Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Peace: Combat Training

With Unika and Revilo being asleep, like the rest of the Dream Weavers, Lateef showed the trio the rest of what his land had to offer, answered whatever questions they had for him, and promised that one day they would return and he'd show them how a Dream Weavers dragon went about their work. That was similar to what the other Leaders said, that the trio would return one day, when they were older and more mature than they were during their first visit to that homeworld, before they learned first hand how the various types of dragons went about their lives, something that all three of them were looking forward to. Each of them were interested in one of the other types of dragons, such as Ember was eager to return to the land of the Peace Keepers and learn how to fight, with some proper lessons this time around, while Spike wanted to head back to the Magic Crafters homeworld and see what sort of magical talent he actually possessed, and if he could replicate the strange spell he used on accident, and Spyro felt that the Dream Weavers might be interesting in their own way, even though they all knew they would have to try and learn what Nestor and the other Artisans dragons did at some point in time.

The moment the tour was over, and they had seen everything that Lateef wanted to show them, minus the realm that the two greatest Dream Weavers dragons called home, the trio thanked him for his time and told him that they had fun learning about the land and what his fellow dragons did for a living. Once they had gotten that out of their systems Lateef told them that he was more than happy to take an hour or two out of his day to show them around and let them learn about whatever interested them, be it what the Dream Weavers did for a living or why he was the only one up right now. With that taken care of he escorted Nestor and the trio back to where Marco was standing, where the balloonist helped all three of them back up into the basket, which took a moment or two to do, before preparing the hot air balloon for their departure, where Lateef smiled and waved at them as they started to lift off the ground and moved into the air. Nestor waited for a few moments, making sure that nothing went wrong with their departure, and when they were a short distance away from the dock they had taken off from he opened his wings, bid farewell to Lateef, and took off so he could catch up to the trio. Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at the land of the Dream Weavers for a few minutes, watching it slowly disappear as they headed back to the Artisans homeworld, and once they could no longer see the land in question they returned to their books as they waited for Marco to tell them that they were nearing their home.

Nestor was pleased to see that all three of them had enjoyed their trip to the land of the Dream Weavers, even if they had been expecting to do something that was connected to the Beast Makers, especially when he took the Magic Crafters into consideration, but this would make them consider the possibility of something else happening, instead of what they were expecting to happen.

The two hour trip between the two homeworlds went by quickly for the trio, since they had something to keep their attention off of the journey, and when they reached the dock of the Artisans land Marco landed like he did in the past, allowing them to climb out of the basket and run off to do whatever they wanted. Nestor was fine with that, as he knew they were tired from the trip and wanted to have fun doing something that wasn't sitting in a basket for a long period of time, before thanking Marco for his assistance once more, who was happy to help them, and then headed off to the main area of their homeworld. When he walked into the area that the portal to Stone Hill was located in, however, he found that Spike was heading off to Dark Hollow, no doubt because there were questions he wanted to see if he could answer, while both Spyro and Ember wandered off in the opposite direction, so they could focus on whatever they were thinking of doing with their free time. He had several ideas for what the three of them could do in the future, now that they had visited the last of the five homeworlds and learned about the last of the five types of dragons that called the Dragon Realms home, but for now he was content to let them do whatever they wanted, so he turned and headed towards another part of their land, as there was a building he needed to complete and was sure he could get it done today, and this time he wasn't worried about one of the young dragons hurting themselves or one of their siblings.

The weeks that followed their visit to Lateef's homeworld were the same as the weeks that went by after their visits to the other lands, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember continued to do what they did with their free time, as in Spyro tried to prank other dragons, Spike spent his time in the Dark Hollow library, learning about whatever caught his attention or his curiosity, and Ember helped any of the Artisans that needed assistance. In addition to that Nestor made sure that they spent a few days practicing their gliding, so they could master it, and making sure they ran the maze once or twice, as he and Lindar had made some changes since the last time the trio ran it and it was good to see them tackling a new challenge with their dragonflies, who had been given the new paths. Of course Lindar didn't tell the trio who had the fastest time, but even then it appeared that such a thing didn't matter to the trio, as they were more excited about the new paths that were inside the maze, causing Nestor to smile at them as they ran the new maze a few more times, just so they had some experience in all three of the new paths they had discovered. The other Artisans dragons occasionally had something for the trio to do, as in heading to Town Square and assisting Alvar with the food, or heading to Stone Hill to help Delbin arrange things for one of the paintings he was trying to make, or just listening to Thomas play his lute, and the trio was happy to spend some time with the other dragons, as it allowed them to learn a little more about them and possibly learn something about the other professions at the same time.

One thing that changed as the weeks went by was that Spyro had finally managed to prank one of the other Artisans dragons with the bucket above the door trick, this time using water so it would be easier to clean up, showing that he was maturing and that he was no longer stuck with pranking Toasty. Spike and Ember still didn't care much for the various pranks that he had in mind, both those that he gleamed from the book he was given and the few that he came up with on his own, and stayed away from him when he was in the mood to prank someone, though when he got caught there were times where Ember would chuckle at the scene, almost like she was hoping that Spyro would move on with his life and try something else, like her and Spike were doing. Nestor wasn't sure how long it would take for Spyro to mature and leave the pranks in the past, while focusing his attention on something more important, but what he had in mind for the trio might be just the thing they needed, and it was the event that Ember was the most excited for. All they had to do was wait until they were a little older, and a little more mature than they currently were, before their next trip to the land of the Peace Keepers, though she was sure that all three of them were going to be excited once they realized what he had in store for them.

---

Spyro, Spike, and Ember went about their lives like they usually did after a visit to one of the other homeworlds, focusing on something specific, like how Spike spent a great deal of time with the scholars of Dark Hollow or how Ember helped out some of the other dragons as she looked for something to really occupy her time with. Of course they also spent some time working on their gliding and their teamwork with their dragonflies, but other than that there really wasn't that much for them to do at the moment, though Nestor was happy to see that none of them were bored with their lives, rather they seemed quite happy. Normally one would get bored with doing the same thing each week, which was why Nestor made sure that each week was slightly different, save for the moments he put aside for the trio to learn about gliding and even running the maze, so the trio never got bored of what they were doing, though if something didn't interest them all that much they would find something else to do. Nestor was fine with that, as two of the young dragons were trying to find their calling, he didn't count Spike in that because it seemed like he was devoting his spare time and energy into reading the various tomes and scrolls, to learn more about the Dragon Realm and the various dragons that called the five lands home, though it did make him interested in seeing what Spyro and Ember decided on when they were older.

Eventually enough time went by and the trio turned four years old, though a week after that happened Nestor had a surprise for them, which was followed by something that they were familiar with, as in they gathered near the entrance of the tunnel that lead to the dock and waited for Nestor to arrive, so they could head out to one of the other homeworlds and meet the Leader that watched over it.

"I wonder which homeworld we're going to today." Spyro commented, because this time around, unlike the last few times they had come to this location and used Marco's hot air balloon to travel to their destination, they had no idea which of the other four lands Nestor intended on them visiting today, and while he wanted to say that the Beast Makers and the Dream Weavers were off the table, based on the two hour trip, he couldn't do that, so he was curious as to which island they were going to visit.

"Personally, I hope we head to the land of the Peace Keepers," Ember replied, though at the same time she glanced at the sky for a moment, spotting a cloud that was moving by and focused on it, rather than focusing on something else, even though her brothers knew why she wanted to go back to Titan's land, especially after what they had seen the first time they were there and what Nestor told Titan a long time ago.

"Well, I'm hoping for the homeworld of the Magic Crafters," Spike added, showing that he was more interested in seeing what sort of books and scrolls Cosmos and the others had in their hidden library, as his interests were in learning about magic and seeing if the sphere test had been right about them, though to do that he needed the help of Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters, to teach him how to wield the power he was curious about.

"All three of you will find out which homeworld we're heading to in no time," a voice said, where the trio glanced off to the side for a moment as Nestor walked over to where they were gathered, though instead of stopping he passed by them and entered the tunnel they were waiting near, where he heard Spyro, Spike, and Ember following after him not even a few seconds later, showing that they were interested in what they were going to do today.

It only took them a minute or two to reach the dock, where they found Marco waiting for them, which was when both he and Nestor helped the trio into the basket of the hot air balloon before the fire was turned on again, allowing Marco to lift them into the air and begin the journey to the homeworld that they were heading towards. A few moments later Nestor took to the skies as well, following the hot air balloon as they started to make their way towards their destination, a place he knew the trio would be happy to return to, but he and Marco were keeping that a secret for now, so the three young dragons would be surprised when they finally came to a stop. Of course since each journey from the Artisans homeworld to one of the other lands took at least an hour, or longer depending on which of the other islands they picked as their destination, the trio decided to pick up their books and other items, showing that they intended to read to pass the time, even if Ember was more interested in looking out at the water every now and then. Nestor knew that she was hoping for this to be the moment when they finally returned to the home of the Peace Keepers, so she and her siblings could start their combat training at long last, something that Titan and Trondo had shown them some time ago, but he said nothing as they made their way towards their destination.

Forty-five minutes went by without anything happening, though Nestor knew that Ember was occasionally looking out at the area in front of them, trying to figure out which of the other homeworlds they were heading towards, but when she decided to look again, however, he could see a slight smile appear on her face as she spotted the land of the Peace Keepers start to appear before her eyes. Shortly after she noticed it both Spyro and Spike stopped what they were doing and looked at the land in front of them, finding out what their sister was staring at, before a smile appeared on their faces as well, as they were curious as to whether or not they were going to stop at the island that was in front of them. It only took a few more minutes before Marco started to descend towards the dock that was at the edge of the island, the one that would allow them to actually enter the Peace Keepers homeworld, and Nestor could see that the trio was excited for what was going to happen next, even though Ember was the most excited of the trio. She had every right to be, as Nestor had arranged for them to finally start their combat training and Titan was more than ready for them to arrive, along with the rest of the Peace Keepers that would be watching this training take place, before Nestor turned his head towards the dock, where he found the Leader in question standing near the opening of the chamber that would lead them right into the main area of this homeworld.

"Nestor! I'm glad you guys could make it without anything stopping you," Titan said, though as he said that Nestor flew down to where he was standing and landed in front of him, giving Marco some room for when he landed, but there was one thing he wanted to ask before anything else happened, and the only one that could answer it was the Leader of the Artisans dragons, "You told me that you'd bring the trio back here for the start of their combat training when they were either two or three years old, not after they turned four. What happened to what you originally told me?"

"I decided to postpone it for a while," Nestor replied, as he knew that Titan would be a little bent out of shape at the fact that he didn't come back with Spyro, Spike, and Ember like he said he would, but he had said that before they returned to their homeworld and two of the young dragons had done something he should have stopped, "Not even a few minutes after we got back to the Artisans homeworld, after our visit to your land, Spyro and Ember decided to try their hand at mimicking what you and Trondo showed them, resulting in Sparx taking a blow that would have hurt Spyro and me taking some time to explain to them why dragonflies are important. That's why I decided to postpone this visit, as I felt that they weren't actually ready for this sort of training, especially after hearing about what they did when Sparx had been hurt, but now that they're older I felt that it's time for them to actually train under you, or at least learn the types of techniques a young dragon would use if they got into a fight."

"Is that so?" Titan inquired, because while it wasn't uncommon for young dragons to mimic what he and Trondo did, even though he was thinking about young Peace Keepers dragons, he was surprised that two of the three young dragons had tried something right after their visit to his lands, but he smiled as he faced Nestor, "Well then, at least that gives us a decent starting point, if they've already tried to train in the art of combat, but that does raise another question, to replace the one that I just asked. What moves did they try out?"

"From what I could gather, they were trying to learn how to charge." Nestor answered, as that was what he figured out by hearing Spike tell him what his siblings were trying to do, which was mostly what Titan and Trondo had shown them at the end of their visit, but at the very least this gave Titan an idea of what the trio had tried to do and might even give him an idea of where to start their actual training.

Titan remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about what he had originally planned for today and what Nestor had just told him, before shifting his gaze so he could look at the three young dragons, who were in the process of landing and climbing out of the hot air balloon's basket, before he smiled at them.

"It's good to see you three again." Titan said, as he knew that the trio were excited about what they were going to do today, even if they hadn't been told about what was going to happen, and he was eager to get their training started at long last, especially since two of them were purple dragons, "though I bet you're wondering what we'll be doing today."

"Combat training!" Ember exclaimed, before her brothers could even say anything in response to what Titan had said, but at the same time Spyro and Spike nodded their heads in agreement, showing that, while they didn't have the same level of excitement that their sister had, they were still eager to see what they could learn today.

"That is correct." Titan continued, where he turned around and beckoned for the trio to follow him, while he used his right arm to lift his weapon up so the handle could lean on his shoulder, though it wasn't long before he heard the sounds of the three young dragons following after him, along with Nestor accompanying them, no doubt to keep an eye on the trio while they were training.

Spyro, Spike, and Ember wondered where Titan would be taking them, since they didn't know all that much about the land that they were visiting, but as they entered the main area of the island, the central bit where none of the Peace Keepers lived due to the conditions that were all around them, they quickly found Trondo standing in one area, putting a straw dummy of some kind down, where it's back was put in the ground so it could remain upright.

"Today we'll teach the three of you the basics on how to dodge by rolling, how to charge, and, most importantly, how to breath fire." Titan stated, though as he approached the area that Trondo was standing in he shifted his stance and placed his weapon on the ground, so that it would lean against a boulder, before turning around so he could face the trio, who were standing near him while Nestor stood off to the side, "Do you see the straw dummies that are resting around Trondo? We'll be using those as targets for two of your lessons, as in the charging lesson and the lesson on how to wield your inner fire like an adult does, while Trondo and I will use a pair of wooden weapons to help you understand how you're supposed to dodge attacks, regardless of what they of attack it is. Nestor told me that the three of you are getting quite fast at running through that maze of his, but did you know that you can use that speed to charge at your foes and knock them to the ground?"

Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few moments, as they remembered the day that Titan and Trondo had first shown them how to charge at their target, before focusing on the Leader once more as they shook their heads, indicating that they had no idea what he was talking about. Titan, on the other hand, simply grinned as he had them stand back for a second, though once they weren't standing near him he turned and faced the dummy that Trondo had put into the ground, where he shifted his stance and dropped down onto all fours, just like he had done when he and the greatest warrior of his clan had shown the trio a few of their moves. Despite no longer being a young dragon, who would be used to walking and fighting like this, Titan seemed just fine as he focused on the dummy, just as Trondo moved away from it, before he rushed at the dummy with an incredible amount of speed, which surprised the trio since they had no idea adult dragons could move that fast while taking on the quadrupedal stance, and they sat there with a stunned look on their faces as Titan barreled into the dummy and knocked it onto the ground. What happened was that Titan had used his horns and the top of his head while he was charging, as that was what had come into contact with the dummy, which was why the dummy moved so much, but even then the trio was surprised by what they had seen and were curious as to what else Titan was going to show them, before they had their turn anyway.

A few seconds later Trondo stepped forward and picked out what appeared to be a wooden version of Titan's battle-axe, though once it was in his hands he rushed at where his Leader was standing and swung the weapon down at his target, but before it could make contact Titan, who had turned and stared at Trondo before that point, rolled to his right and let the head of the weapon miss him. The trio noticed that the speed of his roll was just like how he charged, meaning that there was a second reason behind their trips to the maze, while the roll itself was like someone was moving while they were sleeping, the motion of it was anyway, and Titan made sure to make one complete roll before stopping and returning to his previous stance. The reason behind that was because he showed off both the charge attack and the dodge roll a few more times, allowing the trio to understand what he was going to teach them and maybe give them some hints on what they should be doing when their training started, hence the reason they were watching the mock battle unfold and were paying close attention to everything that happened. It wasn't long before Trondo stopped and gave Titan the opening that he was waiting for, as the moment he spotted it he took a deep breath, like he was inhaling, and then loosed a gout of fire that raced towards where Trondo was standing, who was smart enough to open his wings and move out of the way before he was even touched by the flames, which was followed by Titan cutting off his attack before he stood back up.

It was then that the trio noticed that Titan wasn't even worn out from taking on the quadrupedal stance again, either because he had been trained to fight like that and it was second nature, despite being an adult now, or he had forced his body to relearn the lessons he had been taught when he was younger, to help them learn how to fight.

"And there you have it, those are the three basic skills a young dragon must learn so they can defend themselves from any type of threat." Titan commented, though at the same time he and Trondo walked over to the dummies and set three of them up, which were around the trio's height, showing them that it was going to be their turn to try out the moves that he had shown them and that they were going to start with the charging skill, "Since you have done a lot of training with your speed, thanks to Nestor's maze, I figured that we would start with seeing how well you fare with the charge attack, and then we can move on to the other two later, just so we don't spend the entire day on a single attack."

Spyro and Spike immediately moved forward so they could try their hand at charging at the dummies, which just so happened to be placed with enough distance between them so none of them would have to worry about running into each other and ruining all of their charges at the same time. Ember, on the other hand, surprised Titan when she stayed still and stared at the dummy that was her target, no doubt she was thinking of what she had seen and was trying to figure out how he had moved as quickly as he had, which just gave her brothers time to charge at their own dummies. Nestor, who was standing nearby, already knew what was going on, as he had seen the same thing when he was trying to teach the trio had to glide for the first time, and that was the fact that Ember had been the one to get it right, to some degree, and it appeared that she was replicating what she had done during that session with this session, meaning that it was only a matter of time until she made her move. Spyro didn't have much luck in the beginning, as it was a little difficult to match the speed that Titan had been using when he showed them how to charge, and his first attempted started off rather well, but when he slammed into the dummy he found that his target barely moved at all, showing that he must have done something wrong in his attempt, but Titan was okay with that happening, as this was Spyro's first time attempting this attack and he'd master it in time. When Spike made his attempt, however, he ended up tripping and ended up face first in the sand in front of him, surprising Titan, Trondo, and Nestor for a moment, before he pulled himself out of the sand and shook his head, before taking his position again before charging at the dummy, only to replicate what Spyro did.

After a few more attempts Ember got up from where she was sitting and smiled as she focused on her target, where Spyro, Spike, and the others watched as she charged at her dummy, like how Titan had done during his demonstration, and barreled into her target like she had been shown. The result of that action caused the post that the dummy was attached to at the moment to shake, even crack a little, but it eventually settled down and returned to normal, though Ember wasn't unhappy with this development, as she knew that it would take some time for her and her brothers to make some progress with the charging technique and this was a good start for them. Nestor chuckled for a moment, as that was what he was expecting to see happen when Ember got started, even if it surprised Titan and Trondo a little, but it did make him interested in the other two techniques the trio would be learning today, after they were done with their first couple of attempts with the charging attack. Besides, it was just like Ember to analyze what an instructor was doing and what her brothers did, that way she could make a better first attempt and show both Spyro and Spike what they had done wrong, which was what she was doing right now, taking the charge stance so she could show them where each of them went wrong so they could improve for their next attempt.

In fact the same thing happened when they went to their dodging exercises, as either Titan or Trondo would take up one of the wooden weapons and try to hit one of the trio at random, to test their reflexes at the same time, but they also made sure not to actually hit them if they didn't move, as that would hurt their dragonflies instead. Spyro and Spike had a hard time judging where the attacks were coming from and were having a hard time actually rolling out of the way, but Ember, on the other hand, was able to avoid the attacks rather easily and was able to avoid being hit at all, causing Cinder to buzz in a happy tune as he, Sparx, and Talon watched their friends train in the art of combat. That wasn't to say that Ember had mastered the art of dodging with no actual training, rather she was quicker to notice was was going on and had recalled the movements that Titan and Trondo had used in their earlier training session, allowing her to evade the attacks much easier, but even then she still slipped up whenever the pair changed tactics, showing that she had a lot of work to do to reach the level that Titan was at. When it came to breathing fire, however, all three of them reached the same level, as all they were able to do was inhale, like Titan had done, and breathed out not seconds later, though all they were able to produce was small amount of flames, nothing like what happened when Spike sneezed and accidentally breathed fire on the sphere that had been in front of him.

Nestor knew that this was only the beginning of their combat training, as one day all three of them would have the skills necessary to defend themselves against whatever was thrown at them, and he was eager to see what they were capable of once they reached that point.

Comments

[Midnight Moon]

Ember continues to be a quick study, able to learn from the mistakes of her brothers and not allowing her excitement get in the way of learning what's she's interested in.

[PrismStrike]

Happy to see Spyro finally get a prank to work and changing to water was a good idea as the cleanup is definitely way easier as ya just let it soak into the ground. Was super happy to see them go back to the peacekeepers and thought the reason for it being pushed back was well done. Ember once again is showing off her more analytical mind, I could see her become a great warrior in the future. they are a little behind in their ability to breath fire but that can just be because they have only just started really practicing with it. All in all another great chapter as always, keep up the great work

[DJScales]

Nice job. This is amazing. I can see Ember as a Magic Crafter and Spyro as a Peace Keeper. Still this has promise.

[PrismStrike]

9712399
I am not sure we are reading the same story, though everyone is entitled to their own opinions

[Love able chaos]

Yes they are finally on their way to becoming tiny adorable badass'.