"Hey Corona?"

"Yes Hunter?"

"Can I ask you something that's been on my mind for awhile?"

The two were currently laying outside in the grass outside the palace, killing time the time before dinner by just looking up at the sky and gossiping about all that was happening Arachna. Today was one of those wonderful days where Corona didn't try to cook something and so everyone was eagerly awaiting dinner. The others were off doing whatever they pleased. Prince Lumen was taking a nap, Princess Sparkle was having a tea party with Grasshop, Weeval and their kids, Magma had gone out drinking with a couple of friends from in town, Aqune was in her room and Slate and Igneous were off training together. Overall, the day had been rather peaceful and enjoyable. No attempts at invasion, no problems in the village, no issues what so ever.

"Oh?" Corona asked, sitting up to get a better look at the boy. He was looking up at the sky, eyes shut and his arms tucked lazily behind his back. "And just what's that?"

"..." Hunter sat up as well, folding his arms together in front of his chest. "...I was wondering about the others. I mean, you know about me and I know about you and your sister and Lumen and Aqune but what about the others? What's their stories?"

"I don't really know." Corona said with a small shrug, "Magma had simple beginnings and if you ask him about it, he's always happy to share but I don't really know about Slate and Igneous."

"And you never had the urge to ask either of them?" Hunter asked.

"Once or twice." Corona confessed, "But Igneous didn't really say anything. He just turned on his heel and left me standing there. I even asked Prince Lumen once but all he said was one day he and Slate just showed up and joined the knights."

"Hmm..." Hunter mumbled, clearly not satisfied with the answer. His eyebrows knitted together and he started scratching his chin, trying to piece together the facts and create a plausible explanation for their sudden appearance in Arachna so many years ago and refuse to speak of their pasts to even their closest friends. Perhaps they were hiding something...but what could there to hide? Slate's village was small but from what he HAD actually told Hunter, they were happy and friendly. So what could they possibly hiding!?

Recognizing the look on Hunter's face as the one he got when his mind was made up about getting something done, Corona knew what was happening next. Without saying anything she rose to her feet and offered her friend a hand to help him get up as well. "Dinner still won't be for a little while..." She told him, "And I know what's on your mind right now Hunter Steele!"

The boy grinned, pulling himself up with help from Corona of course. "Let's go have a little chat with Slate and Igneous!"

"You're rusty, old friend!" Slate exclaimed with a grin once their training had finally came to a halt for the day, watching his friend clean up the mess they'd managed to create in their battle with a cocky sense of pride. In actuality they were both evenly matched and odds were, neither would ever be able to beat the other. That wouldn't stop either of them from trying though. Most of their friendship was built around them getting into little tiffs with each other. "While you were away, you let your guard down and got soft! Might I ask how come?"

Igneous gritted his teeth together, griping the broken hilt of one of the swords the two had used and broken hard enough from his hands to start to bruise. Slate was pressing the wrong buttons today but he wasn't going to let him get to him today. "...Keep your mouth shut and I won't have to decapitate you today."

Slate laughed, dropping lazily onto the dirt ground as he continued to watch the other in amusement. "That's not the first time you've made that threat and I'm willing to bet that it won't be the last." Over the years, he'd received all sorts of threats from his friend/rival due to his so called 'annoying' and 'childish' behavior. He might have been one of the strongest knights in Arachnian history as well as one of the greatest leaders but that didn't mean he didn't like to have a little fun while doing his duties. Otherwise...it'd all just be boring. A life of doing the same thing day in and day out. Slate didn't want that.

With a somewhat frustrated but not at all surprised sigh Igneous gave up his idea of cleaning up after the two of them and sat down beside his friend in the dirt, looking up at the sky and relaxing for a moment. Just a moment though. Even good warriors like him needed to take a break every once in a while. "Hey...you know I haven't seen Blade in awhile...what ever happened to her?"

Blade had been Slate's spider. A rather quiet but incredibly agile red and black spider resembling a black widow. It was rather odd that Slate hadn't mentioned her or wasn't wearing his manacle. Had something happened during his years away?

"She's fine. Left her with my dad to help him out with harvesting crops." Slate explained, casually tucking his arms back behind his head and grinning. "He needed some help getting them into the market on time and Blade likes pulling the carts for him. Plus he's getting on in years so she's really helping him out." He chuckled a bit, "Although you probably know about the age thing by now."

"Hmm." Igneous mumbled in agreement, rolling over onto his side. He understood exactly what Slate was getting at but it wasn't something he wanted to admit and confirm. After all things sounded so much more real when you said them out loud.

"..." Slate frowned, biting the inside of his lip and wondering what had upset his friend this time. Igneous had always been rather moody even though he tried his best to contain his emotions and not let anyone else see them. Part of Slate had always been curious to know if his friend had always been this way or if it was something that changed inside him after...He shook his head violently, earning himself an odd, quizzical look from the fang of Arachnia.

"What's wrong with you?" Igneous asked, sitting upwards. "You're being weirder than usual. Which is really saying something because it's you we're talking about."

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry!" The blond apologized with a laugh before sitting up himself. "What do you want to do now? Dinner won't be ready for awhile so we should figure out something to do to kill some more time." He brushed some dirt off of his clothes, smiling a bit.

"I don't know." The blue haired warrior said with a small shrug. "Neither of us really do much other than train and fight the wicked."

Sad but true. They both needed to get some hobbies...or girlfriends. Since someone was still sobbing over his last broken heart though they were going to have to get hobbies instead. Boy that had been a fun story for Slate to hear, while he was defending the castle from evil his best friend had fallen in love with a freaking queen and went into shock for a couple days when she rejected him. Yes, he laughed a little upon hearing it but like any good friend he was there to support the poor guy too.

But what could they do other than train? Ride Flame everywhere and hit on any pretty girl who happened to walk by? You can bet that Igneous would grow tired of that real soon! He didn't like picking up girls the way other guys did.

"Hey Slate! Igneous!"

Their heads simultaneously whipped around to see both Hunter and Corona jogging towards them and waving frantically trying to get their attention. This set off the alarm bells inside the two boys' heads and they sprung up onto their feet, drawing swords from their holsters and getting ready to fight.

"What is it!?" Slate demanded, his eyes scanning and looking for any scenes of invectids. "Is there an invasion!?"

"Just point us in their direction and we'll come out swinging!" Igneous added, frown lines appearing on his face as he always scanned the surrounding area. "I've been itching for a good fight all day!"

The younger spider riders came to a halt and began rubbing the back of their necks sheepishly. "Uh, actually there's no invectids." Hunter confessed, avoiding eye-contact with the older boys. "We just wanted to ask you some questions."

"Oh." Igneous said and hung his head in disappointment, stuffing his sword back into's holster. "Well what is it then? What did you want to ask?"

Hunter elbowed Corona in the stomach, "Come on! Ask him your question!"

Judging from the look on the young girl's face, Slate and Igneous both knew that it had been Hunter's idea to start asking questions but was placing the blame on Corona in case things went a little south. Her eyes grew to roughly the size of saucers and the poor girl started to stammer a bit before finally managing to get the question out. "I-I mean we,...we-we're ju-just wonde-wondering if yo-you c-could tell us a b-bit about your families...?" She asked, her words slurring together by accident. "It's just...we all know ab-about the rest of us but you guys..."

Oh no. Slate's eyes darted over to his friend, watching his reaction to this. The knight paled, his eyes turning dark as the oncoming storm. Both Corona and Hunter jumped back, noticing this as well. "You want to know my origin story?" He asked, pursing his lips together in a frown. "A long time ago there was a man and a woman. They fell in love, got married, conceived and gave birth to three sons. I was the youngest. I left home and became a knight. I befriended Slate and that's where it ends." He turned his head to the castle, a dark storm cloud forming around his head. "...I think I'm going to go see if Prince Lumen is up from his nap and check in on Princess Sparkle and Grasshop."

And on that note, he left the three others standing there and watching him go. It wasn't until Igneous was half-way to the castle and well out of ear range that Hunter spoke up on the little story the older spider rider had just told them.

"Well...that was...something."

"It's the same thing that happened the first time I tried to talk to him about his past." Corona said with a disappointed sigh. "I'm beginning to worry about him."

"How come?" Slate asked, not as upset with his friend's outburst due to being one of the few people in Arachnia who actually knew the truth about Igneous and where he'd come from. Of course, he had been sworn to secrecy by his friend never to tell a single living soul about it.

"Well, what if his parents were abusive!" Corona explained, lowering her voice to a hush as she spoke, even though she knew that the only others currently around could be trusted. "He could have severe trauma from years of living with them and they should be punished! What if they're...what if they're one of those families that yells and fights a lot and he's scared to show his emotions because of that! What if they were drunks or did drugs or even prostitution or-"

"I think he gets it." Hunter interrupted, paling a bit as every new possibility came to light. The poor kid couldn't imagine what it would be like to live with a family like any of the ones Corona just suggested and if it turned out that Igneous had come from such a dark home...He shuddered at the thought.

Slate's usually warm smile had been erased when Corona started listing off explanations. Now he had the same look on his face that he had when he'd been told he had to fight his best friend to the death in order to protect his village. "You shut your mouth!" He snapped at the two of them. "You don't know anything about his history! Igneous's parents were good people!"

"Wait...what do you mean?" Hunter asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise at this little outburst. "Do...Do you know about Igneous's past?"

"And what do you mean 'were'?" Corona asked, looking rather quizzical herself. "What happened to them? Come on! You have to tell us now!"

"What's the deal with that boy and his past!?"

"Where the heck is he from!?"

"What ever happened to those brothers he mentioned and if it was something bad, what was it!?"

"How'd you two meet?"

"Why'd you become knights?"

"Is it connected to the way he hides his emo-"

"Woah there!" Slate exclaimed, waving his hands in an attempt to get the two to stop asking so many questions. "Yeah, I know about Igneous's past but it's not like I openly go around telling people all about it! It's...it's..." He didn't know how to properly word it so Corona and Hunter would both understand. It wasn't in their natures to just leave well enough alone. "...Igneous doesn't like bringing it up because it only depresses him and he thinks that it'll make people treat him different. Pity him, you know?"

The two spider riders nodded in understanding but that didn't stop Hunter from suggesting something. "But what if we promised not to let Igneous know that we know? And never brought it up again?" He elbowed the older boy a bit. "Come on, it's just because of curiosity! We promise not to tell anyone else a single thing!"

"Yeah!" Corona agreed, making puppy-dog eyes. "Please?!"

Knowing that he'd already gotten him in too deep with these two, Slate sat back down in the dirt and gestured for the others to do the same. "Alright." He said with an exhausted sigh. "I give. I've been keeping his secret for years, I can't keep it in anymore!" With eager looks Corona and Hunter sat down in front of him, looking as excited as children on Christmas and hanging off of every word. Slate had to suppress a sigh, knowing that this eagerness and peppiness would vanish as soon as they got into Igneous's story. "I guess I should start at the beginning then huh? Well...like he said earlier, Igneous came from an average size family of five. He had two older brothers, normal parents and they lived in an average size village not too far from my own. It's was actually located above mine, on the top of a small mountain in a cool, beautiful, lush area with tons of trees, foliage, flowers, lakes, rivers and even a waterfall! It was a picture perfect view...and that's why the image was quickly shattered."

Part one of three. I used to love this show as a kid and always wondered what Igneous's back story was so one day I wrote one for him. It wasn't until recently I found the old, handwritten sheets while cleaning out my closet so I decided to type and post it on here. Enjoy this story explaining a number of things left unanswered about the coolest spider rider!

1. What his hometown is.

2. Who were his parents.

3. How he met Slate.

4. Why he became a spider rider/knight.

5. Where he got Flame.

6. Why he hides his emotions.

7. The root cause for his phobia of ghosts.

8. Why Slate and Igneous used to be called "Fang" and "Claw" respectively.

Yay! Igneous and Slate central fic!

(PS: I want to know if any of you would have any issues with some Slate/Igneous slash? I'm not talking about full-scale yaoi but maybe a one-sided crush or buried feelings? Just a question.)