Skylands Legends

19.2 Golden Arcade

The crowd's chanting raged like the heart of a thunderstorm. Thousands of people called out Spyro's name around the arena. The air began to feel electric as the crowd's energy began to feed into him. The fear and anxiety felt distant now as he let the stadium's emotions take over his own, letting the excitement feed into his body.

He had spent the last two hours hyping himself up for the fight. He ran through all of his old battles that he could remember, stretched out his wings, and even fed the flames in his chest in preparation. He allowed himself to sink into believing that the portalers still worked. This kept him from panicking too much, even though it was all delusional. And the cheering now only reinforced that idea. He was feeling pretty good about himself.

Outside the tunnel, the cheering slowly began to die down, being replaced by Trigger Happy's shrill voice. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AHAH! OH DO WE HAVE A SHOW FOR YOU TONIGHT! A TRUE CLASH OF TITANS! A BATTLE OF DARK AND LIGHT! A WAR BETWEEN GIANT.... AND LEGEND! A FIGHT TO THE DEATH!!!"

Death, the word repeated itself in his head a few times. Death is a possibility for this fight, but he knew that. He couldn't let this psych him out. It's just like old times. Him coming into the save the day. If he lost, he would just be sent back to the Academy. He believed that. He had to believe it.

The crowd's cheering brought him out of his thoughts, this time their cheers being much louder than before. Cheers of Spyro's name erupted around the arena once more before slowly subsiding to silence.

"WITHOUT FURTHER ADIEU, I GIVE YOU THE HERO OF SKYLANDS, THE PRINCE OF DRAGONS, THE LEGENDARY... SPYRO!!"

Taking that as his cue, Spyro spread his wings and dashed out of the tunnel. The cheers enveloped him as he soared out into the arena, circling around the stands as they chanted his name. Feeling his ego swell once more, he let it out, doing tricks to the audience's applause and striking heroic poses over them all.

It really is just like old times, he thought.

He caught Stealth Elf's eye from one of the private viewing boxes and flashed a cocky smile at her. She shook her head and looked away. His confidence wavered for a second before he shook himself out of it and did a few more tricks around the arena, finally settling down on the arena floor as the crowd started to go silent once more.

"And now for our contender," Trigger Happy said in a dark tone. There was a loud screech as a giant metal cage was lowered down over the arena, its metal bars being as thick as trees with gaps large enough for Spyro to fit through five times over. Once it was lowered, a gate large enough to fit a giant on the other side of the arena slowly began to open.

"THE CHAMPION OF THE GOLDEN ARCADE! THE TERROR OF THE MONSTROUS ISLES! I GIVE YOU...THE THUNDER TOW!!"

Before the introduction had even been completed, the beast was forcing its way out of the gate. Two great sets of claws came out from under the gates, grappling onto the metal bars of the cage and pulling the rest of the creature out into the open. The great plates of crustacean armor on his back rippled as he raised his head enough so that he could look down on Spyro. More layers of his red armor unfurled atop his head into a great horn. He rose up to his full height and finally let go of the metal cage, leaving the two poles he had grabbed onto bent into warped shapes.

To say the Thunder Tow was big was an understatement. The creature was immense. He stood just as tall as any of the Giants when at their full height, if not taller. He let loose a great roar directed right at Spyro, the force of it almost knocking him off of his feet.

His confidence was immediately shattered. The fear crept back over him as Trigger Happy's words rang out in his ears. To the death... He couldn't kill this creature! There was no possible way! The reasons to stand and fight began to slip away as his reasons to live filled his mind. He felt that now all too familiar tightness in his chest beginning to form as his heart started racing. His muscles tightened into a petrified state as he could no longer move.