1- A Year Later
#3 of The Legend of Rift Book II: Resurrection
"Sigh, I know that I should be happy about the last few months, but no matter how much I try, you always are on the top of my mind. I wasn't able to save you. I wasn't able to stop them. I wasn't able to be your hero." Rift looked down at the site where he buried his girlfriend one year ago. Moving his attention to the sky, he realizes that morning is fast approaching, and the city of Warfang would awaken soon. "Someday, I'll be with you again Kara." At that, Rift took to the skies, heading to his new home.
The past year had been one for the record books; his girlfriend was brutally killed by the ape stronghold of Dante's Freezer, he nearly destroyed himself and all the apes in a massive explosion, reluctantly joined a group of two dragoness' and a human, infiltrated the stronghold, eliminated all hostiles inside, ripped the ape leader into tiny shreds, helped bring Spyro back to the good side, helped the human, Alex, return to his world, and was chosen to become Fire Guardian. In that time, he went from being hostile toward Alex, to considering him as one of his best friends. Rift smirked when he remembered Alex's departure.
It was right after the final battle with Spyro and a portal opened up in front of them. He had watched as the two dragoness', Mera and Cynder shook Alex's hand. They had looked at Rift and he walked over and gave Alex a hug, thanking him for being a good friend, and apologizing to him for being such an asshole when they first met. Afterwards, Rift shook Alex's hand and said; "Don't get yourself killed, you'll be seeing me again." Alex was confused at Rift's statement but shrugged it off. After a last goodbye, Alex walked into the portal, and it faded away. In it's wake, was Alex's spare M4A1, a gift to Rift, along with instructions on ammo production.
Looking to his left, Rift saw that the M4 was still with him, sling wrapping over his head. He had modified the rifle to fit his personality. Replacing the standard 30 round 5.56x45mm magazine was a 100 round drum, plenty of ammo to take down an enemy. The M203 Grenade Launcher stayed, but the trigger was tightened for a heavier trigger pull. (This was due to an accident where the trigger was caught by a tree branch, setting a grenade off right under him) A new red dot sight was added for faster aiming. And finally, the rifle was given an eye popping paint job, consisting of orange and silver tiger camouflage.
Thinking back to that last battle, Rift could only cringe. Rift was very powerful, that's for sure, but he knew he didn't stand a chance against a darkness enhanced purple dragon. He would have been dead if not for Alex's combat skills and Mera's recently discovered healing ability. He had easily forgiven Spyro when the battle was over, but Rift still bore some scars. On his right flank were three distinctive claw marks, and a scar on his chest, where Spyro's horn had pierced.
When arriving back to Warfang, Rift flew straight to his room in the Guardian's Temple. Once inside, he lifted one of the wooden planks on the floor to reveal a secret basement. The basement was built by Ignitus during Malefor's Return, to keep his secret projects safe from others. Rift had even found documents proving Ignitus to be the father of Spyro, but Rift felt that Spyro wasn't ready to know about that yet.
Now, the room had different inventions in it. On one side was a reloading station, used to make ammo for the M4. Right above that was the remains of an M4 created by Rift himself in hopes of arming the military with the rifle. Four months prior however, those hopes failed when he tested the new rifle, the first round getting stuck and causing the barrel to explode, shrapnel hitting him everywhere, even in the most important parts. Thankfully, his important parts made a full recovery. He had told others afterwards that he would gouge his eyes out before he goes through that kind of pain again.
The other side of the room contained his latest project, a teleporter. Before Alex left, during his one night stand with Mera, Rift had implanted Alex's helmet with a tracking device. Rift's plan being that once the teleporter was finished, the tracking device would alert the teleporter whenever Alex is seriously in danger, allowing Rift to come to his aid, not that Rift had even told Alex about the device, that would have been too nice for Rift's personality.
BOOM! "What the hell!" Rift yelled, startled by a large explosion outside. Running outside, he saw Spyro flying over to him; "We got Wyverns attacking! We could use your help!" Rift nodded and followed Spyro to the city gates, Cynder and Mera holding off the Wyverns as much as they could. Immediately, Rift took charge. "Spyro, you are gonna help me hold these guys off." Spyro nodded in understanding. "Mera, Cynder, I need you two to sneak around and flank them from the rear." Cynder looked at Rift in confusion. "In simple terms Rift?" "Kick their asses literally!"
At that, the dragons sprung into action, the dragoness' fighting from the rear, and Rift and Spyro fighting head on. Eventually they started pushing the Wyverns back. Rift was fighting one claw to claw. He was easily winning the fight when suddenly, the Wyvern struck him in the chest. Rift was knocked down by the blow. There was a problem. Normally Rift could just shrug off a blow like that, but now, he couldn't even breath. He struggled to stand up, his vision blurring. Spyro noticed the orange dragon swaying and rushed to his aid. But it was too late. Rift was struck in the chest once more and collapsed. Only this time, he never stood up...