Spyro: Everyone is here

Let the Sleeping Dogs Die

Spyro stared down the portal housed in the dragon head statue's mouth. The last loose end to tie up in the Artisans home. He and Ember were going to confront Toasty. Argus had provided quite the description of the fiend, but Spyro –and Ember– were ready.

"So are we gonna... go through the portal, or..?"

Spyro looked to Ember, a bored, tired, and stern expression on his face. He was already done with the odd newcomer's schenanigans, and he hadn't known her for more than, what? A day and a half?

"Way to ruin the atmosphere," Spyro deadpanned, frustrated. 

"Well, are we?" 

Spyro sighed, "Yes!" his voice was harsh, but Ember just gave him a puzzled look. She and Lotus exchanged a glance as Spyro made his way through the portal in a huff.

The atmosphere of Toasty's realm was different from anything else Ember had experienced in Artisans. Between the red sky and amount of enemies, the tense atmosphere almost got to her. 

Emphasis on almost.

If she could be trusted to be sent to Jacques' realm she could handle this. Plus, Lotus was with her, as well as Spyro and his dragonfly. While the purple one hardly seemed to know basic facts like how to deal with fireproof armor and to always check for fools or magic cannons, he was brave and strong. Plus, he knew things she didn't know as well, and he was-

Wait, the whole saving dragons thing, she should probably get moving and take care of that.

The dragoness returned to reality and realized the Spyro was having trouble with the... dogs. Which weren't even magically changing sizes or on fire or anything . Sighing with disappointment, she made her way over to help out.

And was almost immediately crushed by the bellyflop of a dog. Which hurt and was slightly frustrating. Standing back up, she spat fire upon the dog, which surprisingly, did not kill it. The now charred and very angry dog jumped above her once more in preparation for another attack. Ember stood her ground, angling her head upward and releasing another burst of flame. Luckily for her, the dog did die this time, becoming a gem that landed on her snout, causing Ember a little pain.

"Well, that was-" Ember started, turning to Lotus, "Oh, right. Should probably get you some butterflies, huh?"

Lotus, who was now pink as opposed to her usual green, nodded tiredly. Ember turned to look for something that would release butterflies upon death, but the only creatures in sight were Spyro, Sparx, and a bunch of sleeping dogs and waking shepherds. 

"But we should probably clear out the area first" Ember reasoned.

Lotus sighed and nodded, an exasperated yet amused expression on her face, "I'll remind you. Try not to get hit again, okay?"

"Uh huh" Ember said before charging into a dog, not hurting it, and then getting hit again. 

"Ember?" Lotus, now blue, began.

"Yeah?"

"What," she asked, "did I literally just tell you seconds ago?"

"Uh... you'll remind me to get butterflies?"

"And..?"

"And... wait a sec," Ember noticed the dog was still alive and right above her. She rolled out of the way, flamed it, jumped, and flamed it again.

"And..." Ember was a bit out of breath, "And.."

"Try not to get hit!" Lotus scolded. Then, calming down, she added, "Okay?"

"Okay, I'll do better now, promise!" Ember affirmed. She turned, again, to go help Spyro, more carefully this time, trying not to wake the dogs if she could help it. Arriving at Spyro's side, the two exchanged a silent nod. There were still dogs to be taken care of, so it was time to get to work. 

Spyro launched himself at a nearby shepherd, then whirled from behind a dog as it woke up. Ember torched the dog from the front as it readied itself for a retaliating leap. But as it did so, Spyro decided it was his turn to torch the beast. So he did and then it died. The shepherd's other dog was waking up now, so the two dragons turned to it, blowing fire at it simultaneously. It was too much for the dog and with a poof it turned into a gem.  Ember and Spyro looked at each other with mischievous grins. 

They had a strategy now. Multiple, even. Things just got a whole lot easier.

The dragon duo fought well against the dogs now, preforming pincers and similar strategies. Dog after dog fell before them, and before long, they came across a crystallized dragon. Probably the owner of the building they'd just traversed through.

They released the lean, yellow-orange dragon with a paint palette and beret  He, too, had leathery wings, similar to Ember's but more similar to Spyro's.

"Oh, thank you. You see, Gnasty Gnorc has put one his most devious henchmen in charge of the Artisan world," Said the adult.

"And you're gonna help us fight him, right?" Asked Ember.

"You were planning on facing him alone? Just the two of you?"

"You could help" Ember pointed out.

"I could, but even then..." he paused, "You wait right here, I'll get some more help." With that, he was gone.

"Okay, lets's take that punk on, I think I smell a barbecue!"

"Didn't he just tell us to wait?" Lotus asked. 

Spyro, excited for battle, ignored Lotus, if he heard her at all in the first place. He looked to their foe, and the rest's eyes followed. Toasty was a tall individual with a pumpkin head and long coat. In front of him was a sleeping dog. Dealing with both Toasty and the dog might be tough, but it could be done.

Spyro, of course, was the first to charge in, and Ember soon followed. Spyro skidded past the dog and stopped on Toasty's left. Facing his opponent, he blew a plume of flame at him. Toasty, despite allegedly being high-class among Gnasty's henchmen, proceeded to flee like a coward.

...into another arena with two more dogs, and Spyro hadn't even taken care of this dog yet, which he should probably-

Spyro's thoughts were interrupted as Ember charged past him, knocking him off balance momentarily. Looking behind him, apparently she had already taken care of the dog, and facing forward again, it looked like she was about to do the same to the next two. She spun around while spitting fire, then met the dogs in the air and killed them. Toasty then smacked her out of the air with his scythe, and Lotus disappeared. Ember was knocked into a wall of the makeshift arena. Spyro wasn't about to just sit and watch, so he quickly, quietly advanced towards Toasty, who was still focused on Ember. Creeping up behind the pumpkin-headed foe, Spyro singed Toasty's coat into nothing but ash revealing Toasty's true form...

A sheep on stilts. The big bad that Gnasty had put in charge of the Artisans realm was a sheep on stilts. For a moment, Spyro stared, flabbergasted, before torching the cornered sheep. In his place many gems and a blue and purple butterfly appeared. With the butterfly Lotus returned, already green. Thinking nothing of it, the heroes then jumped into the "Return Home" whirlwind.

Toasty had been defeated, and Artisans freed.

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Yay! We'll actually spend one more chapter in the Artisans realm, but uh! No fight scenes or anything, which is good because I'm not good with fight scenes.

Kinda proud of the title here.

Toasty doesn't actually release a butterfly in the game... but he does here because, uh, I said so.

Hopefully it's not coming off as like, Spyro or Ember being the "stronger" one right now. Ember might've stolen the show a bit too much here. 

Anyway, yeah, hope you enjoyed!