Skylands Legends

22.2 The Beast

Spyro had done his best to keep his nerves in check around the group, but staring down the creature that had killed nearly a dozen Skylanders and a few thousand soldiers made it a lot more difficult. The only reason he managed was due to the comforting warmth that was radiating from the Awakening stone. It felt like it knew he was stressed and was sending him positive affirmations or something. If he wasn't about to go to battle he would have questioned it more. But not now. There wasn't time.

The beast had reached the top of the steps at a sprint and was now barreling directly towards him. He waited until the last second before dodging out of the way, his arcane infused wings allowing him to move at much faster speeds. He channeled more arcane down to his tail, trailing sparks of yellow light out of it. The sparks would linger for half a second before firing towards the beast as a burst of energy. The first few struck his back, singing his fur and angering him even more.

"There you go," Spyro muttered, watching as the beast turned to face him. "Fall for the trick you dumb hairy oaf."

Just as he had planned, Pop Fizz, Stealth Elf, and Jet-Vac hurled their anhydroladium beakers at the beast. The beads struck the chemicals and dark ooze exploded all over the Night Squatch's legs, instantly hardening them to the ground.

Spyro used this distraction to circle around to the beast's back, leveling his horns for what would be a deadly blow to the creature from behind. Only at the last second, the beast managed to dodge to the side. He was so surprised by this, he almost crashed into one of the throne room's pillars. He arched his wings, coming to a stop and looked to see what had gone wrong.

The anhydroladium mounds had formed around the beast's legs, making his movements clunky and slow, but they hadn't fused to the floor. How did that... the ice! Clouds, he hadn't thought of that! Just as water dissolved the anhydroladium, the ice was slowly doing the same.

He watched as the beast awkwardly dodged another vial thrown from Stealth Elf. At least it was slowing him down. But that wouldn't be for long with how fast the ice was chipping away at the dark mounds. He needed to act quick!

Don't fail me now, he thought at the Awakening stone. Tucking his wings, he dove in for another attack. He let loose a fireball, striking the beast in the back. He soared by him and turned around for another pass. The next fireball hit its mark as well. He noted the burns didn't immediately heal. That was something. It wouldn't be enough to kill the Night Squatch, but it was a start.

He soared in for a third strike, only this time the beast countered with a deep howl. Arcane energy reverberated through the room, catching his fireball and hurling it back at him. He had little time to react before it collided head first with him, knocking him out of the air in surprise. He crashed to the ice at the beast's feet, immediately rolling to the side to avoid a powerful overhead slam from the creature. He ignited his wings with arcane and dashed out of range.

"We need a new plan!" He called out.

"On it!" Jet-Vac yelled, rushing the beast from behind a pillar.

Not like that! Spyro thought. What the hell did he think he was going to do? Did he forget his Awakening stone was a fake? Whether or not he remembered, it didn't matter. He was already drawing the Night Squatch's attention.

Firing off blasts of air from his vac gun to put the beast off balance, the sky baron charged. He holstered the gun and drew out Eruptor's lance, diving forward to attack. The beast stepped back, using the anhydroladium stuck to his leg to deflect the blow. This left Jet-Vac open to a counter attack. Spyro dashed in to help him, pushing him out of the way of the Night Squatch's swipe, but getting caught in the process.