, "we can't waste too much time."

They followed after him through the ruined towns, which for the most part sat on their own larger plateaus floating in the breeze.  Through crumbling roads and broken streets they covered the length of the islands, seeing something in the distance that sat at the foot of the central mountain.  A fortress of pale sandstone, bright gleaming battlements that stood impervious against the sun despite the cracks running through its facade.  Bridges became more apparent the closer they went to it, sturdier designs that bent and twisted softly in the winds as they held fast to their feet, stomping slightly to centre their gravity against any errant breeze that picked up threatening to blow past them.  They stopped once more when they came to a central island, one with a set of steps leading up towards a hill where a pile of broken shards laid in the sun, coloured like silver diamond.  The main plaza at the foot of the steps showed series of mystic gates that had fallen to crumbling ruin.  But what drew Spyro the Owain towards it especially, was the fallen remains of a hot-air balloon with crumpling basket and tattered shreds.  Even worse were the piles of stones inside showing eyes and mouths gasping wide upon him.

        "Hohhh jeez."  He looked over the burner and sniffed at its gases.  "Still got enough fuel, so they didn't crash."

He rushed over to the top of the balloon and sniffed further for clues.

        "Top isn't mouldy so it's pretty fresh...they got turned to stone before it went down so...this got shot down when they were escaping?!"

        "Someone did not want them to leave," Spyro-Flash shook his head, "even when they got petrified."

        "...no."  The smaller drake tightened his scowl.  "Whoever did this, I'm gonna break their face, no matter what, this...that's just cold, you don't DO that!"

        "Agreed," Holt clapped his palms, "summat bad has happened here an' it's more than just sum apes an' rhinos an' a boneheaded thief."

        "Well that bonehead's gonna get broken six ways if he's the one behind this!"

        "H-hark...h-hark, who..."

A voice came from beneath the steps, the four turning as both Spyros crept forwards with a tender sniff whilst Holt pulled out his gun and Liz gripped his spear.  Behind one of the broken gates was what appeared to be a door half-buried within the earth, under the hill where the silver shards rested.

        "Hello?" Spyro-Flash beckoned softly.  "Is...someone there?"

        "I-is that...it cannot..." the voice of an old male quivered behind the door, "oh, please let them not take my ears too."

        "Are you alright?  We just arrived, we...what happened here?"

        "P-please...please answer me thus.  Are you...could your name be Spyro?"

        "Yes."  He looked to his other self surprised as him.  "How did you-"

        "H-hoh, thank the radiance!"

The sounds of quiet sobbing could be heard as it came closer to the door.  They stepped back as it opened, seeing a living inhabitant of the isles with the bipedal body of a sloth and a lemur's face with long tapering beard beneath a set of goggles.  His hands were bloated with age, quivering frail as he sniffed the air.

        "I-it's you...hohh, blessed day it's you, our saviour."

        "U-uh...yeah, yeah it's me."  The smaller Spyro pressed a finger to his snout at Flash's look.  "What happened here?"

        "Do you not remember?  Has that fiend stolen your memory, do you even remember me, B-beaufort?"

        "My mind was...I got hurt real bad, took me a while to recover, my wings are still kinda stiff."

        "So you were wounded."  Beaufort shook his head.  "They said...hoh I dare not repeat it but they said you had suffered worse and that we were all...doomed.  That monster who marched through the streets before they were turned to stone."

        "Who is he working for?" asked Spyro-Owain.  "What is he?"

        "He called himself the Dragon Hunter...I-i, I smelt your blood upon his blade, how he taunted that he had ripped your soul from your body i-it was...that dreadsome phantom had returned somehow after your defeat of him to destroy these Radiant Isles."

        "Phantom?  He looked pretty solid to me."

        "N-no, no he...the hunter is working for him, that creature who rules from his dark mirror."

        "Dark mirror?"  Spyro shivered slightly with a cringe.  "Who is this guy then?"

        "I-i dare not speak his name, please," the old male shuddered with a clutch of his beard, "if you do not remember it then it is best I not curse myself, you will know soon if he discovers your existence."

        "Why's he done this?  Why'd he curse everyone to stone?!"

        "These isles he wishes to make into his personal fortress.  The souls of every creature he has robbed from their bodies thanks to that wicked blade the hunter now carries, it...it seems to possess a horrid strength that can weaken the soul itself."

Spyro-Flash touched his snout feeling the scar that remained.

        "Where is he?" the smaller drake gripped his feet.  "Is there a way I can get everyone back?"

        "Perhaps," the elder shook his head, "if one were to reach his dark mirror with the Shattering Sigil...but his power will be great, I fear that one dragon alone may not be enough to overpower him."

        "Leave that to me," the dragon winked at his other self, "I won't fail, I never do."

        "No...that is true you...never have, dear Spyro, the fact that you are here before me both my ears and my snout cannot lie together."

        "I'll stop him.  I promise, I won't let him get away with this."

        "Thank you."  A deep smile grew from beneath his beard.  "That...th-that is the best news I have heard since...but yes, if...if you can reach...Hektore."

His chest visibly clenched as if about to collapse as the dragons lurched to his side.

        "H-his mirror is deep within his lair, you will have to plunge through the caverns, then cross over the peaks and into the jungle where the Galecrack Ruins lie.  Beneath them he has made his sanctum."

        "And you said I need some kinda sigil, right?"

        "Correct, the Shattering Sigil above this hill."  He pointed upwards.  "Unfortunately it is broken, however I did construct something."

Stepping back inside the darkness of his den, Beaufort rummaged around in the depths with a cluttering shambles heard from within.  A few minutes later he reappeared with a shining silver blade that almost blinded the drakes.

        "This is the Shatter Sword," said the elder, "I had this made in the event that something like this would happen."

        "Uhhh, looks a li' blunt," he tapped the side of its dull edge.

        "This was not designed as a weapon, but as a means to break the dark mirror."  He handed it forwards as the taller Spyro took it in his mouth.  "All you have to do is strike the mirror, and its power of resonance shall shatter it fully."

        "No problem!"  Spyro-Owain swished his paw with a wave.  "I'll be done in a flash, bet you I'll kick this guy's head straight out into the ocean in three, no, make it TWO days!"

        "Hhhahaha, ahahaha...ohhh...I have missed your foolhardy voice."  He reached forwards to stroke the dragon's head.  "But please, please be careful this time.  We cannot...I cannot afford to lose you again."

        "You won't.  I promise."

The dragon bowed his head as Beaufort sensed his severity.  He smiled from this alone and lifted his goggles briefly to wipe the tears forming on his cheek.

        "I will pray for your victory...for all our sakes, Spyro."

        "I'll be back soon."  He grinned with the fullest teeth.  "Don't worry, I'll be right at your door delivering the hero special, with extra cheese and no evil anchovies!"

        "Hhhah, ahahahaa, I am sure you will my hero.  Farewell, may the light of radiance protect you."

Shuffling back inside the elder closed his door as the two dragons returned to Holt and Lizanaich.  Spyro-Owain motioned them quietly out of earshot as they leapt to another isle with Flash still carrying the sword in his teeth.

        "So what'd he say?" asked Liz with hand on hip.

        "There's this guy called Hektore who did all this, wants to make this place his personal fort, we just gotta use this sword to break his dark mirror an' we can save everyone!"

        "How's that even work?  Not sure if he noticed but everyone round here's been smashed to pieces."

        "Their souls are held prisoner," said Spyro-Flash handing the blade to him, "that's what Beaufort said, if we can destroy Hektore then their souls return and that will bring them back...somehow."

        "So how come he managed to survive?!"

        "Because he's blind?" Spyro-Owain shrugged.  "I mean, kinda obvious."

        "How could you tell from the goggles?" the lizalfos sneered.

        "I know like one or two elders who are, also you notice how all the people round here have their eyes open, like maybe this spell or whatever Hektore did was like a-"

        "Oh aye Medusa!" Holt clicked his fingers.  "That case we'll need summat to reflect it, need summat polished an' shiny lahk a mirror."

        "Better find one then," Liz crossed his arms, "think that old guy has one?"

        "Nah he won't," the shorter drake shook his head, "if that was a problem he woulda given me one."

        "You sure?"

        "Yeah trust me I think we're good, maybe the spell was one-time only."

        "I'm still gonna look for a mirror either way, where's this shithead Hektore at?"

        "We gotta get through the caverns, then over the mountain and into the jungle."  The dragon stepped towards the broken castle.  "He said a place called Galecrack Ruins was where Hektore was hiding, and that dragon hunter jerk was doing his dirty work for him."

        "Then let's go," said the taller drake leap-gliding to the next isle, "you said you'd be back in two days, let's not break your promise."

        "Haha, yeah, we got this!"  He gave a fistbump to his other.  "Alright let's take on that fortress!"

They leapt from isle to isle with a swell in their chests, wings out and gliding as Holt and Liz took their time crossing the bridges that still remained as they flocked towards the battlements that wrapped somewhat around the base of a mountain near the central mass of the isles.  The old castle was abandoned, despite the terracotta army of soldiers that were trapped in mid-struggle, a variety of different species ranging from reptiles to sharks to humanoid imps with many weapons brandished in their eternal grip.  Some had stood defiant watching the sun for the last time, others had fallen to their knees with legs completely shattered and their torsos split in two.  The castle was silent as the smell of musty stone filled their nostrils with a thickening dust that made Spyro-Owain sneeze with thick flame.  They crept through with weapons braced, the light of torches long since gone amongst the dark and wretched halls filled with the soldiers' remnants.

Halls with faded banners stood like funeral cloaks above them, passages where darkness grew as Liz grabbed a torch and had Spyro light it to hold aloft his head and keep moving ahead.  Sometimes the halls had cracked open like eggs, exposing the clear blue sky and the endless sea whilst cobblestones floated to keep a vague path before them.  Jeremy struggled in his leaps, gasping as he felt the stone teetering before Spyro-Flash helped to balance with a push to his side, whereas Liz jumped like a frog hopping between until they reached the very back of the castle where the mountain met the fortress.  A large looming cavern entrance appeared before them, littered with crystals that glowed with a tender song of their own, like sirens luring them within.

        "Welp," Holt clapped his hips, "guess we're going in lads."

        "You bet," said Spyro-Owain, "let's find this Hektore and kick his butt to the moon!"

        "And bury his friend in the mountain," Lizanaich cracked his knuckles, "they're gonna pay for messin' with my village."

        "We'll get it back," Spyro-Flash petted his arm, "I don't break promises."

        "S'not your promise I'm worried about.  It's mine."

They walked together into darkness, their faces lit by the crystals briefly before they disappeared into the depths of the Radiant Isles, searching for the monster beyond it.