Chapter 8

Glimpse of the Past

The answers of the future lie in the questions of the past.

Gadget sighed as he fiddled with the robot's inner wiring. Doing it by hand was much too slow, but he didn't want to risk giving away his secret. But, maybe if I… he turned to look at the Professor, who was working on another robot. The Professor was completely absorbed in his work; the world could have been crumbling around him, and he probably wouldn't have noticed. Chuckling to himself, Gadget quickly glanced around to make sure that they were alone. Luckily, the populace had decided to steer clear of the area after the little rampage Sparx had led the robots on. With a final glance at the Professor, Gadget turned to the three robots in front of him, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. He began to glow silvery blue, with silver lines beginning to appear on his limbs and forehead as he channeled his energy, the lines slowly forming a lightning symbol on his head and Circuit symbols on his legs, running from the bottom of his feet up to his knees. (A/N: Circuit symbols are those symbols that look like half of a lightning symbol, ending with a circle.) The three robots began to rattle, shaking like they were in the middle of an earthquake. The rattling became stronger and stronger as the wires and gears began to rearrange themselves from the inside out. Then, with a series of clanks and beeps, the robots activated. Opening their eyes, they began to look around, as if wondering where the yellow dragonfly had disappeared to.

"Command code Alpha." All the robots froze as they heard Gadget speak. He was no longer glowing, and the symbols on his legs had disappeared again, but the lightning symbol on his forehead remained, though it no longer glowed. "Wipe last target input. Switch to friendly input," he continued. "Affirmative," the robots said in their metallic voices. Gadget continued to recite the coding that would have them do what they wanted them to do.

"Input new primary objective: defend palace. Input new destination: palace bastions, area codes 35u, 26t, 15q. End input."

"Analyzing… new primary objective loaded. New destination loaded. Proceeding to destination."

With that, the robots trundled off toward the palace walls. Gadget breathed a sigh of relief as he watched them go. Those were the last three that he had to fix; now maybe the Professor would let him go settle in.

"Um… Professor? Sir?" Gadget asked, walking up to the mole, who was muttering to himself as he fiddled with the wirings of the robot. "Hm?" he asked, not turning around. Gadget gulped.

"Um, sir, I'm done. May… May I go get settled in?" The Professor turned to glare at Gadget. "Gadget, you know very well that you have…" his words died as he gawked at the three robots that were now entering the palace. "Um, yes, yes you may. Please, make yourself at home."

Gadget beamed. "Thanks, Professor!" he turned and dashed into the palace. Nows my chance…

The Professor scratched his head. "How did he finish so quickly?"

Spyro walked onto the platform filled with clay statues. He knew that in a few moments, those statues would come to life and attack him, and he needed to defend himself with his new element, Raging Tempest. As he took up a fighting stance, Ignitus began to speak.

"Well, young dragon, it is time to test your grasp of the Raging Tempest magic. Now, I know little of this magic, so I will defer to Sydari for this combat test." The spectral Avian nodded, and then turned to Spyro.

"Remember, Spyro, the way of the Raging Tempest is all about balance. Do not let yourself be overwhelmed by being too sparing in your use of it, yet you have already experienced what can happen when you use too much. Remember that; the rest can only come through experience. Begin."

With that, the statues came to life. They looked around a bit, and then started to move towards Spyro as they detected him. Spyro waited until the group he was watching from the corner of his eye got close enough, then struck. Leaping towards them, he made a wall of wind around himself, then sent a blast of wind out behind him, sending him corkscrewing wildly through the clay statues. They were caught unprepared and knocked in every direction, a few going over the side of the platform. Turning, Spyro spun in an upward swing, slamming his tail into a clay statue that was falling toward him. The burst of wind sent the statue slamming into a small cluster of statues, sending an explosion of clay shards and dust in every direction. Facing the remainder of the statues, Spyro unleashed a small hurricane inside the group. As the statues were sucked in one by one, Spyro continued to channel energy into the hurricane, making sure it was only enough to sustain the storm. Once all the statues were spinning wildly through the maelstrom, Spyro let himself get pulled into the hurricane himself. This time, however, he was in complete control, using the force of the winds to slam into the helpless statues, sending them flying out from the swirling vortex in every direction. Reaching the center of the miniature hurricane, Spyro allowed himself to spin with the winds, going faster and faster… until he stopped himself, dispelling the hurricane in one giant blast of wind. Those statues that had survived until now where thrown off the edge of the platform by this sudden gust.

Sydari nodded. "Well done, dragon. That was an impressive display of both power and restraint thereof. There is no more you can learn in this place; as such, you should return to your own world."

"Just a minute," Ignitus interjected. "Spyro, come this way."

Spyro walked over to the two spiritual guardians. "Now, look into the Pool of Visions," Ignitus said. "I do not know what you will see, but I believe it may be important."

Spyro nodded, and then gazed into the still waters of the Pool of Visions. Almost instantly, his vision was clouded by darkness.

The Fear Dragon roared at Sen-vu's impudence. "Kill them!" he bellowed. "Kill…" his next words were cut off by a jet of Poison crashing into him.

Sen-vu turned to Cynder. "Thanks," he said, "that guy was beginning to get annoying." Any further discussion was cut short by a wave of Apes and dragons crashing down on them.

Cynder slammed her tail blade into the chest of an ape as she sent wall of Shadow fire into the screaming ranks. Pulling the blade out, she slashed another ape's throat as she dug her claws into the skulls of two more apes. Opening her maw, she let out a shriek that sent waves of red Fear energy crashing into the mass of fur and flesh. As she watched the apes begin to swing wildly, injuring many of their comrades, a fireball exploded on her side. The explosion threw her several feet, raising a cloud of dust when she landed. Jumping to her feet, she saw a Fire Dragoness grin impishly at her. Growling, Cynder sent a jet of poison towards the dragoness, but was almost immediately slammed into the ground by an earth dragon attacking from the side. Before she could get up, he drove his head into her side again and began to push. Cynder gasped as she felt the earth begin to push towards the earth dragon, who was apparently trying to crush her to death. Growling in indignation, she used her Shadow claw to scratch at his chest and neck. She was rewarded with a grunt of pain and the pressure disappearing. Leaping away, she turned to face the earth dragon, who was examining a series of bloody scratches on his chest. He shot her a glare of hatred.

"You're gonna pay for that," he growled, advancing toward her. Cynder suddenly realized that a large group of apes, as well as the fire dragoness from earlier and a lightning dragon, where now advancing toward her. Taking a step back, she found her foot meeting wood. She had nowhere to run, and she was pretty sure that she couldn't take this many opponents at once.

One of the apes in the back groaned and fell forward, his head rolling off of his shoulders as he did so. That was all the warning they had before Sen-vu began to even the odds.

Leaping into the startled mass of apes, his katanas began to cut a bloody path through their ranks, felling fifteen before they even had the chance to face him. He brought his katanas up in a bloody arc, one following the other, whirling and slashing and spinning as the apes fell like chaff before his unstoppable onslaught. Suddenly, the fire dragoness appeared, clamping her jaws down on Sen-vu's right arm.

I must be crazy, Cynder thought, but I could swear he just smiled. And he was smiling as he released his left katana, brought his fist slamming into the fire dragoness's gut, and snatched his katana out of the air before it hit the ground, bringing it into an upward slice that beheaded an unfortunate ape. The Fire dragoness slammed into the ground and rolled for several feet, then started to pick herself up. She grinned as she licked the remainder of the blue liquid from her teeth. Her eyes widened, and her legs gave out from under her for no reason. Cynder, the earth dragon, the lightning dragon, and the apes stared as she started to writhe wildly on the ground, a scream of pure agony tearing out of her throat.

"What's the matter? Tummy not feeling so good?" everyone but the dragoness turned to Sen-vu. He was standing on a pile of ape bodies, smiling innocently as he rubbed his right arm, which was seeping the same blue fluid that had been on the Dragoness's lips. Then his face seemed to fall as he put on a show of having just remembered something. "Oh, did I forget to mention the fact that my blood is highly toxic to others? Oops, silly me." The dragoness was beginning to turn a sickly green as he spoke. A shriek of agony that caused Cynder to cover her ears and wince ripped its way from her lips. "Oh, don't worry, darling," Sen-vu admonished. "In a few minutes, you won't feel anything. You see," he continued, oblivious to her screams of agony, "the way our blood is toxic is that it breaks down the barriers in the stomach that usually keep the digestive juices in. As a result, those digestive fluids are then leaked into the bloodstream, where they are carried all over the body, causing your body to literally digest itself. It's a very colorful, if an… excruciatingly painful way to die. However, in a few moments, your brain will be completely digested, and you will no longer be able to feel pain. Silver lining to every cloud, eh?" the dragoness was now the same sickly green as a jet of poison. She no longer screamed, but continued to gurgle and rasp like a dying fish. Sen-vu absentmindedly stuck his finger up his nose, examined what he pulled out, and absentmindedly flicked it at a group of apes. The apes yelped and leapt back. Ignoring them, Sen-vu turned to Cynder and said, "the real show's gonna begin in three… Two… and, ah…"

There was a gurgling sound from the dying dragoness. The scales along her belly began to… bubble. Then, without warning, her stomach exploded, coating the ground around her with an array of brightly colored fluids. As Cynder watched in horror, the eyes of the dragoness began to dissolve, similar colored fluids leaking from her eyes and mouth.

The earth dragon let out a roar of rage. "YOU SADISTIC BASTARD!" he screamed, tears flowing from his eyes. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" roaring, he threw himself into a ball of earth and barreled toward Sen-vu, who leaped nimbly out of the way. With that, attention left the now-dead dragoness, and the battle resumed.

Spyro struggled, feeling the Darkness close in on him from all sides, the pressure building as he was engulfed in Darkness. His breathing became ragged as he began to panic, his eyes rolling wildly as he searched for something, anything…

Slowly, forms began to appear in the darkness, flitting about like a thousand still pictures flickering on and off. Noises began to reach Spyro's ears; the ring of steel on steel, the clanking of iron chains, roars of triumph, screams of terror, words that came in no particular order. Slowly, oh so slowly, a single scene began to come into focus, like a mountain becomes clearer as you near it. Spyro peered into this image, trying to bring it into focus. Then, he found himself inside the scene; a specter unable to do anything but watch.

"…could have worked together, Adavir," an ominous figure taunted another figure in a booming voice. They were in a large room filled with various items of gold, silver, and various suits of armor. The floor was covered by a richly embroidered carpet covered in strange designs, occasionally showing a scene of battle, celebration, feasting, figures discussing various subjects known only to them, and various other scenes that Spyro did not have time to take in. a large window opened onto a sunlit day, overlooking a city that dwarfed even Warfang in size. To either side of the window was a bed made with sheets embroidered with silver designs like those on the carpet, the sheets themselves being a dark blue. The wooden supports were covered in intricate carvings that displayed many scenes that Spyro was unable to take in as his observations were interrupted.

"We could have worked together," the ominous figure repeated. Spyro tried to see his features, but the figure, though obviously Avian, was covered in writhing tendrils of darkness, wisps of the darkness puffing away from his body, only to dissipate upon going too far. "You could have had so much power," the figure continued, "and all you had to do was keep your mouth shut. The Dark Sorceress is very generous in her rewards. You had potential. She would have been glad to give you a very important post. We could even have ruled Avaria together. But you," he snarled, his tone growing dangerous, "you couldn't keep quiet. You couldn't help but alert the Council, allowing them the chance to have all of Avaria up in arms so that thousands who would have simply been converted will die!"

"You're a fool," Adavir snarled. It was Adavir, but Spyro couldn't help but notice that he looked younger, more innocent. His smooth facial feathers showed none of the wear the Adavir Spyro knew wore. He was facing the shadowy figure, a sword that Spyro did not recognize resting upon his shoulder. The blade was definitely not Galescream, and looked dangerously sharp. Adavir was in a defensive stance, staring down the Shadowy figure with his feet planted firmly, ready to swing into action at a moments notice. "You've become corrupted, blinded to what really is," he continued. "If you serve the Dark Sorceress, she'll steal your soul and use it to increase her own strength. You say that we would've simply been converted? Hah! That bitch would've twisted every last citizen of Avaria into a series of foul abominations even Hell would look upon in disgust! How could I not let the Council know of such impending danger?"

His opponent hissed. "You know nothing, Adavir," he snarled. "That bastard Shadow and his little whelping have twisted your mind. The Dark Sorceress is going to lead us on a journey of transcendence! We are going to build the foundations for a higher order! Think of it, Adavir, a universe united, no worlds being unconnected, no person living in ignorance! She is leading us on a glorious crusade to free the world!"

Adavir growled and shifted his feet. "Over my dead body."

The shadowy figure snorted. "Very well," he snarled as two large blades that emanated darkness appeared in his hands, "have it your way."

The two figures leaped at each other with a roar, and began to dance to a tune of ringing steel and roars of anger, a dance that one would not survive.

Suddenly the room began to blur; Adavir and his opponent became blurs of grey and black. As the figure blurred even more, Spyro suddenly made out a third figure rushing towards the two other blurs. He saw the grey blur get knocked back toward the red blur that was rushing toward him, saw the gray blur turn, and saw him slam something into the red blur. The world faded to complete darkness, Adavir's pain-filled cry the last sound Spyro heard.

"No!"

*blink**blink* okay, what just happened? Apparently, Spyro saw something from Adavir's past, and it looks like something less than child-appropriate happened. Who was that figure? Who was the red blur? Who, or what, is Gadget? Will Cynder and Sen-vu get out of this fight alive? Find out… when I decide to tell you! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Hang on to your underwear, the next chapter's going to be a crazy one. How crazy? It involves dancing sumo wrestlers, King Arthur, the Killer Rabbit, and a lot of cheese!

BEHOLD THE POWER OF CHEESE!!!