Crash and Spyro, A Friendship Across Lifetimes

Chapter 32: Unlikely Alliences

Author's Note: This take's place in the Crash and Spyro timeline.

"Well I don't know what else to tell you, Sorceress" Red said after an exhausting argument with the Sorceress. He was in the Forgotten Realms, re-strategizing with her and getting nowhere in the process. He had to be careful not to incur the wrath of this Dinopotamus, for she could easily kill him. Red didn't know how it was possible, but that orange creature from two weeks ago had thrown such a wrench in his and the Sorceress' plans. As soon as he showed up, Red lost the opportunity to get the Sorceress into Artisans, since he no longer had the time or privacy from the Elders to drop the barrier without them noticing. And then there was Thomas' grandson, Spyro. The Sorceress was worried about the young Dragon, and he proved her suspicions right. Not only did he defeat Gnasty, but in doing so also freed every Dragon in Artisans.

"Ugh... you're starting to outlive your usefulness, Red. Though the Gnorks may be repulsive creatures, their armies could have proven to be handy. Now I may have to kill them all. Such a waste, and I don't usually say that about any living creatures. Fortunately Gnasty is still alive; I may still need him to convince his people to follow me."

"Are you sure that Ripto will be able to keep him alive. Gnasty was on the brink of death when I found him."

"Ripto and his Rhynoc's haven't failed me yet. Their allegiance to me has proven quite useful in the past centuries, and given the strange Rhynoc tech that they have come up with in the past thirty years, I think they should be able to revive Gnasty to his formal self. To think that midget was smart enough to come up with such tech."

"Yes, and their tech was steadily brought to the Gnorks once they figured out a way to activate their portals to get to Avalar. The Elders' were concerned about it at first, but decided to let it slide. Idiots."

"The only idiot is you Red, how could you let a small, orange, fury rat ruin my plan!" Red had been with the Sorceress when she asked her profit about the creature that teleported into the Elders meeting two weeks ago. The profit had said that the warrior was from the future and would be the reason she would be defeated. It seemed so strange that a creature as insignificant as that orange... rat could kill her. But apparently the Sorceress was still concerned that her destiny had been so drastically altered by unforeseeable consequences, and she was probably going to take her anger out on him.

"Sorceress, please. I doubt you have anything to worry from that orange creature. And I hope you remember that I'm still your only option as to getting into the other five Dragon Realms. And until you figure out another way to breach my ancestors impenetrable spell keeping you out, you still need me."

"Well it's not my problem you're too weak to do so from the exterior. And If I knew where Malefor was, I'd just use his Power Gems and get it over with."

A dark portal ripped through the air in the Sorceress' castle, and almost as if summoned by name, Malefor himself appeared from the rift and stepped forth to great the Sorceress. Red could only stare in disbelief, and the Sorceress's servants fled from the area.

"Well speak of the devil" The Sorceress said with a grin on her face as she stood up from her mighty throne.

Malefor returned the greeting, and all of a sudden, three Power Gems appeared from the rift and floated towards the Sorceress.

"Oh, and he's brought gifts!" The Sorceress exclaimed as she began to tap from the three Power Gems floating around her plus the one attached to her scepter.

"Yes," Malefor said with a smile on his face, "consider those as gifts as a request from me to seek your audience, Sorceress."

Red was in total bewilderment. Thomas' son wanting nothing but the death of the Sorceress, but now he was willingly giving the Sorceress Power Gems. What the hell was he up to?

"Oh, but Malefor, your missing three Gems?"

"Yes I am. I'll hold onto those as collateral until you finish what you were supposed to do two weeks ago."

"Oh, well you can blame Red over there for that."

"Do you know why I've come here, Sorceress?"

The Sorceress looked at the large Purple Dragon in front of her. She actually didn't know why he was here or what he was up to. Six years ago, she had fought him in a town in Avalar. And although Malefor did flee from her, he proved to be quite the adversary and had about as much control over the Power Gems as she did. What was he playing at?

"Why don't you enlighten me, Malefor. You've put me in a good mood."

"I've come here to discuss some, less than promising news regarding my nephew. Your profits must have shown you what he will become."

A bead of sweat dripped from the Sorceress face. "What he would become?" she thought to herself, and then another though hit here. "No! It couldn't be possible."

"Something has changed in the past two weeks; all of our destinies have been altered. You and I both know what the cause is, but do you know what the effect will be?" Malefor continued.

"If you're refereeing to Spyro, then you're surely mistaken."

"I could hardly believe it myself, when I saw the vision from the six Power Gems, your final battle with Spyro, the color of his skin. His eyes. Something you do before your final battle with Spyro allows him to finally control the Gems to their fullest extent. The Convexity."

"No!" The Sorceress yelled in a furry. "It isn't possible! The Convexity is a myth!"

"But it's the very reason you started your war to control the Power Gems. And for the time you had all seven, you tried to tap into it, but couldn't."

"So this is why you've sought my audience. Spyro is a threat to both of us... Just know this Malefor; I will kill every remaining Dragon on this earth. Now whether you and Red are part of that count remains to be seen. And once I'm done with the Dragons, only one of us can have control of all seven Power Gems. We may have a common enemy, but once this war's over, only one of us will remain."

"I look forward to it, Dionaca" Malefor said as he walked through the same rift that brought him to the Sorceress' Forgotten Realms. He was gone, and the Sorceress was left with her thoughts. No one knew her real name. And his warning about Spyro; she needed to kill that Dragon, fast.

"Sorceress," Red said while she was thinking, "If what Malefor said about Spyro and the convexity are true, then we must do everything we can to kill Spyro as quickly as possible."

"If you get me into the Realm of the Dragons, Red, then that shouldn't be a problem." A while ago, the Sorceress' profit had warned her about an orange warrior. If he was really the cause of this, then he needed to die, too.

Gnasty Gnork lay unconscious on an operating table, while his doctor had just wrapped up applying his cybernetics to keep him alive. The Doctor was old, had white hair and saggy skin. He had been a prisoner of Ripto for almost thirty years. He had been captured by Rhynocs when he abruptly appeared in their domain thirty years ago. And for the remainder of his life, he was held captive by Ripto as he was forced to yield everything he knew about science to him. He had been the cause of an industrial revolution for both the Rhynocs and the Gnorks, both of whom were now under the control of the Sorceress. He knew who the Sorceress was, how could he not? His whole reason for being here was to talk to her.

"Excellent Work, Doctor." Ripto said as he strut about the room in his purple overcoat. He wore a necklace which had a special talisman attached to the chain. It was the mask that was a conduit to his dark magic. The talisman was a dark, black mask, with miniature bones on the sides of the it, which had red lips and intimidating yellow eyes. Along with being the artifact that marked Ripto as the head mage of the Rhynocs, it also was the reason why both he and his favorite prisoner could communicate. "You've proven yourself to be quite useful these past three decades. Your knowledge from the future, it's the only reason as to why I've kept you alive. When you said you were from the future... Cortex, right? I was skeptical. But I believe you now. What was the reason you traveled back to the past again? Oh yea, knowledge on the Power Gems. What, did you think you could just talk with the Sorceress? She's the most powerful being in existence. I know I rub this in your face constantly, but what were you thinking? And you came to the past by yourself? For such a smart man, you certainly didn't think your plan through!"

Cortex had given up trying to explain himself decades ago. He was a broken and defeated man. His plan wasn't to come to the past alone, and he certainly wasn't intending on stranding himself here, either. It was that infernal bandicoot! He ruined everything! And now Cortex had suffered for ages because of it. That golden glow and his red eyes still haunted him to this day.

"Oh... I do recall you saying something about an orange creature of yours who ruined your 'diabolical' plan for world conquest in the future. Apparently he's partially responsible for your patient being in the shape he's in. Seems as if he was brought to the past, too."

"Subject C1 was here!" Cortex thought to himself. But how was that possible? He was at N Tropy's time machine; he must have been brought to the past to once he destabilized the warp zone, too. Was it possible he was brought to the past thirty years ago like he was, or had he only appeared recently?

"Once you're done on Gnasty, here, I want you to continue making sure your new time machine is ready. You may not have the Gems, but you let me worry about that. The Sorceress is immortal, but apparently you claim she was defeated by a young Purple Dragon. Well, If I can't rule over the world now, why not the future?"