Spyro Fan Fiction ❯ A Turbulent Life ❯ Parasite Forest ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Recap: After the Dead Ruins incident, things were peaceful for a little while. Spyro, Red and Sparx ended up sleeping for a full day, being very surprised to find that out the next morning. After breakfast, Spyro, Red and Sparx headed out to Sunrise Spring. Soon after, the Sorcerer appeared and sent Spyro straight to the Shadow Realm. Spyro soon found out that he was completely powerless against the monsters that confronted him. But help was soon on the way as Red found out that his link with Cosma would prevent the dark magic of the Shadow Realm from draining him of his power. After getting his Shadowstone back, he went into the Shadow Realm. He took care of the monsters and brought Spyro out of the dreary realm.
/ is Cosma mental talk
// is Red mental talk
' is thoughts

&n bsp; Chapter 8: Parasite Forest

A year has passed since the Sorcerer's latest unsuccessful plot against Spyro and Red. During that year, there were no further attempts on Spyro's life from the Sorcerer, Misteria or Ineptune. Everyone, especially Spyro, enjoyed the year of peace. During that year's time, the buildings destroyed by the mega-tsunami had been rebuilt. About a few months after the rebuilding, Dragon Shores had gotten back to somewhat normal.

Spyro, Sparx, Red and Hunter were currently in the inn. Spyro and Sparx watched as Hunter and Red played a round of Dragon Draughts. Hunter had black checker pieces while Red had mini pieces that looked like his head. So far, it was a stalemate. Hunter was down to one king piece while Red had two. Neither one could get an edge over the other. The game has lasted for well over an hour so far.

"I've never seen a game of Dragon Draughts last this long," Spyro said.

"Me neither," Sparx agreed. "They're both playing very well," he added.

"They sure are," Spyro agreed.

The game went on for another half an hour before Red made the winning move that ended the game. He was able to corner Hunter's king so that Hunter had no choice but to be jumped. Hunter smiled and went over to congratulate Red.

"That was a great game. That has to be the longest round of Dragon Draughts I've ever played. You played very well," Hunter said.

"You played great yourself Hunter. You had me for a while," Red said.

"That was a great game," Spyro agreed.

Suddenly, they heard a loud thud just outside.

"What was that?" Sparx asked.

"I don't know. Let's find out," Artigan responded. He opened the door and gasped.

Lying a few yards from the door was an unconscious and seriously injured Tomas.

"What is it?" Red asked. He made his way over to the doorway and gasped in horror. "It's Tomas. Let's get him inside," he added. He walked over and used the Move spell to lift Tomas up. He then placed Tomas over his shoulders before heading back in. He walked in sideways, making sure not to injure Tomas more.

Spyro, Sparx and Hunter gasped upon seeing Tomas's condition. Red headed upstairs with Spyro and the others close behind. Artigan opened the door to his room and went in with Red and the others right behind him. Red placed Tomas on the bed. Then Red healed Tomas. Tomas regained consciousness several seconds later. Once his vision cleared, he saw several worried faces looking at him.

"Are you all right?" Red asked.

"I'm fine now. Thank you Red. That healing ability of yours comes in handy," Tomas responded.

"No problem Tomas," Red said.

"What happened?" Spyro asked.

"The Sorcerer happened. He attacked the dojo. The other Elders told me to get help. The Sorcerer attacked me to keep me from leaving, but I was able to get out. But I was seriously injured in the process. I really don't know how I was able to fly here," Tomas responded.

"We've got to help the other Elders," Sparx said.

"Let's go Tomas. The rest of you stay here," Red said.

Spyro and the others nodded before Red and Tomas teleported to the dojo. There was no sign of the Sorcerer but the dojo was in ruins. Tomas and Red could sense weakening auras under the massive pile of debris.

"We've got to hurry. They won't last much longer under all that," Red said.

"Let's use the Move spell to remove the debris," Tomas said.

"Good idea," Red said.

Tomas performed the spell first to remove some of the debris. Red then used the spell several seconds after. By repeating this synchronized motion, the two were able to quickly remove enough debris to completely uncover the other Elders. Then Red healed the other Elders. They regained consciousness soon afterwards and saw Red and Tomas in front of them.

"Thank goodness you found help in time Tomas. I thought it was the end for me," Astor said.

"If not for Red, I probably would've been a goner myself," Tomas said.

"Are you guys all right?" Red asked.

"Yes. We're all fine thanks to you," Cho Lei responded.

"Oh no!" Titan suddenly said.

"What is it?" Red asked.

"The Sorcerer headed for the inn. He said that he was hoping that Tomas would come here with only you," Titan responded.

"I've got to go then," Red said before teleporting back to the inn. Upon arriving, he saw Sparx, Hunter and Artigan regaining consciousness. "What happened and where's Spyro?" he asked.

"The Sorcerer suddenly appeared. He attacked us with electric balls, knocking us out," Hunter responded. "He must've taken Spyro while we were out," he added.

"He won't have Spyro much longer. I'll see to that," Red said before disappearing again. He reappeared in the Sorcerer's world.

The Sorcerer's monsters immediately went on the attack. Two Shadow Knights lunged at Red from different directions. Red flew up at the last moment, and the knights crashed into each other. Red quickly erected force field around himself, which prevented the alien monsters' attacks from hitting him.

He quickly made his way to the Sorcerer's lair and burst through the doors. "Where's Spyro?" he asked lowly.

"Why he's right in there," the Sorcerer responded, pointing to a black machine.

Red looked inside the machine and saw an unconscious Spyro. "Spyro!" he should, rushing over to the machine. He just about reached the machine when it suddenly disappeared.

"You didn't think that I would make it that easy for you did you?" the Sorcerer asked.

"What did you do with him?" Red asked snarling.

"Your precious little son and the machine are under the water," the Sorcerer said before the water became acidic. "Or as I should say, under the acid. The only thing keeping the little brat alive right now is that machine because it's acid proof," he added before Ineptune surfaced.

Red growled at the Sorcerer's last statement. 'You'll pay for calling my son a brat,' he thought.

"I'd like to see how you'll even get down there now. It's too bad that you're not immune to acid like I am," Ineptune said.

/She doesn't know you very well does she?/

//No she doesn't// "I don't need to be immune to acid. I already have a way to shield myself from it," he added smirking.

"What do you mean by that?" Misteria asked.

Red simply erected a force field around himself.

"What is this?" Misteria asked, clearly taken back.

Red ran to the edge and dove into the acid. He quickly surfaced and face Misteria. "I believe that this answers your question," he responded, never losing the smirk.

"It can't be. How can you be powerful enough to withstand acid?" Ineptune said in shock.

"That's what we'd like to know," Misteria and the Sorcerer said.

"Let's just say that I now have powers that even you couldn't comprehend," Red said.

/You must get to Spyro. I can sense the machine slowly draining his life away/

//I won't allow that to happen// Then he dove under the acid and swam towards the machine.

Ineptune blocked his path. "It won't be that easy," she said.

"It will be easier than you think," Red said. He then used the Move spell to send Ineptune careening into a wall.

The force of impact knocked her out. Then Red swam down towards the machine.

//How will I get Spyro out? The acid will likely pour into the machine once I breach it, instantly killing him//

/Remember when I helped you through that freak tornado?/

//Yes I do. You expanded the shield you put around me so it could cover Spyro as well//

/Once you touch the machine, the force field will expand around it. The outside of the machine is acid proof, but as you alluded to, the inside probably isn't. Once you've taken Spyro out, you can shrink the force field to where it will engulf only you and him/

Red then touched the machine. Upon touching the machine, the force field expanded around it. Then Red punched through the glass. He reached in and pulled Spyro out. The force field then shrank to encircle just the two of them. Now that the machine had a breach, the acid started eating away at it. But because acid is liquid, the machine also began to short circuit.

"That's my cue to get out of here," Red said before flapping his wings, not wanting to get caught in the blast even though the force field would protect him and Spyro. He shot out of the water just as the machine exploded, sending acid shooting into the air. He moved out of the upcoming acid's path and watched as it ate a hole in the roof. He then looked down for a moment and smirked upon seeing the Sorcerer and Misteria scrambling to get out of the acid that rained down. Still under the protection of his force field, he then flew through the acid and out through the hole in the roof.

After flying out of the acid, the force field disappeared. But soon, a yellow aura surrounded Red and Spyro. Spyro felt his energy being restored. About ten minutes later, Spyro's energy was completely restored. Then the aura died down. He regained consciousness to find blue sky all around him. He smiled and looked up at his father.

"Hey dad," he said smiling.

"Hey Spyro," Red said, smiling as well.

"What happened?" Spyro asked.

"I'll explain once we're back at the inn," Red responded before teleporting. He reappeared hovering above the inn. He landed and placed Spyro down before they both went inside.

"Spyro! Thank goodness you're all right," Sparx said.

"No, thank my father," Spyro said.

"What happened?" Hunter asked.

Red then explained everything that happened. Meanwhile back at the Sorcerer's lair, the explosion of acid had finally gotten settled again. Ineptune surfaced from the acidic water. By some stroke of luck, Red had knocked her far enough to where she wouldn't be caught in the huge upsurge of acid. The Sorcerer then changed the water back to normal.

"I didn't expect that Red would be that strong," Ineptune said.

"Yes, it seems as though we have underestimated him yet again. But if we are to take over the Dragon Worlds as well as Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds, we need to get him out of the way," the Sorcerer said.

"I have just the way," Misteria said.

"Please enlighten us," the Sorcerer said.

"We clearly know that Red's greatest weakness is that little brat of his. I can send that pipsqueak to a place that will keep Red distracted long enough for us to make our move. It's called Parasite Forest," Misteria said.

"What is that?" Ineptune asked.

"I'm glad you asked. Parasite Forest is a place that I created myself. Almost everyone who had wandered into my forest never came back out. I was able to lead that little brat there, but Red had apparently followed. If not for Red's interference, I would've killed the little brat there," Misteria responded.

"I'm starting to like that place already. It sounds like the perfect place for that little purple menace to finally be eliminated," the Sorcerer said.

"When the right opportunity comes, I'll send him there. Because Red will surely try to help his precious little son, it will leave the others vulnerable," Misteria said.

"Yes it will. The other Elders are nowhere near as powerful as we are. They will easily fall to our superior power," the Sorcerer said.

Meanwhile, there was a bit of a party going on at Dragon Shores. The witchdoctors from Luau Island had stopped by and were currently playing their drums. It didn't take too long before Brigid and Laird started dancing to the beat. Bianca and Blink had come by and were also soon on their feet moving to the beat. Even Sparx tried to dance to the beat. Spyro and the others just smiled as they watched their friends dancing to the drums.

"You should join us on the drums Spyro Ooga Booga," Rodtikiney said.

"I don't know," Spyro said hesitantly.

"Come on. You were great the last time. Play with us," Rodtikiney said.

"All right," Spyro said smiling. He went over to the empty set of drums and started playing the pattern he learned at Luau Island.

"Hahahahaha, you've still got it Spyro," Rodtikiney said.

Red just smiled as he watched his son play the drums. 'He never told me that he could play the drums. He's pretty good too,' he thought. He looked up when he saw a tall pink dragon in front of him. "Oh hey Mrs. Funderlic," he said.

"Do you want to dance?" Mrs. Funderlick asked.

"What about your husband?" Red asked in response.

"Don't worry Red. I already asked him. He said that he's fine with just watching," Mrs. Funderlic responded smiling.

"Okay then. I'll dance with you," Red said before he and Mrs. Funderlic went into the middle of the circle with Brigid and Laird and soon began dancing along to the drums as well.

Spyro glanced and saw his father dancing to the drums as well. He smiled before continuing to play. After playing the rhythms that he leared at Luau Island, he began creating his own rhythms. Flame and Ember had decided to stop by. When they saw the party going on, they were soon dancing themselves.

"This is great!" Flame said.

"It sure is," Ember agreed.

An hour later, everyone stopped to take a break.

"I never knew that you could play the drums Spyro. You played them very well I might add," Flame said.

"What Flame said," Ember said.

"That goes ditto for me," Red added.

"You were awesome Spyro hahahaha," Rodtikiney said.

"Yeah," the other four witchdoctors chorused.

"Thanks guys," Spyro said.

"Well we should be heading back to Luau Island now. But we'll visit every now and then," Rodtikiney said about half an hour later.

"I can hardly wait already. You sure know how to have fun," Flame said.

Spyro and the others waved as Rodtikiney and the other witchdoctors sailed away. Then everyone returned to his/her respective house. Spyro, Sparx and Red simply went back into the inn. Wanting to sail across the open sea, Hunter and Blink took the Sea Dragon back to their respective homes. Bianca teleported back to her home.

"Flame's right about thoes witchdoctors. They do know who to have a good time," Artigan said.

"They sure do," Red said.

Suddenly, a loud thunderclap boomed. The thunder was so loud that it actually shook the inn. Part of the roof caved in. Luckily, no one was under the part of the roof that caved in. A lightning bolt bad struck through the hole in the roof and formed a cage around Spyro. Then the electrical cage began to shrink. In only several seconds, the electrical cage disappeared, Spyro with it. It happened so fast, that there was really no time to react.

"Could someone tell me what just happened?" Artigan asked.

"Misteria must be behind this," Red responded.

"How perceptive of you," a familiar voice said.

Red looked up and saw both a now clear sky and Misteria descending through the hole. "What have you done with my son?" he asked lowly.

"Your precious little son is in my forest. I suggest that you leave now because it's only a matter of time before my minions find him. And one more thing, the beauty of creating a forest is that I can transport it to wherever I choose. So don't think that it's where you find it the last time. And you also can't just teleport there. If you try, the forest will simply disappear and relocate itself," Misteria said before disappearing.

"Oh no," Red said in horror.

"What is it? What did she mean?" Sparx asked.

"Spyro is in Parasite Forest," Red responded.

"What?!" Sparx explained.

"That's right. Misteria took Spyro to Parasite Forest," Red responded. Then he proceeded to fly through the hole in the ceiling.

"Wait, just what did she mean by creating the forest?" Artigan asked.

"Sparx, can you tell him?" Red asked in response.

"Sure Red. Bring Spyro back safe," Sparx said.

"Don't worry. I will," Red said before flying through the hole in the ceiling. He tried to locate Spyro's aura but it was though something concealed it. //We've got a problem. Something is hiding Spyro's aura. It's got to be the forest//

/That's a large problem indeed. It's very obvious that Misteria doesn't want us finding Spyro easily. Maybe we can try to sense the forest itself/

//What do you mean?//

/Misteria said that she created the forest. So there must be quite a few things that we'll be able to sense from it that aren't normal/

Then the amulet started to glow. Red hovered in the air and closed his eyes. Both he and Cosma were trying to pick up anything unusual. Several minutes later, Red felt the energy of the forest trying to drain him mentally. But he was able to banish it from his mind.

/That was a close one/

//I know. But I was able to get a fix on where the forest is//

/Well there's no time to lose/

Red then shot through the sky. He prayed to every deity he knew that he would make it in time. 'I'm coming Spyro. I pray that you're all right,' he thought.

Meanwhile, Spyro was doing fine for now. The vines tried to latch around him, but he was able to evade them. After his earlier experience in the forest, he didn't want to take any chances. He walked slowly and cautiously through the forest. He was unaware that Misteria's minions were hot on his trail, quickly closing in on him.

'I hope that I find a way out of this spooky forest,' Spyro thought. Several moments later, he felt something strong grab him roughly around his middle. He looked down to see a scaly green arm around him. He looked up into glaring red eyes. "W-what are you?" he asked.

The creature couldn't speak so it simply hissed at him. Soon more creatures like the one that had Spyro came out. Spyro saw that the creatures had scaly bodies and stood on two legs. They had fin-like ears. They also had fins on their forearms and ankles, as well as a pectoral fin on their backs. They had gills, but apparently had no trouble breathing out of the water.

Then the creature holding Spyro bared its teeth at him, revealing three-inch long fangs. A yellow substance dripped from the tip of the fangs. This yellow substance was a deadly poison. Once injected, the poison would first paralyze the victim. After the paralysis, the posion would then begin to quickly shut the body down.

Spyro struggled as the creature lowered its fangs to his neck. He then breathed fire at it. The creature screamed in pain, dropping Spyro. Taking advantage of being let go, Spyro made a run for it. The creatures pursued. Their legs had become fins, and they were swimming through the air. It didn't take long for the creatures to completely surround Spyro. Then two of them lunged for Spyro.

Spyro jumped at the last moment, causing the creatures to stab each other. Due to how low the creature were when they lunged at Spyro, they ended up poking each other's eyes out. They were now blind. Soon another creature turned on a dime and came at him again, quicker this time. This time, the creature was able to squash Spyro across the right side of his body. Spyro screamed as the creature slashed him. He crumpled to the ground, a deep gash going across his right side. Blood began to flow freely from the large wound.

Then one of the creatures came at him, fangs bared. He could see the poison dripping from the fangs. He tried to breathe fire, but the extreme pain from the deep gash in his side prevented him from doing so. The creature closed the gap. Suddenly, the creature was frozen in its tracks. Another creature lunged for Spyro. But an ice beam came out of nowhere, freezing it as well. The frozen creature dropped to the ground.

"Who did that?" Spyro asked out loud.

"I did," a familiar deep voice responded from above.

Spyro quickly looked up, forgetting about the deep gash in his side. He moved too quickly while looking up, causing the gash to open even water. "Aaaaahhhhh!" he screamed in severe pain.

The blood still oozing out of the already deep gash was now pouring out of the now even wider gash. Spyro soon felt extremely dizzy from blood loss and fainted into his own-pooled blood. Another creature lunged at Spyro. But Spyro was suddenly lifted into the air. The creature ended up going right under Spyro. Under the influence of the Move spell, Spyro floated up into Red's arms. Then Red made himself and Spyro invisible.

"I'll make you all better Spyro," Red said. //I can heal his wound, but I don't think that would be of too much help this time. That's got to be at least half of his blood on the ground//

/You'll have to really concentrate on this one. You'll have to use your healing at full power/

//What do you mean by using it at full power? I thought that I have been using it at full power//

/It only takes a small amount of healing power to close wounds. But replenishing blood is different. Because Spyro has indeed lost over half his blood, it will take every ounce of your healing power to replenish it all. You can do it. I know you can/

Red closed his eyes in concentration. A light blue aura engulfed him and Spyro. The pooled blood on the ground floated into the air. It was cleaned of impurities before reentering through the gash in Spyro's side. After all the blood was back in place, the gash in Spyro's side started closing. Several seconds later, the gash was completely gone.

Several minutes later, Spyro began to regain consciousness. He felt strong scaly arms around him, but these arms held him in a much gentler grip that he knew very well. He immediately knew who was holding him, smiling as he looked into his father's gentle gaze.

"Are you all right?" Red asked.

"I am now thanks to you," Spyro responded. "I thought I was history," he added.

"I'm glad I made it in time. I was very worried when I saw how much blood you lost," Red said.

"How are we going to get out of this place though?" Spyro asked.

"If I could, I would simply teleport us out of here. But if I were to teleport even a short distance, the forest would probably reappear in the area that we appear at. Because Misteria created this forest, she has full control over it," Red responded. He saw that Spyro was looking down at the creatures.

"Why aren't those things coming after us?" Spyro asked.

"I made us invisible to them," Red responded.

"But they would've been able to sniff me out though," Spyro said.

"Not precisely Spyro. I also made us undetectable to them. That is the power of full invisibility," Red said before flying on. He landed about ten minutes later and powered down his invisibility before putting Spyro down.

Then the ground began to shake. Numerous vines began sprouting from out of the ground. Instead of lashing out at Spyro and Red, the vines simply melded together. As the vines melded, they began to form a solid being. Several minutes later, the melding was complete. A fifty-foot vine monster stood before the pair. The monster then reached out to grap Spyro.

"Oh no you don't," Red said. He picked up Spyro and flew out of the arm's path.

"Were those parasite vines?" Spyro asked.

"Yes they were. I never knew that they could do this," Red responded. He veered left to avoid the monster's arm again. Then he veered right.

"Is there any place you could put me?" Spyro asked.

"If this were a normal forest, I would put you in one of the trees. But the trees can drain the life out of you just like this ugly thing in front of us can. The ground itself is the only thing that doesn't feed off of living energy," Red responded. He dodged the monster for an additional ten minutes. "Okay, now I'm getting annoyed. Let's teach this vine reject a lesson," he added.

"Gladly," Spyro said before he and Red breathed fire at the monster.

The monster screamed as the fire burned through it. Alone, Spyro wouldn't have been come close to burning this monster, but with Red helping, their combined flame was more that enough to do damage. The monster screamed as Spyro and Red's flames burned through it. Soon, Spyro and Red had severed the monster into two halves. The halves fell to the floor. But the halves then inched towards each other, trying to become whole again.

"Not so fast," Red said before breathing fire down on one of the halves.

About five minutes later, the half had completely burned away. The other half shared the same fate as Red burned it away as well. Then Red landed before putting Spyro down again. Then they continued on foot. About two hours later, Spyro began to slow down. It was clear that he needed a break.

"We need...to stop...somewhere. I'm...getting...pretty tired," Spyro said between pants.

"I need a break as well, but we can't stop here. There's too much vegetation. But I know where we can rest," Red said before picking Spyro up. He then flew off. He landed at a clearing half an hour later and carefully set Spyro down; Spyro had drifted off to sleep during the flight. He soon lay down next to his sleeping son. He wrapped his arms around Spyro before going into a light doze, knowing that anything could happen in Parasite Forest.

Meanwhile, things were very dreary in the Dragon Worlds, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. The Sorcerer had first dragged all the inhabitants back into the Shadow Realm, which was bad news for the Elders, wizards, fairies and all who possessed magic. Feeling drained of their magic once again; the magic wielders couldn't put up much of a resistance. Once again, they were prisoners in the Shadow Realm. Second, the villages and towns were severly damaged to completely destroyed. Finally, the Sorcerer created a palace at Dragon Shores.

"The inhabitants never knew what hit them. I do love the element of surprise," Misteria said smirking.

"As do I. It makes conquest so much easier," the Sorcerer added.

"And with Red in Parasite Forest, no one will be able to stop us," Ineptune added.

Meanwhile in Parasite Forest, Red came out of his light doze. He could sense that something was terribly wrong.

/What's wrong?/

//Something bad has happened. I can sense it// He reached out with his mind to find out what happened. He soon mentally gasped. //Oh no. The Sorcerer, Misteria and Ineptune have taken over. The villages of the Dragon Worlds, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds have been wiped out. All the inhabitants have been taken prisoner//

/We need to get out of here as soon as possible/

//I just wish that I could teleport out of here//

/I know. Things would've been a lot different if you could. But Misteria has made things tough for us/

//True she has made things tough for us. But I'm not giving up. I will get Spyro out of this forsaken place and help our friends//

/With your fierce determination, I know you will/

Red really couldn't get back to sleep so he watched over Spyro. His resolve to get out of Parasite Forest was already high. Now after finding out about what the Sorcerer, Ineptune and Misteria have done, he was more determined than ever to get back and help the inhabitants of the Dragon Worlds, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. And nothing that Misteria could throw at him would dampen that resolve.

And here's the end of this chapter. Only two more chapters to go. Preview for Chapter 9: Big-Scale Rescue: Red and Spyro make it out of Parasite Forest, having a big scare occur in the process. After getting out of the unnatural forest, they embark on a huge rescue mission to save their friends. But some of the prisoners have been tortured and have sustained serious injury. Can Spyro and Red make it to their friends in time? Stay tuned to find out.