A Dragon out of Time, A Crash and Spyro Story

Chapter 2: Frailty of the Body, Strenth of His Family

 One blink. Two blinks. Three. Crash felt sore... all over. He tried to get up but instantly felt extreme pain in his lower abdomen. Oh right, I was dying earlier. Well, at least I'm still alive. The Power Crystal he had retrieved from the past still lay in front of him, refracting light into his eyes. And next to it lay a large egg a little further ahead. Its ellipsoid shape and soft texture reminded Crash that he had indeed brought a Dragon to the present. Had he done the right thing? Should he bring the Dragon back to the past? Could he? Crash got himself off the floor feeling less pain than before and picked up the egg and held it in his hands. A sorceress wanted this creature dead. Well... Cortex wants me dead and I certainly don't want to die. I guess this little Dragon and I have something in common: very evil people want us to die. Now where the heck was Coco? Crash limped down a long corridor and towards a central platform. I can worry about the Power Crystal later; I just want to go home. He turned left and then headed down another corridor, this time to a different section of the Time Twisting Machine. There was one portal that Coco had assigned to bring both her and him to their home whenever they needed. Now seemed as good of a time as ever.

Crash opened the front door to his house and stepped inside. Coco wasn't home. Where was she? I'm starting to get worried. Crash staggered further and placed the purple and white egg on a coffee table, before plopping down on a green couch exhausted. He wasn't sure how long he had blacked out, but it definitely didn't relieve his fatigue. Crash stared at the large red scar on his lower stomach. There was no way to tell whether the knife had cut any important internal organs. He was able to move around fine if not in discomfort, and Crash was sure his life was no longer in immediate danger. Lucky me. I need to stitch this gash closed ASAP. After searching around the house, Crash began disinfecting the open wound with antibiotics and proceeded to sew the gash closed with a thin wire, grimacing each time the needle pierced his skin. He cut loose the excess wire and now finally relaxed on the couch.

Being alone allowed him to think about what having this Dragon in his life meant. Am I really going to raise a large, winged, fire breathing creature on this island, in my home? What if it tries to eat me? This wasn't at all like the cub I helped in the Arctic, Crash thought. That creature wasn't going to grow up in my house. I have to bring this Dragon back. I have to before it hatches. And besides, what would Coco say about this... wherever she might be at the moment. She would probably tell me that I was wrong to remove this creature from its home and rob it of its normal life. But that swamp wasn't its home. This egg was stolen from a realm that the thieves said Dragons never left. If I was to bring this baby Dragon back to that dangerous prehistoric swamp, it wouldn't be to its home. What am I supposed to do, then? I felt like I did the right thing, but did I do the smart thing? I got the crystal right, but I almost died trying to save this Dragons life. But I didn't die, and I can't accept innocent creatures being hurt because of my negligence to their plights. If I could find this Dragon's parents, I would without hesitation. But there isn't any way for me to find out. Would this Dragon have a normal life if it was raised on this island? Should I tell him if he's from the past? Tell him? It's an animal, right, it can't understand me? Then Crash thought back to what one of the thieves said about the Power Crystal they had stolen. It came from this Dragon's home realm. For Dragons to gather these crystals is to suggest that they had a sense of wealth. Maybe this Dragon would understand me. There's no saying whether those thieves I encountered in the past were humans (not that far back in time anyway). And the strangest thing was that they were speaking English. That shouldn't be possible. Hell... Time Travel shouldn't be possible; my creation shouldn't be possible, outsmarting Cortex shouldn't be possible. But I've pulled off that feat twice and hopefully can do it for a third time as well. Maybe anything is possible, even adding a new member to my small family.

It was faint at first, but a shattering noise slowly aroused Crash from his slumber on the couch. When had I fallen asleep? Crash rubbed his eyes, relieved to find that his lower abdomen wasn't hurting as bad as it had before. The egg on the table moved. It was seen in Crash's peripheral vision, but when he saw it move again, Crash pulse quickened. That Dragon was hatching now! Small fracture lines appeared growing along the surface of the egg, as it moved once again. A chunk of the upper half of the egg chipped off and fell to the floor. A yellow horn could be seen protruding from the hole in the egg. What do I do... what do I do!? Thought upon thought raced through Crash's mind, but he was frozen in both fear and anticipation. It was a relief to know that the ordeal from yesterday (or hundreds of thousands of years ago) hadn't killed the baby Dragon before he had a chance at life.