Chapter 1: Discovery

"I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude."

– Judith M. Knowlton

Anthropomorphic beasts gathered past the solid, gilded gate. Literally a stone's throw away from Warfang, the City of Dragons. Upright llamas enjoyed the clear view thanks to their long, furry necks. Cheetahs observed the commotion from the treetops. Dragonflies fluttered to and fro, like mobile lanterns incapable of staying still. The occasional, adult dragon towered above them all, and it seemed the short, hairy moles and every other animal not blessed by height or acrobatics had little chance catching a good glimpse of the action.

All ignored the golden, one-winged dragon slumped unconscious on a nearby tree. They'd much rather watch—stare at the strangely dressed creature kneeling in the middle of the crowd, covered in blood. It was a young, male ape. It had an odd shape: almost hairless, almost furless. The skin was a deep russet, balanced between black and light brown.

Its viridian eyes ogled the—don't think about it! –below him. "S, shit," he cursed. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh f*cking shit!"

Joshua Renalia, the only human being in this entire spectacle, crawled forward. "Oh my f*cking God!" He hyperventilated even as he cried, even as he felt like screaming. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I, I-I-I, I didn't mean—I didn't know—

Both hands found the purple scales somehow, despite the human's panic. They were warm to the touch. Smooth and ridged. But even Joshua felt something was wrong. The strong, rippling muscles inside were rigid. Trembling from something he could only describe as shock. Damn it, he thought. This wasn't supposed to happen. This should've gone so much smoother. "What did I do?" he muttered, confused. "What did I do? What did I do what did I do what did I f*cking—

A flash of white intruded Joshua's mind. Blood and a most disgusting smell replaced it, subjecting the young boy to an urge to vomit. He felt the stronger urge to drop dead, to run, to do nothing but gape. "No. No, no, no." The human choked. He choked. He cupped his mouth, but it barely suppressed the cry tearing itself out of his lungs. Tears threatened to fall. "I, I couldn't… no, I couldn't have, that's… that's not what I—

"NO! SPYRO!"

A gunshot rang out in his ears.

"Oh crap!" The human turned and saw a pair of magenta wings flaring ominously. A black dragoness bared its fangs at him. Two emeralds glared back into his brown eyes, and he instantly saw the desire to protect a loved one shimmering inside. "Get away from him, ape!"

Joshua nearly shrunk at the blades glinting on his assailant's tail and wings. And those horns. All six of those sharp, menacing horns. They never looked so dangerous in the video game. "Cynder, wait!" He raised his hands, as far up as he could. "Look, I can fix this. I can fix this! I swear!" He motioned towards the only other unconscious dragon in sight. "Remember what I did for Kilat—

Cynder charged. She ignored his pleas. Joshua backed away out of fright. He couldn't even stand up, let alone run. He watched the former Terror of the Skies open her muzzle. "Don't kill me! Please, just give me a—

"A one-way ticket to Ape hell!" roared an enraged, golden dragonfly.

Red orbs flew out and veered straight for the human, who could do nothing but flinch, cover his face with his arms, shut his eyes, and braced himself for Cynder's Phantom Fright.

This was not how Joshua thought he would meet the two most celebrated heroes of the Dragon Realms, his two favorite video game characters of all time.

.

.

Indeed, if you were given the chance to enter a fictional world of your choice…

If you were given the chance to meet the characters you liked, to see them in the flesh—to talk to them, to befriend them as living people, to discover things well beyond the lore established by canon…

Would you take it?

Even if it meant abandoning life as you know it?

If it required you to leave behind all the conveniences you took for granted, all the people you ever cared about, all the dreams you wanted to achieve…

Would you take it?

Even if it was not certain you would succeed?

And if you could somehow push away the nostalgia, shove aside your fantasies, and seriously scrutinize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…

Would you still take it anyway?

Even if you ran the risk of becoming…

.

.

.

AIMLESS

.

.

.

If God had mercy on Joshua Renalia, He would have given him this choice in the first place.

Unfortunately, Joshua never recalled being presented with such a question.

Slipping into a comfortable, king-sized bed was the last thing he remembered on the day he arrived in the Dragon Realms. He recalled lifting the sheets over a pair of soft, gray flannel trousers, a V-neck, and—something he hoped his parents didn't discover—a provocative photograph of an FHM model and a few sheets of tissue. He was quick to shut his eyes and pleasure himself into a dreamless sleep.

Only to wake up on a bed of grass in the middle of a forest.

He closed his eyes again, trying to go back to sleep. He hoped it would wake him up from this dream. But closing his eyes only accentuated the dampness of the ground and the crumbly surface underneath his body. He heard clearly the leaves swaying in the wind, the serene smell of life circulating throughout the forest—

Joshua sat up. "What the hell?" He looked down at his body. He still wore his sleepwear. Still had a hand tucked in his trousers, clutching a crusty, dried ball of tissue. Green eyes looked around cautiously. "This, this isn't… Where am I?"

Joshua took out his hand and threw aside the disgusting tissue and its faint smell of bleach. He winced when he felt the cool, smooth grass sliding between his toes. The rough, crumbling soil dug into the balls of his feet, soft and untouched thanks to the comforts of modern civilization. Shit, cursed the teenager. What's going on?

The brown-skinned human being chose a direction at random and sauntered off in the middle of nowhere. It may not have been the smartest thing to do at the time, but with the 21st century clearly absent from all five of his senses, it was the only thing Joshua could think of at the moment.

And in hindsight, it probably was a good thing he did. Otherwise he might never have discovered exactly where he was.

Joshua Renalia already hated every minute he spent in this forest, and he hated even more the fact he could not track the time any more beyond the movements of the sun.

He wiped the few droplets of sweat covering his forehead. The heat filtering through the forest was borderline comfortable, yet it remained humid enough to make him sweat. He felt—he heard his stomach grumble again, probably the third time over the past five minutes. Joshua put his hand over his belly and rubbed it, as if the mere act could fill the growing hunger and the abdominal pain that went with it.

"Tch!" He grunted, barely driving away the dread trying to possess him. This was not a dream, he finally realized. This was reality now. His reality. Damn it all, he needed food and water, and he needed it soon to survive.

How long had he been walking aimlessly through this forest? Where was he going? Where was he? Joshua couldn't recall glimpsing anything passable as food as he trekked across the wild land, and he didn't want to risk himself with the yellow berries glinting seductively in the shrubs untouched, not when they were so low just about anyone—anything could reach out and touch them. Possibly poisonous.

Just how did he get into this mess in the first place? He certainly wouldn't volunteer for an ordeal like this. Joshua was by no means a survivalist; he knew little beyond concepts he could guess using common sense alone, but even so, execution would definitely be unreliable.

Something sharp dug into his feet and interrupted his thought process. Joshua returned to reality to find himself staring at a falling slope that ended in a steep drop-off. Water rapidly streamed along the shallow creek below. The ground was a considerable distance from the cliff. Give or take a hundred feet, if he estimated correctly—

"Whoa!" Joshua stopped and leaped back immediately. He could've fallen right then and there. He could've plummeted to his own death just like that. Lucky he noticed it just in time! Regardless the teenager quivered from fright and sat in place, staring down at the landscape below. He should've been more careful. He could've been more careful if he simply stopped pondering how exactly he ended up in this godforsaken forest with nothing else except the clothes on his back and focused completely on doing the best he could with his limited (borderline nonexistent) knowledge on wilderness survival.

The sixth rumbling of his poor stomach roused Joshua from his stupor. He licked his lips as he woke. His tongue, his mouth felt dry. He sensed the thirst approaching. Hopefully the water below wouldn't be contaminated with bacteria or something worse. He heard bird tweets from close proximity—the first time he's heard them this morning. Joshua looked around, wondering where the animals were. Perhaps he could rely on them. Use their knowledge of the forest to find edible plants. It wasn't the optimal solution, but it was something he could work with for now—

There!

He found a number of birds fussing over several trees near him, and the red and blue berries hanging from the branches. Joshua Renalia watched carefully, eyed how they gobbled up the blue ones and discarded the crimson spheres. Strange how these animals apparently rejected the juiciest, tastiest looking fruits…

A hypothesis formed in his head as he took note of this observation and smiled. Perhaps he had food after all. Joshua took a small pebble from the ground and chucked it at the nearest tree. "Shoo!" he said. "Get away! Shoo!"

He ignored the red berries—he'd test their edibility later, somehow—and looked up. Oh boy, was he in for a climb! And on his bare feet, nonetheless. Maybe he could fashion a pair of slippers later… but for now, he wanted food and water. He had to put something in his stomach, and he had to do it now.

The human brushed away the black bangs from his face and proceeded to climb. The bark did not feel nice for his dirty feet, but at this point, Joshua had little choice. He chose to endure the discomfort. He chose to ignore as much of the prickling as he humanly could, letting adrenaline and sheer hunger give him the motivation to go on. Whatever he was in, he would survive this. Then he would investigate his situation. He would beat up the living shit out of the asshole who decided to bring him here to this nightmare once he found him, and then it's time to get the hell out of there and head for home. Home, sweet home.

Without a bag of any sort, Joshua Renalia jury-rigged one out of his shirt as soon as he reached the top section of the tree. He stabilized himself on the other branches, again pushing away the pain lashing out from the small cuts decorating his feet. He took off the navy blue V-neck and held it by the openings. Then he plucked every blue berry he could reach from his position and stashed it into his makeshift bag. They were large. As big as grapes, he reckoned.

He made sure to count each one. Once he had about twenty or so, he tied up the shirt, closed it as much as he could, and began his descent…

Only to stop when he looked out, gazed at the clear view of the horizon.

A blue sky.

White, fluffy clouds.

A walled city in the distance, towards the far left. Tall, white, and imposing.

A broken volcano towards the far right, seeming more distant than the city. What looked like land floated above the dead mountain. An impossible sight.

It was more impossible to miss the small number of reptilian forms flying above the walled city. They looked like dragons. But he could barely see the colors. Joshua squinted. Were they orange? Green? Blue? Yellow? Wait a minute, did he just see a purple one—

Recognition struck the teenager. He might have dropped the bag of berries had he been less distracted by his amazement, by this new discovery. Thank God he was an avid gamer, and a fan of Spyro the Dragon at that. If he hadn't touched the video game at any point in his life, he would have never identified the walled city of Warfang presenting itself before his eyes. He would have never perceived the glory it seemed to radiate, as though the conflict with the Dark Master was long over.

The City of Dragons waited for Joshua Renalia. It was just sitting there, waiting for him to make his way to its borders, to its scores of new faces. To think he managed to catch a glimpse of Spyro himself from afar.

At that moment, Joshua decided to trek all the way to the city. Forget going home! He was in the Dragon Realms now. He didn't know how he got here, he didn't know who brought him here, and he certainly didn't know why he was here, but his decision assured him, as the teenager had much better chances of getting the answers he wanted at Warfang.

This was the chance of a lifetime. An opportunity he simply couldn't refuse. Who wouldn't want to be in his place right now?

And so what began as seething hate transformed into eagerness. Into excitement. An unbridled anticipation, surrounded by a realm of possibilities.

Joshua Renalia would never learn how far his own expectations blinded him. Not until it was too late.

Author's notes:

Hey y'all.

I am the Silent Insomniac. I've been into fanfiction for a long time. For several years, actually. But I'm mostly active in another fandom, so I'm heading into unexplored territory here. In fact, I shouldn't be writing this story at all. I shouldn't. I'm afraid I don't have that good a grasp over the canon characters, and I'm not even that well-versed in the fandom to supplant the canon lore with my own. But I want to. I've been seeing a lot of Trapped in TV Land type stories in this fandom, and I came across a one-year-old story that was merely a "rant/question" by a Spyro writer, which asked why this sort of story pervaded the Spyro community, why the writers of these stories often fail, often ignore the uncomfortable questions that come with this premise.

So having seen the same thing this Spyro writer did, asking myself the same questions, and even reading the comments left on this writer's "story", I felt the urge to do something about it and write. As much as I hate what it does to the little free time I have, I must yield or it'll drive me nuts.

As you may gather from the summary and the contents of my first chapter here, I will be upfront about it. This is going to be a Trapped in TV Land story. A "Human in the Dragon Realms" one, to be specific, right in the Legend verse. And I plan on subverting it. Mapping out even a rough outline of what I want to happen was hard as balls, but the final product should have some decent entertainment value, even more so after I get a few chapters in.

If anyone actually ends up liking this story, just so you know, my main project in my home fandom will always take priority ahead of this story as I am doing this just to get the concept out there. So… I don't know how long this story is going to be and I don't know how often I'm going to update, but I sure as hell know I am not going to put in the same amount of work. No super immersive chapters between 10K and 20K in word count. I plan on keeping this real small, real simple. God help me; I have never written chapters as short as 3K. It may be easy to keep it short now, but wait 'til I start bringing in other characters… ugh, I am not looking forward to that.

Anyway, if you have any criticisms or feedback, feel free to say something.