Just a little one-shot to introduce a Dinosaur O that may or may not appear in a fanfic. Grew from the line 'Didn't ya know dragons and magic don't mix?" from Spyro 2.

Unnatural Magic

To put it simply, they'd told him so.

The youth dragon was a natural daredevil and troublemaker by far. All the elders agreed; Spyro, rare purple (and slightly small for his age though no one cared to mention) dragon was about as rowdy as youths could get. Many in Stone Hill, surrounded by their peaceful and calm mannerisms, would agree that the young dragon was slightly...overconfident in his abilities.

It doesn't harm to be careful, they said.

It isn't a crime if you think things over before you leap, they commented.

Alas, Spyro was a cocky youth and a stubborn one at that, so when he heard of a certain undersized dinosaur who was skulking with his minions around Grim Canyon, he ignored advice given to him from the Dragon Elders and went to investigate.

Grim Canyon was a traitorous place; the landscape was rocky and twisted, complicated and shadow. It was very easy to get lost, especially if like Spyro, you had never been there before. But now here he was.

The young dragon was strung upside down in an uncomfortable and dizzying position; his hind legs both tangled in metal coils that dangled from the rocks above. This part of the canyon was shadowy and secluded- Very narrow and musky. The sand-like dirt had concealed some kind of trap from which he now hung, and by the looks of it, the trap was very old, with all the rust and whatnot.

The blood was slowly gathering in his head, making his vision foggy and his temper low. Like many times before, he twisted in his trap, curling upwards and firing a breath of fire towards his bonds- only to miss horribly because of his position.

"Come on!" He groaned, and not for the first time. He slumped, head hanging loosely as he tried to think of a more effective solution. The sky had darkened a little above and he began to wonder just how long he'd been up here. He could just make out the greyness of clouds above, and groaned loudly to himself when he thought about the possibilities of rain.

He wondered if Ripto had actually planned this whole, annoying trap. Even though the chains looked like they'd been used centuries ago...

"Jee."

Spyro eyes widened in alarm, and his reptilian head twisted around from left to right in search of the source of the voice. It was quite high; a voice of a child, maybe? Not one of Ripto's minions?

After a few more moments of straining his neck to look around the darkened gorge, he scowled.

"Uh...Hello? Aren't ya gonna show yourself?"

Not a second later, he decided to look behind him for good measure, and found to his great surprise that there was in fact a dinosaur in the gorge with him- just not one he expected. Standing yards away from the purple dragon was a very, very small dinosaur child with deep red scaly skin, with a pair of horns growing out from his head not unlike a devil's. Dressed in humble, slightly frayed brown clothing with large, three-clawed feet and a small tail flicking from left to right behind him. His hands were set simply behind his back, and a pair of overly large blue eyes stared up at him blankly, as if the small dino was staring at something as interesting as a tree.

Spyro rose a brow at the small creature, and they simply regarded each other blankly before the little guy smiled and hopped around so he stood in front of the dragon. A satchel, almost as large as the boy himself, swung around as he did this. Dropping his hands from behind his back, the small dino looked up at him and grinned widely, displaying slightly uneven little teeth.

"A dragon caught in a trap!" He remarked loudly, with a tilt of the head, "You don' see much of that nowadays with all their high-and mighty stuff, you know."

Spyro tried not to snap an insult back at the younger despite being very frustrated at the moment; last thing he needed was to get the one that may help him out of this on his bad side. "Yeah...right, kid. Could ya get me outa here?" He gestured with a nod of the head towards his tangled legs.

The small boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, the grin leaving his face to be replaced by one of uncertainly. "Well...I'm not sure I can...unless..."

"Alright, whaddaya want in return?" The purple dragon didn't have time to hang around any longer- his head was aching horribly and he just wanted to get back home to relax. The small dinosaur glared up at him, hands again behind his back. His head bowed a little and he kicked the ground.

"You're real nice, aren't you?" He mumbled, glaring at the ground. "I was gonna say, unless I blasted you off the chains with magic, but I don't know if that safe-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa back up." Spyro looked down at the boy and rose a brow again, "Kid, you do know that dinosaurs and magic don't exactly mix, you know?"

The kid looked up at him quietly before looking off to the side, speaking uncertainly with a forced looking smile. "Yeah...I've heard things, purple man."

"Right. So magic's off the list for solutions."

The small dinosaur gave him the look worthy of a nearly-pouting schoolboy and glared up at him, once again letting his hands drop from where they were clasped behind his back. Then, with a small 'mph' the boy turned one hand palm-up, holding his other hand over it palm-down as if holding a small ball.

Then, a spark appeared between his palms, and Spyro's eyes went from narrowed in bemusement to being as wide as two magic portal rings. The orange and black sparks grew to a frenzied state, forming what looked like a sparking ball of power.

The small red dinosaur bent his short legs and jumped up, throwing the ball of sparks towards the chains, a feat the dragon watched in blunt, astonished silence.

Only when he slammed onto the ground did he snap out of this state. His head slumped on the ground, the sick feeling brought by hanging upside down too long swaying his train of thought. Then, he felt something prod the side of his head, and he forced his eyes to focus.

The little red dinosaur, probably a little less than half the size of Ripto, was watching him quietly. When he was assured Spyo was looking at him, the kid shrugged sheepishly.

"Welp, I didn't blow your legs off, so I guess that's good. See ya, purple dude!"

Spyro shook his head incredulously as the little guy began trotting away, humming happily to himself as he went in an almost skipping fashion. "Hey wait, kid. How'd a dinosaur do that?"

The boy stopped in mid walk-skip, looking over his shoulder with an uncertain expression. "I have no idea."

The purple dragon once again raised a brow at this response, and just as the small red dino was about to turn a corner and vanish from sight, he called out again.

"Hey kid- What's your name?"

The boy stopped and peered around the rocky corner at him, waving a small clawed hand. "Jaquese!"

Then, he was gone, leaving Spyro to ponder on just how a dinosaur- the creatures with probably the least influence in magic around- had been able to create such a spell. He glanced at the fired metal chains nearby and shook his head. Maybe he'd ask the Elders about it.

But for now, he needed to get out of here before it started to rain...that would totally make his day...

The little red dino's name is pronounced: Jak-oo-ese (jshackooeese) with the 'j' being soft like saying 'Jacques'

But you may call him Jaq :) I hope I kept Spyro in character. Please review.

Doncha just love cute little red hobbit dinosaurs? XD