Crash and Spyro, A Friendship Across Lifetimes

Chapter 15: An Army of Two

CRASH and Spyro stood at the top of a hill on the outskirts of Artisans. Crash had convinced Spyro that it was better to sneak there way over here instead of confronting more Gnorks. It took a while, but when Crash reminded Spyro of the possible danger to Sparks, he changed his mind. Sparks had remained on Spyro's right horn at the moment, for flying was too exhausting for him. It made Spyro feel guilty for foolishly confronting an entire platoon of Gnorks without a plan. He realized now that he had acted recklessly, and Sparks bailed him out. It was not going to happen again. What also surprised Spyro was how calm and collected Crash was acting. He said he was thousands of years from the future, was chased and pursued by him and Cynder and had nearly bled out, yet he was helping Spyro out and doing and exceeding job of it. He was only just taller than Spyro was, and Spyro was on all fours. The Gnorks he took out were more than twice his size, but he seemed more than capable of dealing with them. Spyro thought for a moment of what it would be like to actually fight Crash. Could he take him on? Probably, he said confidently to himself.

Crash and Spyro made it back to Artisans, and now needed to find out how to get to Gnasty Gnork. The hill they were standing out was far enough away where they couldn't be spotted, yet they had an excellent vantage point of Artisans. There were hundreds of Gnorks all over the village. They were entering every building and ransacking them to find anything of value. There wouldn't be an easy way to get to the portal, and no guarantee that more Gnorks were waiting on the other side.

"Alright, Crash. What do we do now?" It felt a little weird asking Crash for directions, considering he had only known him for a little less than two hours, and Spyro was never good with orders anyway. Spyro thought it helped that he didn't talk a lot. Crash looked at Spyro for a moment and then put his hand on his chin in concentration. His focused his attention to the center of the village, near where the large fountain was.

"Do you see that Gnork in the fancy armor?" Crash asked Spyro using his SAD.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He is the leader of this battalion. He may know how the portals work, so we need to get that information from him. We also have to clear the area of resistance if we plan to use that portal."

"Okay. How do you plan on accomplishing this?"

"You can fly over Artisans and get the leader's attention. He will instruct a group to pursue you. Lead them into the woods and use it as cover. Take out as many as you can individually and come back to the village in twelve minutes."

"And what are you going to do, ambush and interrogate the commander yourself?"

"No, there will still be too many Gnorks for me to handle even if some pursue you. I'm going to make my way covertly into the village while you force some Gnorks to chase you, and see if the commander activates that portal again. You said you didn't know how it works, yet the Gnorks do."

"Okay Crash, sounds like a plan." Spyro was about to fly off when Crash got in front of him and stopped him. "What is it?"

"Maybe Sparks shouldn't go with you."

"What... why? Listen, if you think I'm going to get hurt again, don't. I can handle myself. Sparks will not need to help me."

"I know Spyro, but Sparks' doesn't look so good. He may get separated from you while you're diverting the Gnorks."

Sparks flew up from Spyro's right horn and landed on a blade of tall grass. Spyro and Sparks stared at each other for a moment; Spyro became a little nervous about not having Sparks around. Crash smiled softly and took of his Aku-Aku neckless and placed it on the ground next to Sparks.

"What are you doing?" Spyro asked confusedly.

"Aku-Aku will keep Sparks accompany while we venture off. I don't know why, but I think these two will get along well."

"You can't be serious?" Spyro said doubtfully.

"Well, we became friends, right? And your girlfriend almost killed me."

Crash started to make his way towards the village while he finished that sentence. Spyro, mildly embarrassed, looked at Sparx and Aku-Aku. "Crash and I will be back. Sparx, I hope you feel better when I get back" Neither Sparx or Aku-Aku said anything.

I will free Cynder and every other Dragon Spyro thought to himself as he took to the air.

If this is to be my new home, then I will protect it the best I can Crash thought to himself. Like Coco, Spyro has accepted him as a friend even though I was different. And Like Coco, everyone he loves is under attack. It was wrong, and Crash wouldn't stand for it.

Spyro appeared above the Group of Gnorks in the center of Artisans and carpet bombed them with a torrent of fire. The pandemonium sent numerous Gnorks scurrying in several directions. The lead Gnork grumbled at his soldiers to apprehend the young dragon immediately. Spyro retreated to the tree line as Crash instructed, drawing a large crowd to follow him. He had to dodge arrow fire again, but he was not impaled. Crash made his way slyly to the Dragon nursery building whose roof was charred black with fire damage. He snuck his way into the building and peered out from a window. The commotion Spyro caused had worked, as it rattled the Gnorks and had them scrambling to get reinforcements. From what Crash could observe, whatever spell was used to trap the Dragons of Artisans into statues was highly effective. Even the Dragons in the nursery weren't spared though they were indoors. Not even the children were spared this fate.

The Gnorks on the courtyard, including their leader, began to assemble near the large archway that Spyro had told him was a portal to other Realms. The commanding Gnork, evidently angry at what had just transpired, howled at his subordinates and ordered them into formation. As he did so, more Gnorks appeared from the arched threshold in single file. This wasn't good, Crash hadn't seen how the portal was activated, nor did having even more Gnorks to deal with make things easier. He was going to have to distract the Gnorks to get them away from the portal. It was important to keep them distracted and disorientated as to avoid them overwhelming either him or Spyro. He picked up a small table from inside the nursery and flung it out a window, shattering it and startling all the Gnorks outside. He then retreated from that building and quickly made it outside undetected.

Spyro, taking Crash's advice, was able to deal with the Gnorks in small groups of two or three within the dense woods. A combination of fire and charging with his horns proved too much for these Gnorks, who obviously weren't prepared to deal with a Dragon. It had been around ten minutes since Spyro had entered the woods. Spyro hoped Crash still knew what he was doing. He took off into the air and flew back towards the village. He landed on top of a building and viewed the area. He couldn't see Crash, but the portal near the Senate Building was active. But where is the destination? There were about four Gnorks standing around the Portal, and then Spyro spotted Crash. He was making his way towards the unsuspecting Gnorks. He positioned himself collinear with two other Gnorks and then sprang into action. He did that spin attack again on the naïve Gnork, and this sent him ricocheting directly into a second Gnork. They both crashed violently into the exterior of the Senate Building. The other two Gnorks prepared to attack Crash, but the first had his legs taken out from under him by Crash's slide and the other failed to hit Crash with his club. At this point, Spyro was gliding towards Crash to help him out. Crash noticed and yelled out with his hands cupping his mouth "Sparx and Aku-Aku". Spyro halted in midair, but then saw Sparx flying towards Crash with the chain of Aku-Aku necklace in his tiny mouth. Several Gnorks were converging towards Crash, he was pinned. Spyro landed next to him, and then Sparks flew past Crash, releasing Aku-Aku as he did. Crash caught the chain in his left hand.

"Portal, now!" Crash said erratically. Crash (now wearing his Aku-Aku pendant again), Spyro, and Sparx vaulted into the portal before the Gnorks ambushed them. Crash and Spyro landed in a heap shortly after. Crash got up as fast as he could and clutched Aku-Aku in his left hand, while holding out is right. The portal closed once he did, and Spyro could have sworn he heard Gnork's screaming as the portal closed.

"Aku-Aku knew how to use the portals. Guess I shouldn't have left him by Sparx." Crash looked at Sparks, who now was glowing blue.

"Hey Sparx, looking good" Spyro said to his companion. Sparx flew around a little more freely and with energy than before. "Now, where are we?"

The place was arid, rocky, and but no Gnorks were visible anywhere.

"Aku-Aku changed our destination from where those Gnorks were coming from earlier."

"Why would he do that? For all we know, we may have gone straight to the Realm of the Gnorks. Great!"

"We would have been surrounded." Crash said with his SAD as he started walking. The sun was setting and the temperature was dropping fast. Crash was walking towards a castle that was in front of him. Spyro could notice he was limping and favoring his right leg.

"Oh. Wait, I know where we are. We're in the Realm of the Peace Keepers. That castle is the entrance into the town." Crystalized Dragons could be seen on top of the castle. Spyro caught up with Crash and offered his help.

"Let me help you out." Crash leaned against Spyro and used him as a temporary crutch. They both entered the castle and Crash laid down. Sparx provided the light until Spyro lit a torch on fire.

"It's been a long day Spyro, about a hundred thousand years too long. I think we should camp out here."

Spyro started a fire to combat the cold creeping in from the outside. Crash laid on his back and starred at the ceiling. Neither Crash nor Spyro had said a word for thirty minutes.

"Crash," Spyro finally broke the silence, "why are you helping me?"

Crash rose from his resting position and looked at Spyro. He then looked at the floor for a moment before he responded.

"What happened to your people is wrong. I've lived through tyranny like this before, and I'll do anything to stop it. And because I owe you."

"Owe me, for what?"

"Well, you didn't kill me earlier today, and I believe you're going to allow me to live on that beach were Cynder is."

Being reminded of Cynder made Spyro feel a variety of emotions. Crash, feeling that Spyro was upset by mentioning her name, didn't say anything immediately.

"I also need to make sure that when we free Cynder, she likes me enough not to tear me apart. She is pretty scary."

Spyro looked at Crash with a blank expression, then started to chuckle. Crash joined him, and they fell asleep shortly afterwards.