Legend of Spyro AoH BkII Ch.3

"That will be all for today my pupils." Cyril concluded his lecture.
"Thank you master Cyril." The guardian candidates chimed in together.
Cyril watched as they filed out of his lecture hall and smiled. They were all very fine young dragons. The candidates all did exceptionally well in practicing their combat maneuvers, and deep down he wished he could teach the young dragons until the end of time.

"We should hurry." Stella suggested. "I'm sure Master Spyro is waiting for us." Stella was the candidate who would be taking Volteer's place. She wasn't very shy and always eager to learn new things and make new friends with those around her. She was what Spyro and Cynder considered a half-charged Volteer. She was energetic without the constant babbling.
"Then let's hurry." Tremor nodded and took to the air with the other candidates close behind him. The group of dragons flew towards the upper towers for their next training exercise for the day. When they landed they found Spyro waiting for them with Sparx.
"Good morning Master Spyro." Stella bowed slightly. She was just a couple inches shorted than the purple dragon himself, but she viewed him in a much higher standard. She secretly admired Spyro but was very good at hiding it. Unlike Ember, she wasn't going to fight with Cynder for him. She never really thought that she could truly fall for her teacher.
"Master?" Sparx raised a brow at his brother. "You go from hero-boy to Master in the time I'm gone. I'm afraid to ask what you'll turn into next."
Spyro blushed. "You know you don't need to refer to me as Master, right? I'm not a guardian or anything like that."
"No." Stella shook her head. "But you have mastered all the elements. You're like four guardians in one." She smiled playfully. Spyro just laughed, a little bit embarrassed. He was still feeling a little awkward about teaching dragons that were close to his age. But they all respected him and took his lessons to heart.
"Sorry we're late." Gaia apologized. "Master Cyril went on a little bit of a tangent again."
"It's all right." Spyro raised a paw dismissively. "I know how he is."
"I'd be more surprised if he didn't." Sparx muttered.
"So who is this?" Tremor asked stepping forward and eyeing Sparx.
"I think the real question is, who are you buddy." Sparx pointed a punishing finger and the earth dragon pulled back slightly.
"I'm Tremor." He said proudly. "And this is my twin sister Gaia. We're the Earth Guardian candidates."
"Oh wow." Sparx nodded in sarcastic interest. "That's absolutely fascinating. See, I'm the great and mighty Sparx. You know, god of the Atlawa tribe, savior of the Manweersmalls, and best buds with your hero Spyro here." He gave his brother a friendly jab in the shoulder.
Spyro just laughed. "He's my brother." The candidates all turned and gave him confused looks. "We grew up together. He was born the same day I hatched from my egg." Spyro explained reading their expressions.
"Yeah. Spyro spent a good part of his life thinking that he was a dragonfly." That got a laugh from the candidates.
"Anyways, it's a long story." Spyro interrupted. "We have training to do right now."
"Yeah, you guys, let's try and keep on task. We can listen to Spyro's life story after." Candice piped up. Candice, like Stella, was the only candidate for her element, ice. She made quick friends with the other female dragons along with Spyro and Flame as well. She knew the value of knowledge and was Volteer and Cyril's favorite student. Tremor noticed this early on and would call her out on it. Ever since, the two dragons were always bickering back and forth.
"Kiss ass." Tremor grumbled under his breath. Candice shot him a glare. He hadn't said anything to her so far but now he was on the attack.
Spyro sighed and shook his head. The guardians noticed the rivalry and had suggested Spyro put it to the test to see how strong their rivalry was. The purple dragon was not looking forward to it.
"All right you two, calm down. You two are going to be up first."
The two dragons stared at Spyro in shock, then at each other, then to Spyro again. They both wanted to protest but they knew better than to question an instructor.
Sparx watched the two dragons glare at each other as they stepped into the ring. "I think I came on a good day." He chuckled to himself.
"The point of today's drill is to work with your teammate." Spyro started.
"Teammates?" Candice and Tremor gasped. Neither had worked together on the same team before; nor had they wanted to.
"You two will be combining your powers to take down a stronger opponent."
"Great." Tremor rolled his eyes.
"Just try not to slow me down." Candice spat at the earth dragon.
"Don't worry about me Frosty." Tremor glared back at her. "If you just fly circles around the enemy, they're not going to just keel over from that. You'll actually have to attack them at some point."
"It's called strategy granite-brain." Candice narrowed her eyes at him. She was very talented in Cyril's aerial maneuvers and Tremor despised her for it. "Maybe you should knock the rocks out of your head and try it sometime."
As the two dragons quarreled back and forth Sparx leaned in towards Spyro. "Please tell me you're gunna surprise them."
Spyro sighed. "I guess I have to." He hated to do that to his friends but this was training. Ignitus and the other guardians hadn't been easy on him so he needed to be just as firm with the candidates. Spyro closed his eyes. "What should I have them face?" He thought to himself. After a brief moment he opened his eyes.
Tremor and Candice were so busy arguing they didn't notice the ogre suddenly appear in the middle of the training circle. The ugly beast's eyes flashed red as it reared up on its shortened hind legs.
Candice and Tremor's heads snapped around as the monster bellowed and pounded its chest.
"Shit!" They shouted and dove to opposite sides as the ogre slammed a massive fist into the floor.
"Whoa, Spyro." Sparx gulped nervously. It had been over a year since he had seen one of those creatures. "Don't you think that's a little much?"
"I guess we'll find out." Spyro sighed.
Back in the ring, the ogre was swinging wildly at the two dragons. Tremor rolled in close and slammed his clubbed tail into its knee. The ogre howled as its knee buckled. Candice was already airborne and took the chance to fire a blast of ice. The ogre held its hand up and blocked the attack.
"Go for its weak points!" Tremor shouted and rolled away from another punch.
"You go for its its weak points!" Candice snapped back. "I'll keep it distracted!" She dove under a swipe and blasted the ogre in the face, forming a cast of ice over the beast's head. The ogre stumbled backwards, tripping over itself.
Tremor's eyes grew wide as the ogre's massive bulk fell towards him. At the last second he swung his tail and knocked the ogre across the room.
Stella and Sparx's eyes both widened. "That guy sure is a tough one." Sparx muttered to Spyro who simply nodded.
"Will you watch what you're doing!" Tremor shouted angrily at the ice dragoness. "You almost got me flattened!"
"Well excuse me!" Candice frowned. "If you would just take to the air like we dragons are supposed to, then you wouldn't have to worry about getting smushed!"
Tremor growled. "I'm an earth dragon! The earth is on the ground! Not in the air where your head seems to float about!"
"Excuse me?" Candice hissed and frost jetted from between her clenched teeth. "Training with Spyro gives us the chance to apply what we've learned from Master Volteer and Master Cyril in an active environment! I've been doing just that! But you've been sticking to your own style this whole time! I haven't seen you lift off the ground once, in a fight!"
"Shouldn't we do something?" Stella whispered to Spyro. No sooner had she spoken than the ogre got to its feet. With an angry roar it caught Tremor and Candice by surprise. It snatched Tremor up and hurled him into Candice. The two bodies slammed into the wall and crumbled to the floor in a heap of wings, tails and legs.
Both dragons groaned in pain as they struggled to get up. The ogre lumbered over and grabbed a dragon in each hand. He slammed his fists into the walls, trying to crush his prey. Tremor and Candice hollered as they struggled to break free.
At last Spyro stepped into the sparring ring. He leaped between the ogres arms and drop-kicked it. The beast shot like missile into the roof of the training hall. The same moment of impact Spyro spat a fireball up at it. The explosion rocked the tower and the dragons shielded themselves behind their wings from the dust and debris. When the cloud settled Spyro stood before Tremor and Candice who looked rather embarrassed at having to be rescued during a training exercise.
"Would either of you like to explain what just happened?" He asked calmly.
Both dragons looked at each other and leered. At last Candice spoke.
"I noticed Tremor was able to attack our enemy's weak points, so I felt I should be the one to divert the enemy's attention providing Tremor the chance to take him down."
"Well that was awfully nice of you honey." Tremor shook himself. "You almost got me crushed in the process."
Candice felt the blood rush to her face. "Don't you 'honey' me, you arrogant son-of-a-bitch!"
"Arrogant?" Tremor reared back as if he had been struck.
"If you're not going to use your training properly then the guardians may as well give your sister the title."
"I apply my training where it is necessary! So don't think for one second that I don't consider my training. If you really compare me to you, I'm ten times the dragon you are!"
"Ten times my tail!" Candice snapped. "I know hatchlings who are more mature than you!"
"Oh is that how you want to pull it?" Tremor took a step forward.
"Okay, that's enough!" Spyro raised his voice and the room instantly became silent. "The point of this drill was to get you two to work together. You're not doing yourselves any favors by shouting to each other across the room. If the enemy can hear your plans, then you may as well give up the fight then." Both candidates hung their heads in shame. "True teammates won't need to communicate verbally." Spyro continued. "They read each other's movements in order to overcome any obstacle."
"You mean like you and Cynder." Tremor raised his head slightly.
Spyro's cheeks flushed slightly and he nodded. "Yes. Exactly like me and Cynder."
"But Spyro, she loves you!" Candice protested. "That's why you two work so well together!" She shot Tremor a glare out of the corner of her eye. "I'm not in love with this jerk! And I never will be! So we won't have the same type of connection the two of you have. Even if it did take a million years."
"For once I agree." Tremor curled his lip at the dragoness.
"It wasn't always like that you know." Spyro sighed. "Class dismissed."
Stella and Gaia looked hurt as their classmates walked back to them. The two looked at each other and nodded. Stella walked with Candice down one hall and Gaia joined her brother as usual.
"Rough day with the kids Spyro?" Sparx snickered.
"Not now Sparx." He suddenly felt drained. "I just hope those two can get over their little rivalry to become outstanding guardians."
"Meh." Sparx shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen."

"Boy, you really laced into her that time Tremor." Gaia said as she walked beside her twin.
"Yeah." Tremor nodded with a smirk. "But I think she liked it."
"I simply cannot stand that jerk!" Candice fumed to Stella.
"I don't know why you let him get to you Candice." Stella tried to keep from laughing too much. Tremor and Candice's relationship had always amused her. "He's just trying to get under your scales."
"Well, it's working!" Candice hissed out more frost.
"I just can't stand her!" Tremor continued. "She's always agreeing with Spyro and the other guardians! She's such a suck-up!"
"Just because you like to agree with everything the guardians say, doesn't mean it always makes sense to Tremor." Stella shrugged. "Maybe he's just trying to suggest another opinion."
"Well, I can't stand when he does that!" Candice's tail lashed at the air angrily. "Why can't he just take their word for it since they've been around longer and have more experience than him to begin with."
"Oh come on Tremor." Gaia nudged her brother slightly. "Candice isn't that bad."
"I beg to differ." Tremor huffed.
"No really." Gaia stepped in front of her twin, stopping him in his tracks. "She can be a really sweet dragon if you just give her the time."
Tremor stared at his sister for a hard moment. "What did you just say?"
"I said, she's a really sweet dragon. You just need to give her a chance."
A smile spread across Tremor's mouth. "You know, sis. You may be right. Candice, probably is really sweet. I should go tell her that right now, huh."
Gaia was a little surprised by his change of mood but shrugged and smiled. "No time like the present."
"Thanks sis. I'll catch up to you later." He turned and ran back down the hall.

"Why couldn't Tremor be more like his sister. She studies hard and does really well in every training exercise and drill."
Stella shrugged. "I think those two balance each other out just fine."
"How can you say that when Tremor is such an jerk about..."
At that moment Tremor caught  up to the two girls.
"Hey! Uh, Candy!" He called down the hall.
Candice froze and her eyes locked on Stella. The pale yellow dragoness looked from Tremor to her friend, nervously. She could feel what was about to come.
"What...did he just call me?"
"I...think...He called you..." Stella swallowed hard.
"Candy! Baby! Sweetheart!" Tremor hollered with a big grin on his face.

Gaia strolled down the halls. Despite missing her training she was glad to be able to relax for the afternoon. She was lost in thought when something caught her eye. She turned and looked out across the city. After couple minutes she was about to turn back when she saw another glint in the afternoon sun. The dragoness squinted closer and noticed several tiny white objects floating to the ground below.
"Snow?" The sun reflected off the surface of the snowflakes, making a very pretty afternoon show.
Gaia climbed onto the railing and leaped into the air. She lifted up to where she could clearly see the particles of ice blowing away from the city tower. The entire hallway was shrouded in ice; and there frozen stiff in the middle of it was Tremor.
"Or...maybe not." Gaia rolled her eyes as she set down on the frozen railing.
Her brother shivered with a clattering grin. "It w-w-was worth it." He tried to chuckle but the chatter of his teeth made it barely audible.
Gaia just shook her head. "You would think that being your twin sister would mean that I would have known better."
"J-j-just g-get me out of h-ere." Tremor pleaded.
His sister sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice. You won't learn your lesson either way."
"N-n-nope."