Spyro the Dragon and related concepts are property of Activision.

-u-

After they tire of taking out their frustration on you and Hunter, the massive chunks of dimwitted thick flesh known as rhynocs unceremoniously throw their prisoners into a bear-drawn wheeled cage. You rescue mission has taken a turn for the worst, and Sparx is its latest casualty. Barely clinging to consciousness after the beating, you lie on your belly, hoping to alleviate the pain from your wounds, but the agony on your back persists. Flight had always frustrated you; now you can't even glide. Hunter is the lucky one; all those blows to the head put his lights out quickly. Only the faint rise and fall of his furry chest lets you know he still clings to life.

Who did you think you were? A gallant hero? A savior? A rebel? You manage to turn yourself around, crawling on your underbelly like a wretched serpent. Off in the distance, you can see the Midnight Mountain range slowly disappear. After all that effort and all that bravado, you ended up here. You're standing in your grave. A bored-looking armored rhynoc pokes you under the eye with his spear, but you are beyond caring what happens to you now. As the mountains gradually sink into the horizon, you let yourself remember all the promises you'd made.

To your friends.

To your elders.

To your allies.

To your unborn brothers and sisters.

You have failed them. You have failed yourself. And every step that crystal bear takes drags you further to an uncertain fate. You know you deserve it. Some hero.

Try again, Spyro.

-u-

Author's Note: I don't normally write such dark stuff. This was more an experiment than anything else; I never found out what the Game Over screens for the original PS1 games looked like (I loved the little guy too much). If it were up to me, though, I'd have tried to go for something that would make you REALLY want to try again.