Finally! After a VERY extended hiatus, I'm back! And we're starting things off by remaking this chapter of my story. After I read what I wrote back then, I was not pleased with the way it ended. So I changed a few things, mostly at the end. Anyways, enough blabbering, let's get things started again!

I don't own any Spyro characters! Enjoy!

The Ripto Chronicles: Ripto's Games

Chapter 14: Puzzle Two

The four dragons entered the room. It looked just like the previous room except there was no table, no coins. In fact, the whole room was relatively empty, except for…

"Six dragons? What are six dragons doing here?" Relisan said.

"And… why are they about to be hung?" Spyro added.

In front of them, there were indeed six dragons, one had black scales, followed by ones with red, blue, a lighter blue, green, and silver scales from left to right. Each one had a noose around their necks, a bag covering their faces to prevent them from speaking, and a sign on their heads.

The black dragon's sign read "One who steals a hatchling."

The red dragon's sign said "One who causes physical harm/hurts another."

For the blue dragon it read "One who illegally sets fire to property"

"One who steals, especially by stealth" is what the light blue dragon's sign said.

The green dragon was labeled "One who cheats or defrauds money or property."

And finally, the silver dragon's read "One who kills another brutally."

"So… apparently all of these dragons committed some sort of crime, but how are we gonna get to the next room?" Cynder pondered. She looked at the door that would lead them out and saw yet another sign attached to it. "What's this?"

This sign said:

"Only the sinless one

can help you here.

Mistakenly pull on

a criminal's rope and

your reward will be returned

to you in a shape most

wondrously strange."

"Okay, so one of these dragons is actually innocent. But… how the hell are we supposed to figure out which?" asked Zakroz. "According to this, if we pull on the wrong rope, we kill the only chance of solving this puzzle… and we'll die too…"

Spyro thought for a moment. "Search the room guys, there may a clue somewhere like-" The purple dragon cut himself short as he felt something crunch under the padding of his paw. He looked down and saw a piece of parchment with writing on it. He picked it up as everyone gathered close to listen as Spyro read its message out loud.

"We may visit death upon the head

of the sinner but to what avail?

In the name of retribution,

we took part in a bitter

comedy this day.

You, hanging as you do,

by your neck,

Unforgiven and cursed by all.

Five of them committed crimes,

six went out for a drink and

were captured there.

Only one of them was innocent,

but they knew not that.

The bloodstains remaining

are proof of their guilt.

Trodden upon and thus created,

they are paths to

Hell or the Void.

The white bandages stained

with crimson,

The remains upon the scorched

black earth,

The whispered cries of

the maiden.

They are but meaningless contract.

They are also signs of guilt.

But one of them was

done without reason.

It was done out of fear

and a ripe imagination.

Sinning alone at the

end of a rope,

it is nothing less than

a disgrace to us all."

"Another riddle to solve… great… like the last one didn't give us enough trouble?" Cynder exclaimed.

"Actually, I don't think that this one is as difficult as the last," said Relisan. "In fact, I think I've already solved it. Lemme see that parchment." Spyro passed it on to Relisan who began to read it to himself. After a few moments of silence, save for a few inaudible mumbles from the red dragon, he smiled and nodded. "I'm sure this is the right answer."

"Well, don't leave us here guessing," Zakroz spoke up, "tell us."

"Alright. First of all, we need to know what type of crime each dragon has committed. By looking at their signs, we can say that the black dragon is a kidnapper, the red one's a bodily injurer, the blue one an arsonist, the lighter blue one a thief, the green one a swindler, and the silver one a murderer. This note describes each of them except for one.

"The line 'The bloodstains remaining are proof of their guilt' gives the image that someone has another's blood on them. This points to the murderer since he killed another brutally, causing blood to spill onto him.

"Next, 'The white bandages stained with crimson,' is the bodily injurer for many of them wrap bandages around their paws and legs to protect them before they beat the crap out of someone.

"'The remains upon the scorched black earth' is obviously the arsonist, no need to go further into that.

"'The whispered cries of the maiden' gives the image of a poor mother who has lost her child, thus leading us to believe that the hatchling was kidnapped.

"And last but not least, the last line, 'They are but meaningless contract' tells us that this supposed 'contract' is worthless, pointing all claws to the swindler.

"The only one who is not mentioned throughout the entire thing is the thief. There was no mentioning of property being stolen, nor of any dragon using stealth to their advantage." Relisan paused after his lengthy explanation, letting it all sink in. "Does that make sense to you guys?"

"Yeah," Cynder said, "it makes a lot of sense. And I don't think that there could possibly be another explanation."

"So that means that the one who's falsely accused is the thief? The blue dragon right? The lighter one I mean," asked Zakroz. Relisan nodded 'yes' in reply. "So then that means we have to pull on his rope to set him free and we can move on." He walked up to the six bounded dragons and stood behind them. He spotted a knot of rope behind each of their necks that would release them when pulled loose. He reached up for the one behind the white dragon and pulled it loose.

The light blue dragon quickly fell to the floor with a loud thud while at the same time, the sound of tightening ropes and a few gags from the remaining dragons filled the room, sending a shiver up the group's spines.

Zakroz helped the white dragon up onto his paws and removed the bag covering his face… or her face. "Glaisha?" the group exclaimed out of pure shock.

The frightened dragoness looked around at everyone's faces and leaped up to Relisan. She started crying and pressed her head against her brother's shoulder. "R-Relisan!" she sobbed.

The red and black dragon couldn't help but wrap his wings around her to comfort and calm her. "It's okay Glaisha, you're safe now," he said. "But… how did you get here?"

"It was th-that Ripto freak! He knocked me out and when I woke up I had that bag over my face! I couldn't see anything! All I heard was his creepy voice saying 'Your friends won't save you! They're going to fail and you're going to die! Just give up all hope!' I was so scared!"

Relisan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He wanted to get his paws around Ripto's throat and choke the life out of him for torturing his sister like that. He wanted to tear him to shreds. Right now though, what was more important was comforting his sister and finding a way out of the strange room. "It's alright sis, we're here now. We didn't fail and you're safe. Come on, let's find a way out of here okay?"

"Alright…" said the dragoness.

"Hmm…" Zakroz thought out loud. He went up to the door to see if it was opened. "Damn it… still locked. Now what?"

"If you can be patient for a moment I'll tell you!" Ripto's voice suddenly rang out. "I must say, for a group of low-life dragons, you sure are a clever bunch. My congratulations to you all. However, you still have another task ahead of you. Tell me, how well are you five at mixing potions?" After that, his voice faded and the door vanished, allowing the group to move on to the next and hopefully last challenge.

"Come on guys, let's go," said Spyro as hed went into the room first.

Cynder sighed and followed. "This is getting on my nerves… that little creep better be ready for the ass kicking I have in store for him!"

A much better ending if you ask me. Now then a quick announcement: the updates of this story as well as any new ideas I may come up with will be random, given my crazy schedule now. I can't guarantee anything but I'm going to try my best to come out with at least one new chapter every two weeks.

Thanks to everyone who has been with me even after my very long break. And thanks to all the readers out there who found my stories and continued to add me to their favorites/alerts. You all really helped re-inspire me!

Till next time!