Spyro, Cynder and the other spyro chars minus striker belong to Sierra studios...for now

The other chars belong to me and Cydra

C.P.S Chronicles: Dragon Stones

Prologue

The Sy-Yong incident has come and gone and the NSC is working desperately to cover up their connections with what was researched at the facility. The five survivors of the incident, christened the 'Sy-Yong Five' by the media have been split up and sent to the furthest reaches of NSC space in an attempt to stop them discussing what truly happened…

Chapter 1: Back to the stars

Frontier Colony Athens 4

NSC/Badlands border

There is a bar like this on any populated world in any universe. It is the place where people come to drink their woes and their grievances into oblivion and to forget, temporarily all the bad things that have happened. One person here had a lot to forget…

Matt sat on a stool at the bar, surrounded by glasses. "Another Pepsi" he said slurred. The barman, an argonian called Kay-Dai (though everyone just called him Kay) from Dimension D-071 shook his head in amusement.

"I keep telling you, it is impossible to get drunk on Caffiene…no matter how much you drink." Said Kay, filling up another glass and added under his breath "…Though you seem to be getting close to succeeding."

Matt, if he heard didn't respond. "I can't believe the NSC hung me and my friends out to dry…they even impounded my ship…the smegheads." He said angrily. Kay nodded his head. Matt had ranted about this ever since he'd started coming here and anyway, the Sy-Yong disaster was all over the infonet.

The door into the bar opened, letting in some sand from the duststorm wailing outside and some people in camouflage uniforms walked in. "…telling you. We should go to the CPS base here…not get some pilot who's had his ship impounded." Finished one of the guys as they came in.

The leader, a black guy ignored this and walked towards Matt. "Mr Lynch?" he asked politely to Matt who shrugged. "Who's asking? If you're the impound guy getting me to pay rent on my ship it will go hard with you."

The leader shook his head "My name is Captain Daniel Arkeas of the ship 'Maelstrom Star'. I'm here to offer you a post on my ship." He said and continued "I was told you're the best pilot in Athens 4 and I need another pilot desperately to complete a very lucrative contract."

Matt started to say the words 'I don't need your money!' but was interrupted as Arkeas continued "The contract pays 10 million credits per crew member."

Matt stopped and said "This is a trick." Getting a friendly laugh from Arkeas. "No tricks, Mr Lynch…if you're interested, get to Hanger 15 by tomorrow afternoon. Hope to see you there." He said tossing a star port access card on the table before walking out, leaving Matt looking at the card.

En-route to Athens 4 Star Port

Matt was the only passenger on the transport as it shot across the desert landscape towards the Star Port. Matt had spent the whole night, thinking and had eventually decided that 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' Another pert of his mind had reminded him that he'd used that attitude when he'd taken the Sy-Yong contract. A jolt knocked him out of his thoughts as the automated passenger transport arrived at the pyramid shaped Hanger complex, a faded '15' visible on the giant blast doors.

He grabbed his bag and walked across and into the hanger, which was a hive of activity. Repair bots and crew members scurried around a large and old looking Starcruiser, loading munitions and supplies and checking components on the hull. It reminded Matt of an anthill that had been overturned.

"Good looking ship, eh?" said a female voice behind Matt, giving him a minor heart attack. "Gah…I mean yeah." Said Matt turned to see a Chinese girl about his age, wearing a pilot ID. "I'm Sonya Adams, Chief pilot on the Maelstrom Star. I guess you're Matt…the new co-pilot." She said, leading the way towards the ship.

Matt followed her up the cargo ramp, looking around and the mix of outdated and modern equipment. From the activity around the ship he had just been in time. "You're lucky…we were just about to leave…" said Sonya as the last people went aboard and she sealed the bay "I'm surprised you took the job…not many people want to fly into the Badlands."

Matt followed her towards the control deck, thinking what could be in the Badlands, the worst area of Nullspace, that was worth 10 million credits a crew member…

The control room reminded Matt of the bridge of the 'Enterprise' from star trek. It looked out of place in a ship like the Maelstrom Star. Sonya sat one of two control seats and put on a radio headset. Matt sat in the other and did the same. Immediately a hologram display appeared in front of him, the words 'Good Morning, Pilot Lynch' appeared.

"Presuming a bit." Matt muttered. Sonya turned as the door opened and Arkeas walked in. "We just got take off clearance." She said. Arkeas just nodded. Matt noted how Arkeas didn't have to give an order, everyone knew what they needed to do without telling. A mark of true pro's.

The roar of the Ships plasma engines snapped him out of his thoughts. 'Just a simple job' he thought…But nothing is ever simple in Nullspace.

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It was a few hours later…Matt was sitting in his quarters reading all the details on the ship. The door opened and one of the crew tossed a PDA onto his lap. "Captain says to read that…it's the contract details." He said before leaving Matt alone.

Matt clicked a button and the small PDA burst into life, displaying a load of details.

C.P.S Contract A-21

Sender: Only known as 'D.M'

Type: Retrieval & Delivery

The PDA showed a picture of an oak box covered in strange runes. Matt looked at it as the PDA began playing a recording.

"This box was last located aboard the Scaros 12 Mining facility in the Badlands. The box and its contents MUST be retrieved intact and untouched and then delivered to a specified Dimension Captains eyes only. Permission to inspect contents is not permitted.

Note: Scaros 12 facility has been overrun by a Raider Clan.

Extreme caution advised.

Heavy Resistance is expected.

Fee upon completion is NS$10,000,000 per crew member."

Matt took all this in as the PDA powered down. "Hmm…all that money just for a wooden box? Must be valuable to someone." He muttered before turning off his light to get some rest.

Badlands Sector G-15

Scaros 12 Mining Station

The Huge station loomed large on the viewscreen. Arkeas looked at it suspiciously. "Very quiet for a Raider base…we should be dodging plasma fire. Lynch, Adams. Dock us at the outer ring." He said pointing to the metal ring circling the middle of the station like a hula hoop.

As Matt and Sonya carefully steered in, he pressed the intercom "Wykes? Gear up your team. Be careful…This could be a trap." There was a clunk as the ship docked with the airlock tube built into the ring.

Scaros 12 Mining Station

Airlock 5

The silent, dark airlock corridor flared brightly as yellow sparks flared round the heavy looking airlock, leaving a glowing line that dripped globules of molten metal that floated in the zero gravity before a section of the door floated free. Wykes and his team, in environment suits shone lights through the door before walking forward, Pyzar laser pistols at the ready.

They followed the dark corridor into a room marked 'Power Distribution' where they flicked a wall of switches. The reaction was every light instantly blazing into life, a clattering from the corridor as the now cooled metal globules and the piece of door landed on the deck and the distant hiss of life giving oxygen flowing into the base.

Scaros 12 lived again. Wykes took his helmet off and took a deep breath before turning on his comm. "All clear so far…life support and gravities online again." He looked at a empty soda can that had fallen to the floor and continued "Looks like they left in a hurry."

One of his team finished logging into the computer. "All the shuttles are gone. Something spooked em. I'll get sensors back and we can find out what." He said. Arkeas's voice crackled over Wyke's comm "Got it…I'm sending the new guy, Lynch down to look for our…'cargo' . Send Rick and Bay-den with him. Arkeas out."

The door opened and a bored looking Matt came in. Wykes pointed at one of his men, Rick and at the reptilian alien member of the team, Bay-den. "You two…go with Lynch. Move out." He ordered, despite the grumbles of the two as they followed Matt into a lift that led to the vast cargo levels.

None of the trio spoke as the lift made its way shakily down the shaft. Finally Rick spoke. "How big ya think this cargo level is?...woooow." The lift had just entered a part of the shaft that allowed the occupants to see the cargo floor. The other side couldn't be seen. Vast skyscrapers of crates, cargo containers, stasis containers full of fresh food and drink spread off in one direction as far as could be seen, while on the opposite end could be seen rack upon rack of Scaros 12's mining equipment, from land buggies to move personnel and crates of laser drills, to vast mining mechs.

"How the smeg are we gonna find this box?" said Rick angrily as the lift came to a halt. Matt's PDA began beeping. "Follow the energy signal? Arkeas said he'd been given a tracking frequency." There was a rumble as Bay-den cleared his throat. "But a wooden box should not give an energy signal." He said, softly, causing Rick and Matt to shudder.

Scaros 12 Command centre

Scaros 12 Mining Station

Arkeas was rifting through the log entries made by the Raider clan head when the door to the command centre shot open and Wykes burst in. "S…Sir? We gotta big problem." He said going to a console and turning on a screen. It showed the Dragon Eye nebula that was the crews destination once Matt found the damn box.

"Ok…what am I looking at?" he asked. Wykes flicked a switch and the screen went orange tinted, an Ion scan. Now the screen showed a giant orange mass surrounded by dots in the cloud, a mass that was getting bigger.

"It's a class 6 meteor storm at least. The raiders musta picked it up and jumped ship." Said Wykes. Arkeas, spoke slowly, not taking his eyes from the mass on the screen. "Can the stations shields stop it?" he said faintly. Wykes answered simply. "It'll be like a jelly being hit by a railgun. The station'll be torn apart."

"How long?" said Arkeas, slowly. "Wykes asked the same of the computer which replied. "We've got 20 minutes." Said Wykes. "I sent a runner to get Lynch and his team out…the damn shielding down there messed up the comms."

Scaros 12 Mining Station

Cargo Level

The three searchers slowly walked through the avenues of giant store crates. "This place is a smegging maze. We could be here for the next hundred years and not find a damn thing." Said Rick grumpily as Matt waved the scanner around, hoping to pick up the signal.

The scanner suddenly lit up and let out a high pitched beep. "Bingo." Said Matt, looking at the dusty iron cargo container's Info-stamp. The stamp on the containers side said it had been due to be taken to an archaeological laboratory. Bay-Den seemed to read Matt's mind, saying "I guess the Raiders changed those plans."

Inside the crate were rows of dragon statues, spears…that sort of thing. "Someone had a lizard fixation." Said Rick as they shone their flashlights around the container, finally illuminating a small wooden box covered with runes that seemed to shift when in the corner of their vision.

"Creepy." Said Rick and began hitting the rusty padlock holding the box shut with his rifle butt. "What are you doing?" said Matt shocked as Rick continued bashing the lock "Seeing whats worth a total of nearly a billion credits." Said Rick as the rusted padlock finally gave way and fell off.

The three peered into the box and saw… "A rock? We've been searching for a goddamn pebble?" said Rick angrily. Matt just started laughing at the silliness of it all and Bay-Den politely waited for his human companions to explain what was going on. Sitting in the box was a stone covered in red runes identical to the ones adorning the outside of the box.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the container and a voice said "Guy? Guys!" The three walked outside to see a trooper from the Ship. "Arkeas says we're getting outta here…now."

"Why? What's happening?" said Matt. A huge bang and a violent jerking in the floor that threw everyone off balance answered his question and he was in time to see a fireball smash through the far wall and hit a stack of fuel canisters, causing a huge fireball.

"Get the box." Shouted Rick at Matt as he group got back up. Matt ran back into the canister where the box was with Bay-Den and grabbed the stone from inside the box as another micro-meteor caused another earth-shattering jolt. The last thing he saw before his head hit the corrugated iron of the canister was the runes on the stone flaring bright red, and a ever so faint voice, just on the edge of hearing saying "At laaast"…

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Bay-Den saw Matt crumple to the ground and saw the stone roll from the humans limp hand. He grabbed the stone, wondering briefly why the runes seemed faded now before shoving it back in its box and picking up both the box and Matt easily and running out.

"What happened to Lynch?" said Rick over the racket of the meteor storm and alarms. "No time…We must leave now." Answered Bay-Den and they ran back for the elevator.

The rest of the crew had already left the upper levels. The station groaned in its death throes as the meteors relentlessly barraged it.

The group practically dived through the airlock to the Maelstrom Star. Rick sealed the door and yelled into the intercom. "We're on board."

On the bridge, Arkeas sighed with relief. The ship had luckily escaped meteors so far but he'd been ready to leave without the small group. "Sonya. Get us the hell outta here." He yelled at Sonya who quickly disengaged from the station and not a moment too soon. A second later, a meteor the size of a small taxi demolished the docking ring.

As the Maelstrom Star swooped clear of the meteor storm, the station explosively disintegrated into fragments that also exploded. Arkeas breathed a sigh of relief. "Too close." He muttered, getting back on the comm to Rick. "Tell me you found what we were looking for." He said, rubbing his forehead to try and ease his stress.

"We got it…Matt gotta nasty crack on the head though. Get the Auto-Doc down here." Responded Rick

Unidnetified Location

Error…D.P.S** Failure

Matt walked through the strange crystalline landscape, hearing the sound of a huge fight in progress ahead. Suddenly two large red dragons, similar to the statues he'd seen in the container shot into view.

"Son of a smeg." Matt said hiding behind a rock to watch. The two dragons dove at each other, each attempting to toss his opponent out the sky. Matt screamed as a stray fireball shot at him…and woke up in the sterile white Med-bay on the Maelstrom Star.

'Maelstrom Star' Medical Bay

Matt looked around the bay. He was still wearing the stuff he'd worn on the station, though his equipment was sitting on a side chair in the corner.

The floating spiky basketball shaped 'Auto-doc' med droid hummed over. "Ah. You are awake sir. Do you wish for a sleep aid?" it asked politely, a hypodermic needle whirring out. Matt rasped, his throat feeling like it had been sanded and waved the injection away. The Droid got the message and hovered away, bringing a flask of water back.

Matt took a few gulps of the cold water till his throat had some feeling back in it. "What happened?" he asked the droid. The auto-doc would probably know. They were usually linked to the main computer and so usually had access to log details.

"The mission? We are at the final stage…Processing…according to the last log entry, we are 25 minutes from the final delivery destination. The captain requested that you be ready for co-piloting duties by that time, despite my objection that you have been unconscious for nearly 48 hours." Said the droid politely as Matt swung his legs off the bed and walked into the restroom to wash. The bot hovered over to a computer outlet and flagged a message to the captains PDA*** detailing that Pilot Lynch was awake and ready for duty. A surprised yell made the bot shoot into the restroom. "Sir?" it asked.

Matt was pointing at the mirror. "What the smegging hell happened to my eyes?" he said in a low calm voice, pointing at his reflection. His once green/brown eyes had turned a faint red instead. The Droid gave as close to a shrug as a basketball shaped bot could. "Processing Maybe an allergic reaction to something on the station." It said finally. The intercom beeped. "Pilot Lynch. Report for duty immediately." Matt pulled on some clean stuff and left for the bridge.

'Maelstrom Star'

Bridge

Matt arrived on the bridge and took his seat quietly. A few people took notice of his new eye colour but said nothing. Nullspace was full of weirdness. On the main viewer was a huge flashing multicoloured cloud. "We're going in there?" he finally said.

Arkeas nodded. "A type 12 Ion storm…and our destinations sitting in the centre, at the storm eye. Ok, now you're here…Lynch. Adams. Take us in." he said pointing ahead. Sonya just rolled her eyes "We're all gonna die." she said gloomily.

The flight through the storm was conducted in silence. Both pilots needed their concentration as just a small discharge could slice the heavily armoured ship in half and they'd only have a small amount of time to alter course to avoid such discharges. Sonya noticed more then once that Matt was reacting much faster then most people did. She decided not to mention it, she'd read his file back at Athens 4 and he had been considered a decent pilot.

Finally the ship emerged out of the smoky Ion gasses of the storm and into clear space again. The far eye wall was visible on the screen as well as a pinpoint of white light, the closed wormhole. As the ship approached, the wormhole blazed into life, a vast sea blue tunnel and Sonya and Matt wasted no time steering into its embrace.

D.P.S Error 17-A: Unlisted Dimension

In the space over a small planet, a blue hole appeared, spitting the Maelstrom Star out into its orbit…

Everyone on the bridge shook their heads to get rid of the nauseating warp-lag that the wormhole travel had given them. Arkeas was the first to speak. "Never get used to wormhole travel. Wallace. Any beacons on the scanner?" The comm operator he'd aimed the last part of his speech at was tapping away.

"Not a whisper. No comm traffic either, Airwaves are dead." Wallace replied in a strong American accent. The guy next to him operating the scanners tapped his computer "Damn junk. According to these readings there are no major settlements anywhere on-planet."

Arkeas just shrugged. "Someone sent us that contract, Davis. Keep looking. Wallace, start broadcasting our arrival." He ordered. He turned to the rest of the bridge crew. "Now I guess we wait." He said.

The wait itself was only a few minutes before Davis spoke. "Got a signal…could be a landing beacon. Bearing is 4.90 by 7.19. It's on one of the central continents on a plateau of some kind." Arkeas just nodded. "Take us down."

The ship shot into the atmosphere, briefly becoming a fiery comet before flying levelling out over a forest. Sonya was the first to notice the…unusual types of trees. "Mushrooms…those aren't tree's they're mushrooms…Huge ones." She said in awe.

Arkeas shrugged. "Who cares? Log everything the scanners pick up for NSC when they wanna classify this universe." He said. Matt raised the ships altitude slightly as it passed over some kind of temple. "Quite a peaceful place." He commented to a few muttered agreements from other crew members.

The plateau came into view after a few more minutes. A huge waterfall ran out its side, feeding the river that ran through the mushroom forest. "Beacons coming from a clear spot about a quarter km from the edge of the plateau, near some kinda tower. Guess the contract guy lives there." Davis said, looking at his readout.

Wallace looked at the tower on Davis's scanner. "That is one creepy place. Who're we working for? Dracula?" he said. A thud signalled the ship landing. Suddenly the flight controls went dark. "The heck?" said Matt hitting the controls. The intercom beeped

"fzzzt…This is engineering. Whoever hooked up that beacon did a damn monkeys job of it." Said the Scottish tones of the ships engineer. "Those idiots didn't check for EM leaks. The engines are drained dry." Arkeas didn't say anything but his attitude became cold and business-like. "Gotcha. Do what you can." He said before calling someone else.

"Wykes. Gear up the men. I'll be heading over to that tower with the package and a few men. I want a defensive perimeter between us and that building." He said, looking at the main viewer which showed the black, crystalline landscape.

Matt was also looking at the view of outside. There was no doubt, it was the same place from his dream earlier. Someone speaking to him, shook him out of his thoughts. "Matt? You hear me?" said Arkeas "I said to go with Sonya to the armoury and get kitted out." Matt got up and took one last look at the huge tower on the screen. Something about it seemed wrong.

Unknown dimension…

Time and Date unknown

It had been an hour or two now since the ship had landed and already everyone was restless. The barren ground with the constant cloud cover outside didn't help. People took it in turns to patrol the makeshift barrier made from boxes and small crates from the ships cargo area.

Matt was sitting on one of the boxes, staring out towards the tower with Rick. "I'm telling you…I keep getting the weird feeling I've been here before. Except I know for a fact I haven't." he said to Rick. Rick just shrugged. "You did nearly crack your head open on Scaros 12. Probably just a bit confused." Rick answered before he spotted something. "The hell? It's Nelson from Arkeas's team." He said spotting a distant figure running into view.

Matt, Rick and a few other of the crew vaulted the low barrier and ran towards Nelson who was shouting something. As they got closer they could make it out "Double-cross. It's a doub…Gyargh." He managed before one of the pink crystals that had been noticed set into the walls of on small tower like pillars made of crystal blasted him, sending the unfortunate merc falling forward with a smoking burn on his back.

"Oh shit." Swore one of the mercs before the crystal blasted him too, throwing him to the ground. "Get back." Shouted Rick, not that anyone needed telling. Dodging several more shots that caused small explosions of dust, the survivors ran back to the ship and practically dived over the barrier.

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It turned out that Davis was second in command after Arkeas. "So…we can probably presume this whole contract was a set up. A ship like ours would be pretty advanced as well as worth tonnes of the black market." He said to the bridge crew in the Maelstrom Stars tiny briefing room. Wykes was also there. "We can't do a thing to escape with that energy field screwing up the engines." Said Wykes gloomily.

Davis sighed. "Fine. Sonya, Matt? You and Wykes team are to leave…now." Sonya, Wykes and Matt both opened their mouths to protest but Davis interrupted them. ""The controls only work for Pilots. That means even if they get the ship they can't use it with you two." He said to Matt and Sonya.

"With respect, my team can help better here." Said Wykes. Davis just glared till he reluctantly agreed. "Ok…get the men ready to repel hostiles. Lynch, Adams. If you live I suggest that temple we passed over as a place to meet up." And the group filed out of the room, Matt looked at Sonya as the two of them climbed the ladder to the bridge deck.

"I dun get it. A decent hacker can just turn the controls back on." He said as the two walked onto the bridge. Sonya walked over to the controls and opened a tiny panel on each before removing a green crystal from each.

"Time crystals. No power, no controls. " she said smugly tossing one of the crystals over to Matt and saying "Best put it in your wrist computers storage." She said, touching the crystal to her own wrist computer, making it vanish into it. "Now lets get outta here."

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The small group all stood there as Matt and Sonya came in. Everyone was dressing in camouflage gear and had a backpack on. Wykes spoke "Everyone's here…let's go…" he was interrupted as the ships intercom crackled and Davis's voice said. "All personnel to the perimeter. Hostiles sighted. This is not a drill." Wykes said more urgently "Let's go NOW!"

Makeshift Perimeter Fence

Davis looked back at the ship and saw the two pilots run out and head into the maze of mini-canyons behind the ship at a dead run before turning his attention back to the approaching horde. There were so many it was difficult to make out what they were.

He clicked the safety off his assault gun and knelt behind the makeshift barrier. A few of the crew had climbed on top of the ship for better shots. "Steady." He shouted out as the rest of the crew looked worried. He spotted some strange creatures among the approaching force. They looked a lot like the pink crystals suspended on energy legs.

One of the energy golems fired a shot that just missed a merc who fired back. The rest of the crew took this as an order to fire and the sound of the shots sounded like a piece of dynamite going off. The front of the approaching horde were blown backwards by the sheer force and others began to fall or were knocked over. Closer they looked a lot like… "Monkeys?" said Davis, looking at the baboon like creatures.

That was when the return fire came. Energy blasts shot around, felling crew members or throwing their aim off, wasting ammo. The attackers were almost on top of the defenders. The diminished crew managed a final volley of automatic fire before the apes cleared the low perimeter. It quickly became a melee with the crew on the lower hand. Davis saw Wallace fall when one of the crystal creatures electrocuted him. Suddenly he was hit from behind. He fell flat down and managed to turn over to see one of the apes sneering at him before it brought its fist down on him…

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Matt and Sonya ran fast as they could as they picked their way through the maze, climbing over obstacles. They'd all heard the fight back at the ship over their radios and were not in the finest of spirits. They'd already run into several of the apes. "Who are these guys?" said Sonya as they ran down another of the mini-canyons.

"Who cares? We gonna get outta here…oh hell." Said Matt as they ran round a corner to a fork in the path. "Now which way?" he said. 4 or so of the apes ran round the corner behind them, forcing the group to open fire yet again.

The two quickly fled down the path on the right, the yelling apes in hot pursuit. As they turned a corner, Sonya stopped and pulled a metal orb out her pocket, twisting it before shoving it into a crack. "Let's see em chase us after this." She said as the orb began ticking.

The chasing apes tore round the corner yelling just as the orb finished ticking and began glowing and letting a steadily increasing whining noise. The sonic charge let loose a soundless flash, soundless because the sound itself was so high. The crystal walls of the path shattered into fragments that clogged the path and blocked the way. Sonya and Matt watched the last fragment falls down with a tinkling noise before high-fiving. "That'll hold em for a few minutes…" said Sonya but stopped as a steady hissing noise came from the new barrier and the debris began to glow and crack.

"Yeah…I'm sure…Running time!" said Matt, turning and running again, closely followed by Sonya. The path ahead was covered on either side by two more of the strange crystal towers, though these ones looked slightly different. Matt was first past them but when Sonya tried to run by, the towers blasted into life, blocking the way with a web of electrical bolts. Matt turned to see Sonya attempting to blast one of the crystals to no effect and ran back. "Get lost, Lynch. They can't get the start up crystals for the ship." Sonya said sternly, taking a shot at one of the apes that rounded the corner, causing it to duck back.

Matt shook his head "No…I won't leave you just to be blasted by those ape and crystal things." taking a pot shot of his own through the electrical bars. Sonya turned and glared so nastily that Matt took a step back. "I'm higher ranked on the ship then you and I'm giving you a direct order. SCRAM!" Matt turned and ran to the next turn, stopping to look back at Sonya who was delving into her backpack and pulling out a nasty looking plasma rifle. "Good luck." He muttered gloomily before turning and running down the path…

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Sonya watched Matt turn and run down the path and slapped the rifles ammo pack into place. Something was coming, her mercenary sense was telling her that much…something that was causing those ape things to stay back…their leader? She felt something behind her. "I hear you, you smeghead." She muttered, swung round and fired the entire clip into the huge shadowy shape with two glowing red eyes standing behind her to little effect except to cause it to laugh coldly. Her gun glowed purple and flattened into a pebble sized hunk of sparking metal.

"Is that any way to treat your master?" it said coldly, the eyes glowing. Sonya stared into them and didn't even notice the glowing energy orb the figure held till it hit her in the chest.

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Matt heard Sonya's yell of pain from behind him and doubled his pace, his heart hammering in his ribs from his fear. The path ahead suddenly had a cut off look. It was a cliff with an almost ledge-like path leading steadily down it. Matt was about to start down it slowly when he heard a voice. "Stay where you are, human." Matt turned to see a shadowy shape with two red eyes behind him, flanked by at least a dozen of the apes.

"I believe you have something of mine. Hand it over and you may leave unharmed." The shape said coldly. Matt, however could smell a lie a mile off. This thing wasn't even trying to conceal the fact that he had no intention of letting him go. "Yeah right." muttered Matt and heard a voice in his ear. 'He'll do worse then kill you…jump.' Matt looked to the side and saw nothing. The shape must have thought he was looking for other crew members and said "Nobody is coming to help you." And dropped his shadow. Matt nearly fell over with shock.

A huge purple dragon was standing in front of him. Matt reached for his blaster and was half way through drawing it when the dragon's claws blurred, knocking Matt back and nearly over the cliff edge and pain blossomed in his face and the sight from his left eye blurred. 'Just run…you can't beat the dark master with your weapons…RUN!' said the voice, louder this time. Matt got to his feet, seeing a distant waterfall just below the cliff. "I gotta be nuts." He muttered before turning to the dragon the voice had called the 'Dark Master' and saying "You want me? Then come and get me." Before stepping backwards off the cliff...

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The fall into the distant river that the waterfall felt seemed to go on forever but when Matt hit the water it was like hitting asphalt. The current swept him down the river ferociously, banging him off rocks that were in the way with painful regularity. To Matt, it was like being stuck in a food mixer full of nails but finally the current began to calm and drift the barely conscious human towards the shore. The river had swept him all the way to the temple structure he'd seen on the flight in though he was too dazed to take that in. Some voices came into hearing range and Matt looked up to see several blurry shapes just outside his vision. As Matt felt unconciousness welling up, he called weakly "Hu…Help…please."

Poor Matt…he escapes a life or death situation and lands in another…can't a mercenary get a break?

Please R&R! There will be more Spyro next chapter…promise.