Spyro and his group walked across the village once more. Once more, the apes formed a ring around Spyro, to which the purple dragon could only roll his eyes in annoyance at, but he knew that he could do nothing about it. He just sighed as his personal guard made sure to scout him to the place where he was required to go next.

They moved across the village, until they approached a particularly big rut, made from wood, straw and big leaves in the ceiling. This rut in particular was sturdier than the others were, once it and reinforced, due to its size, with pillars of wood from trunks of trees, and tied in place with vines.

That was because this rut was not mean only to be a place to live in, but to be a place of training.

Spyro and his group soon approached the hunt, they entered into the door, which was with with a curtain made from tissue, and once inside, they met a place that was surely more than just a place to stay and to rest after a hard day working outside and walking around the village.

The place was big on the inside, and the walls of the hunt were decorate with what seemed to be some symbols of tribal tradition, painted with red, white and black ink. The ground of the place was completely cover with layers of straw, what made the ground in there much softer to step into and even to lay on. However, that softness in the ground was not for comfort, and Spyro already knew that, still, it was hard not to feel somewhat comfortable to step, sit and even lay in that ground when he had some chance to do that.

As soon as Spyro and his guard walked inside, someone who was in there already greeted them. There should have around 14 apes in there, the youngest of them being around the same age as Spyro, and others being already adults. The 15º, the oldest of them, was clearly older than the rest of them. He was an ape who was big. Not as big as Gaul, Spyro’s father, but he was bigger than the average ape. He stood in a height that he was able to look down to make eye contact with Spyro, something quite rare among the other apes. He wore a clothing that consisted into a robe of blue tissue with green details; quite more clothing than the rest of the apes usually wore around the village. He had fur of a light shade of grey, possibly due to his old age, what had his fur losing its coloration. His eyes were golden in coloration, they showed the weight of the years of wisdom and experience of his many years of life, and that was easy to see as he looked at the purple dragon who had just walked in.

“Ah, young Spyro.” He said in a soft tune, with a warm and kind smile on his face at the purple reptile who had just walked in. “Seems that you arrive just in the nick of time, as you usually do.”

“Sorry, Karuum Nalug.” Spyro said, bowing his head gently. “I kind of lost track.”

“It’s okay. The important is that you are here. Now, if you may take place with the others, the lesson will start now that everyone is here.” The older ape said, and Spyro bowed his head again in a sign of respect, before rushing to have a place among the other apes. As he took place, the other apes on him were discreetly moving away from him. Spyro just ignored him, once he was already used to this kind of thing, instead, he made sure to focus on the lesson that he was going to have.

“Now, you all in here are already familiar with all of the basics.” The grey ape, Karuum Nalug, said as he walked in front of all of the ones who were his class, with his hands behind his back as he spoke solemnly, to make sure they all would hear him. “Now, while some of you have more deep knowledge of the most advanced techniques, you all must never forget about the importance of the most basic. After all, the basic is the root for the advanced, and if you forget the basic, than you are doomed to eventually lose the skill in the advanced. That is why, for today, we will focus on strengthening the basic knowledge of the principles of the Munduri. Now, choose a partner, get in position, and practice the basic of blocking and attacking.”

As he said that, the class started to move about, as the ones in there started to choose their training partners, usually by pairing with someone who would be nice training partners, either by friendship or by overall affinity. Of course, Spyro was not surprised to see that he was left without a pair to train.

The purple dragon sighed, and as the teams formed around him, the grey ape came to him.

“Spyro, you will be training with me.”

“Yes, Karuum.” Spyro said, bowing his head. The ape nodded at him, and soon, they took a small distance from each other, and they both got in a position. Karuum Nalug took a position that was similar to all of the apes around them, with his arms positioned in front of his body, and his hands both as if they were ready to jab someone with the point of his fingers. One of his legs was stepping forward in an angle, while the other was behind him, as if he was ready to make a step backwards at any moment.

Spyro took another position, but which was overall similar to the one that Karuum Nalug was making. He was had his two forepaws ahead, his right one in front of the left one, and he was standing on the tips of his taloned fingers. His hind-legs had pretty much the same position of the older ape, as if he was ready to both step forward and step backward at any moment. His tail moved from side to side, as if to show that he was ready to battle.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Begin!”

Immediately, the ones in there started to move around each other, it could even by mistaken by a dance, if it wasn’t for the fact that they were attacking each other.

They were practicing Munduri, an ancient form of martial art that had its roots attributed to the apes.

Each duo was moving around each other with fast and nimble movements, and they attacked each other with their hands, elbows, knees and with their feet. The ones who attacked seemed to be aiming at specific parts of the enemies, like the joints and in other places that looked to be quite vulnerable, like the chest and the neck. The ones defending were blocking the attacks by using their limbs. Knees were block with the hands, punches were block with the forearms, kicks were block with the legs, and elbows were block with both arms.

It was obvious to notice that they all were practicing the very same style of fighting, however, a good eye could notice that each one of the practitioners were fighting in a slightly different way, as if each one was practicing a particular form of sub-style of that art that they were training. However, it was nothing more than Munduri, in its most basic form. That martial art was know for its adaptability, which allowed particular fighters to adapt the way of the art to their own strengths and even their personalities.

The perfect example of that was Spyro.

The purple dragon was sparring with Karuum Nalug, and he was demonstrating the skill of the Munduri on his own way. He was moving around, using his paws to attack. The ape, bigger than him and much more experienced, was easily blocking the attacks with his limbs, using his hands to block a jab of the paws of the purple dragon, while he used his feet to block attacks that were focused on the joints of his legs.

He also answered with his own attacks, which Spyro blocked mostly with his wings, using them to parry and even to block the attacks of the ape, much like the others used their own arms, and Spyro was showing to have a great skill in this, as he was able to keep up with the attacks of the ape.

As they moved, the ape showed to have a great skill in battle, and at the same time, he was saying things about the technique and style, not only to Spyro, but also to the other students;

“That was a nice defense, young dragon. Haron, stop dancing and fight back! Luru, Munduri focus on attacking the weak spots, but that does not means kicking the groin! This is not a fight between drunk apes, have some class! Kabut, try to correct your stance and avoid doing unnecessary movements!”

The ape seemed focused on fighting the purple dragon but he still seemed to be able to perceive the world around him, as if he had eyes everywhere on his body, which allowed him to perceive just everything around him. It was pretty cool, but it might sometimes be a bit creepy. Spyro could remember the old days when he would look at the ape with a mix of amazement and fear, trying to sight the eyes that he had all over his body, right underneath his fur, which the older kids told him about…

Spyro was bring back to reality by a jab of fingers in the junction of his wing with his “wing shoulder” on his body. It was not necessarily painful, but it was like a shock in that place, and it snapped Spyro back to the present.

“Focus on the battle, young one. An enemy with a blade could have used it to slice that wing of yours clean off.” Karuum Nalug said to the young purple dragon, who said a “yes, Karuum” and now trying to keep his head into the battle.

He maintained his position as he advanced against the older ape. Spyro used his paws to try jabbing at the monkey. But Karuum Nalug had much more experience in actual battle than Spyro, and he was able to parry all the attacks of the young dragon. However, that did not discouraged the young dragon, but actually only seemed to push him into fighting better and harder.

Spyro continued to fight, and at some moments, he would resort to more than just his forepaws. At one moment, he would try to headbutt and hit with his horns. At one, he would plant both of his forelegs in the ground and swing his body to use his tail like a whip, or use his hind legs to kick much like a horse.

Of course, the skilled warrior would be able to dodge or parry them. One or two attacks actually landed, but the skill of Karuum Nalug would allow him to shrug it off as if it was nothing. He truly was a hardened warrior, and that was why he had these students and was teaching them such an ancient and noble art as the style of fighting the Munduri. Everyone who was in there truly respected him, including Spyro, who learned a lot from his four years of learning the advanced from of Munduri from him, after his father taught him the basics.

“Nice, moves, Spyro.” Karuum Nalug said, “The same for you, Mollak. Keep up the good work. Kulbat, stop slacking off and take this seriously. You want to learn the more advanced techniques? Then you gotta focus on the battle!”

Spyro could not avoid the feeling of annoyance when it was clear that the ape was still able to fight on all that was going on around him while he fought Spyro. It was almost as if it was too easy for him, and he was able to diverge his attention without risking having a dangerous comeback from the purple dragon.

Spyro knew that he had landed a few hits, and it was very hard to do on a warrior of the level of Karuum, even if they were only lucky hits, as Spyro believed to have been partially the case of these ones. Still, Spyro felt that he wanted at least to be a challenge big enough to make the grey ape to focus only on him and actually stop focusing on everything around him. So Spyro would at least feel like he was making him sweat a little. That would make him feel good about himself.

“Come on, Spyro!” Sparx said, cheering for the young purple dragon on the sidelines, as he and the apes who made up Spyro’s guard were watching. “Show the furry dudes what a dragon is made off! Come on!”

The other apes shared looks among them, and they rolled their eyes, as they knew that the young dragonfly probably should not be making so much noise when the training was going on.

“That little friend of yours is quite of loud, ain’t he? Junup, don’t even think about it, young lady!” said the old and grey ape, and Spyro just shrugged.

“Yeah, he kind of likes to make sure that everyone hears him.” Spyro said with a smile, and he continued to try to hit the big ape with his head, almost thrusting himself backwards as he aimed for the stomach, trying to damage the soft tissue in the area that had no ribs to protect it. However, Karuum Nalug only grabbed his head with both hands.

“That is a nice move.” The old ape said, “But if you use it too many times the enemy will start to expect this, and in one of those attacks, they could grab your head like that and just twist it to break your neck.” He said, as he moved Spyro’s head in a “twist” way, as if to emphasize his point. He let go of Spyro, and the purple dragon only nodded to him, before letting out a sigh and resumed trying to hit his sparring partner.

“Come, dude! You can do better than that! Move that purple butt of yours!” Sparx cried from the sidelines.

Right after that, Spyro once more moved his body so he was able to use his tail like a whip, and this time he was able to hit the target. His hard tailbone landed right into the joint of Karuum Nalug’s leg. The ape grinted his teeth as he felt the impact and was made to go into his knee.

There were a few gasps around as the others around stopped and turned their heads to see if it was actually truth that their teacher had been brought to his knee.

“Well, I didn’t meant actually that, but whatever! You got him now!”

Spyro immediately moved back, raised his paw, and trust it forward, aiming the sole right in the solar plexus of his teacher.

However, the old ape showed that he still have some moves up his sleeve.

Immediately, as Spyro moved, the ape made a single movement with his arm, which blocked the attack, and swept it downwards. This made Spyro lose his balance, as he was literally flip off his feet. His world spun as he was nearly toss in the air, and next, he felt two hard jabs of a simian hand on his fore and hind ankles.

By the time that Spyro landed back in the ground, his left foreleg and his right hind leg were shaking as if they had taken an electric shock, and soon Spyro was feeling a pain on his joints, as result of the well placed attack of the ape on him.

The purple dragon groaned, as he struggled to get back on his feet, but it was hard with the shaky legs that he had got from this last attack. Meanwhile, the ape got up from the ground, and he walked to the purple dragon, having a smile on his face.

“That last move with your tail was well placed, young dragon.” The old ape said to him, and the purple dragon looked back at him. The ape was smiling. “But only because you hit an attack does not mean that you must drop caution and got in for a quick victory. That was what caused your defeat in here, and that could easily cost his life in an actual battle.”

Spyro looked back at him, and bowed his head. “Yes, Karuum Nalug.” He said humbly, knowing that the words of the ape were precious. However, even then, Spyro could not avoid the feeling of slightly pride on himself as he thought about what he had just accomplished in there.

I brought him down to one knee! Spyro was practically cheering in his mind, as he knew that this meant that he had evolved in his style of combat. Of course, the ape still won, but the fact that Spyro had been able to land such a significant hit was something that was hard not letting to get to his head.

“Well, I guess that is enough sparring for now.” The ape said to the group. “Now, I noticed that some of you were slacking on the battle, and some of you were actually trying to use tactics that were less than honorable.” The ape said that with a hard expression on his face. “Like attacking with low moves, and also an intention to make use of some substance to attack the enemy.”

As he spoke that, some of the apes in there looked at the ground nervously, a certain female even attempted to hide something within her vests, but it was to no use, since the old ape had already noticed.

“Munduri is an art that can be adapted to your own personal style, but that does not mean that you can simply add your own fair of dirty tricks at will! Munduri is a noble art, and it must be respected as such, and this means fighting it with honor as much as possible, something that some of you seem to have forgotten!”

The ape spoke with a great authority, and the reprobation on his voice was far more powerful and efficient than the greatest wrath, as if was able to cut deep into everyone and let them know their own faults.

“Now, everyone who used some of these tricks in the sparring, you might get out and make ten laps all around the village.” He spoke, and immediately some apes started to protest. “And I don’t want to hear any ‘buts’!” He added, and this made nearly all of the quiet.

“What about the purple dragon?” One of the older apes said, pointing at Spyro, “Shouldn’t he do the laps too?”

“Why would he?”

“Because he used his tail to hit you!”

“Yes, and?”

“I mean, it is not fair! All of us have to fight with only four limbs, our two arms and two legs! Including you, Karuum Nalug! The purple dragon has wings and a tail, what make him have a total of seven limbs! This makes him have a unfair advantage!”

Spyro only rolled his eyes in annoyance. Yes, annoyance, because they were bringing up this topic again.

The old ape only looked at the younger one, and he said, “I do believe this has already been discussed previously, right?” He asked, and though he was focus on the ape who said that, the way that he talked made it seem that he was saying it to the whole class. “Munduri is an adaptive combat art that can be applied in a special way to everyone who uses it. That also applies to Spyro. It is only natural that he makes use of all of the limbs that he has, it is only the nature of the Munduri. There is absolutely no disrespect for honor or tradition in there.”

“But he-”

“Didn’t I said I didn’t wanted to hear any ‘buts’?” The ape asked, and he added, “Only because of that, you will be doing ten additional laps. Now move on, all of you.”

The students all bowed their heads, and they all were heading to the exit. In the way out, that particular ape shot a glare to Spyro, as if he was the one who had done that. Spyro only stared back at him with a grumpy face, as if saying: “it was your fault and you know it!” to the ape.

As they left, Karuum Nalug spoke to the ones left in the rut. “As for the rest of you, I have to say you all did very well, as it was to be expected.” He said that, and everyone in there chorused:

“Thank you, Karuum Nalug.”

“Now, I’ve seen that you are still holding on fine to the basic teachings.” The ape continued, as he walked in front of his students, almost the same way that a general would walk in front of his troop. “This is good, because it means all of you are ready to the most advanced techniques, and that is what we will be seeing today.”

It was hard to avoid the thrill of learning something new in the art of Munduri, at least in Spyro’s opinion. He already knew a good number of techniques, but it seemed that the old ape knew a nearly limitless amount of them, for every occasionally he showed some that Spyro had never seen before in his life. These were moments that Spyro eagerly waited for, both for the chance of seeing something new and for the chance of maybe learning how to do it.

“Now, I want all of you to focus, and to pay attention in me, because this technique is one that demands attention and to be concentrated in the battle.” The grey ape said, and he adopted a position that all of them already knew was the most basic for the Munduri. “This technique is one that demands a lot of finesse, however, like all others in Munduri, it can be adjusted to the particular way of any fighter.”

All of the students were focus on the ape as he continued to explain.

“This technique is one that aim to attack the opponent in a way that leaves them disoriented, and to make them lose their ability to stand and to fight.” The ape explained, as he shifted his stance, and was now with his other leg ahead, and he moved one arm up, while the other was resting by the side of his body.

“Now, someone try to attack me.” The ape said.

The room was silent, as all of the students were hesitant to move forward. They all knew better than to simply advance against the Karuum, for they knew that he could easily sent them flying away the same way he had done with Spyro just moments ago. Still, someone daring to step forward.

This one was Spyro.

The purple dragon was feeling confident with the small victory he had recently achieved by making the ape go into one knee. So, he was feeling a little bold, and he decided to go for it and to try to attack.

The rest of the hut watched as the dragon went forward, and he nearly lunged at the ape, raising a paw and thrusting it forward in one single motion. Karuum Nalug seemed to be able to predict his movement, for he swiftly used his arm to move the attack aside, while his other arm moved about, and moved right in direction to the purple dragon’s head.

His wrist stopped in the air, mid-blow, and only a few inches away from the purple dragon’s temple.

Spyro looked at the hand, and he saw that the part that was the ape’s wrist was mere inches from hitting the side of his head. He could not avoid the feeling of his heart pounding, as he knew that, if that blow had hit, it would send him to the ground, or maybe even make him lose consciousness.

There was a silence in the room, as the ape moved away from the dragon, he turned to the rest of the class, and he said aloud, for everyone to hear. “The head is a vulnerable point, as much as the joints.”

The room was silent, as the rest of the room was drinking from the words of the elder ape, and he continued. “A strong punch in the forehead can leave an opponent dazed. A blow into the area of the ear can cause dizziness. A blow to a temple causes great pain that can leave an opponent unable to react. A blow to the back of the head, if hard enough, can cause an enemy to lose consciousness.”

The room continued to look at the ape, as he said, “The head is a weak spot, however, it can also be one of the most dangerous places that you can hit.” He spoke, “Make one mistake, and you will leave your opponent the perfect change to fight back and to cause massive damage. That is why you need to attack only when you are sure that you can land a strike. For that, you use the strongest part of your fist or your wrists, and you aim for an area of the head that will give you the result you desire. Forehead for daze, ears for dizziness, temples for pain, back for unconsciousness.”

The ape looked at all of his class as he explained that. “This is called Kakuma Yakuniki, or ‘Head Strike’, for being simpler.”

“So, it’s just whacking someone in the head?” Sparx asked aloud, “Man, I can do that! It is easy!”

There was a heavy silence after these words, and everyone was looking in between the dragonfly and the teacher. The grey ape only looked back at the dragonfly, his expression neutral.

“Easy, huh?” The ape asked, “So, I guess you would not mind coming here and demonstrating, right?”

Sparx was taken back by that, and he looked at the ape, having been left kind of speechless.

“W-what?”

“Yes, come here and try it out. After all, it is just ‘whacking in the head’, right? Come on, demonstrate it on me?”

The dragonfly didn’t moved, he just looked at the ape and around, and it was obvious that he already regretted to having said these words aloud.

“W-well… I mean. I kind of could, but, I have ate less than one hour ago, and getting in a fight could upset my stomach. Besides, I have been having this pain in my left lower wing, and I think I’m falling with a cold-”

“Come over here, young dragonfly.” The ape said in a tune that was gentle, but that at the same time left little doubt to how it was going to be. Sparx saw himself with little choice but to go for him.

Spyro had returned to his place, and now Sparx was floating in front of the ape, who stood in front of him with both hands behind his back and looked back at the dragonfly with a neutral expression, as if waiting for him to come with the first move.

“Whenever you are ready.” The ape said, and his expression was one that could almost be take as boredom.

Sparx looked around, and after a few moments, he decided to finally make a move. However, as soon as he tried to move in direction to the ape, Karuum Nalug raised his foot, and used it with the same dexterity as if it was his own hand, something that most apes knew how to do, and grabbed Sparx by the tail section, making him cry out as the ape swiftly pinned him to the ground.

He now had Sparx under his foot (quite literally), and he could crush him easily if he actually wanted to.

“Attacking is part of the battle, the other one is reacting.” The ape said to the class, and turned his eyes to the dragonfly that he was pinning to the ground. “It is easy to assume that the opponent will not be able to react to an attack, however, in battle, you must expect the enemy to be able to react in speeds and ways that you will not predict, especially if they see you trying to land an attack. So, to make sure that you will be able to hit the enemy, you need a combination of precise timing and careful planning, to make sure that the enemy will not have the chance to attack you back. Because, if they do, than you might be the one who will be going to fall in battle.”

“Yeah, okay, I got it.” Sparx said, squirming in the grip of the foot of the ape, “Now, would you mind letting me go, I kind of don’t enjoy the smell of cheesy foot… Seriously, when you last washed that foot of yours?”

Karuum simply chuckled, he let go of the dragonfly, who soon was getting up, and he turned back to his class. “Now, the main point of this technique is waiting for the best possible moment to apply the attack, and to make it with the right amount of power to achieve the desired result. You can achieve it from several ways, with the most common being inducing the enemy to attack and to advance against you, causing themselves to leave an opening that you will be able to explore to attack. This is something hard to do, and will demand you to keep yourself focused in the battle all the time, and you will have to have a perfect timing in the moment the guard of the enemy is open to attack. After all, the head is a weakness, but most enemies know that, and that is why many, if not all of them, will try to keep guard up in their heads during most of the time. However, if you apply the technique correctly, you are almost guaranteed to be able to cause even the biggest foes to come down in submission.”

All of the apes whispered among themselves after the ape was done talking. The most daring of them were already imagining themselves using this technique against a dragon, hitting them in the head so bad that they would come down like a fruit from a tree. Spyro himself was one of them, and he could not help but imagine himself facing a much bigger adult dragon, and forcing them into submission in ways that he had only heard about how his father did in the battles…

“Now, each one of you come forward and practice in the dummy. Would someone get the dummy, please?”

Soon, there was a dummy of an ape in the middle of the room, and each one of the students came forward and stood in front of the dummy, which was not like the regular dummy. Firstly, because it was not a simply dummy that someone would simply use to punch, once it had a full body, complete with legs and arms and a head that resembled the one from an ape. Second, because it was moving, and at the present moment, it was standing in a position that was very similar to the one of Munduri, but much more mechanic, almost robotic, but it seemed to be ready for the battle, and just waiting for others to come at it and fight.

This was a special dummy, which was bring years ago by Gaul’s groups after one of their incursions into the lands that had been take by the dragons. That was create by the dragons with their special form of magic, and it was, apparently, use to train their young and their apprentices in the arts of combat. It was one of the interesting things that Gaul seemed to have been bring back as spoil of war to the villages and to the overall lands of dragons.

The dummy was something that had been hard to understand at first, however, once they figured out how it worked and how to make it work on their favor, it became quite popular, along with nearly everything that came from the lands of the dragons as spoils of war. The dummy had soon be taken by Karuum Nalug, as it proved to be useful as something to practice for the students of Munduri.

According to the grey ape, the hardest part was teaching Munduri to the dummy, so it would be able to keep up with the students. However, once it learned, it was now a part of the training on a daily basis.

Of course, there were still people who were quite scared of the dummy, once they believed that it could easily turn on them and start to slaughter the students if it was left unsupervised for a while. Of course, they had the dummy for a little over ten years, and nothing had went wrong yet.

One by one, the students started to spar with the dummy, which reacted much as a real fighter of Munduri. Each student tried to imitate what Karuum Nalug taught them, moving around the dummy, sparring with it for a few moments, waiting for the right moment to try a Kakuma Yakuniki.

Of course, most of them were meet with failure, as the dummy was able to dodge and fight back, or to grab their arms and twist these painfully. Some had a small margin of success, once they were able to pass their hands centimeters away from the dummy’s head, or even to slip their hands against the head of the dummy, but they all failed to hit it with a decent blow.

“Spyro, it is your turn.” Karuum Nalug said, and soon, the purple dragon was walking forward. He stood in front of the dummy, and bowed his head slightly, in a sign of respect so traditional to that art. The dummy bowed its head back, and soon, they both were in fighting position.

“Begin!”

As soon as Karuum Nalug said these words, the two fighters started to move around each other. The dummy was the first to attack, and it did so by trying to hit Spyro with the ball of its hand, something which Spyro dodged swiftly by slipping to the side. The purple dragon answered with a movement of the paw right into the joint of the elbow, and the dummy reacted as if it was a real fighter.

That was the first of many blows that the dragon and training dummy exchanged, each one fighting with the skill of the same level, and they were constantly at each other’s throats, and ready to fight and answer with powerful attacks. Spyro was able to answer and to deliver some blows, but the dummy fought him as if he had exactly the right amount of training to be a true challenge to the purple dragon.

They continued at it for a few minutes, and it was a longer time than the dummy took to defeat any of the other students. However, Spyro barely noticed that, as he continued to fight the dummy with the best that he could, the words of Karuum Nalug were still in his mind.

Move around. Make the opponent come to you. Wait for the perfect opening. Then Strike.

Spyro was following this, and he already knew how to make the dummy come to him so he could do that.

First, he aimed an attack that was to intend to hit, but to make the dummy believe that he was attacking to try to cause him some damage.

It worked, and the attack only scratched the surface of the leg of the dummy, which soon decided to react and to attack Spyro. Just as the purple dragon had expected it to do.

Spyro gave a few steps back, as it let the dummy advance against him. Against a regular enemy, this would cause the one attacking to gain confidence or to be angry at the dragon, what would cause them to attack harder to try to hit. The dummy seemed that it acted as a real fighter (that was one of the reason why it was so good to use to train), as it started to attack Spyro more fervently, as if it was eager to hit Spyro.

Another thing that Spyro has been counting with, and now, Spyro had to wait for the perfect opening.

Not yet. Not yet. Wait a little longer. Could it be… no, it wasn’t it. Not yet.

Soon the moment came when Spyro saw an opening, but he would have to be quick and clever. Dodging one attack that the dummy had just tried with the leg, holding the leg, Spyro now expected a comeback from the dummy, and it soon came in the form of a blow from the arm aimed at his neck.

Immediately, Spyro saw his opening. He let go of the leg of the dummy, he moved to the side, dodging the blow from the dummy completely, and he saw the dummy’s guard completely open. That was when Spyro finally decided to strike.

In that small window of chance, Spyro raised his paw, and swung it hard and precisely, and soon, the hard part of the base of his paw connected with the face of the dummy.

Many amazed gasps followed that, as Spyro made the dummy move back and wobble, just as it would if it was a real, living opponent. Spyro had managed to make contact with the temple, and the effects of a blow like that would be obvious. The dummy wobbled for a few moments, but it soon regained footing, and it was now turn to Spyro, as if it was facing him.

Spyro looked back at the dummy, and after what seemed to be a few moments of staring contest, the dummy bow to Spyro in a sign of respect of the Munduri. Spyro returned the gesture.

“Well done, young dragon.” Karuum Nalug said to him, and Spyro turned to him and bowed his head, while the dummy was now standing in place. Soon, Spyro was walking back to his place among the crowd. He had reasons to feel proud of himself for what he had just accomplished, and many would be really impressed that he had been the only one in the class that managed to land a direct hit into the dummy during the whole training.

However, his sensitive ears picked up the whispering of the other students, and let him know that they were not exactly impressed with him.

“Did he used some trick to manage to hit?”

“Of course he did! If no one else did!”

“Maybe he managed to give some command to the dummy to let him hit.”

“I guess that dummy went easy on him because he is a dragon. I mean, that thing was made by dragons, wasn’t it? I probably decided that it should let a dragon have some advantage on it, so it held back.”

It was envy, and Spyro knew that. Envy and their own preconceptions on dragons /and on Spyro himself, because he was not only a dragon, but a purple dragon. Spyro had already grew used to this kind of thing, but it did not made it any less frustrating than usual. Still, now Spyro felt far too proud of himself to actually give too much attention to whatever they were saying.

First he had managed to land a hit that was able to make the Karuum come down to one knee, something that many other warriors would fight with him a hundred times and not managed to do. Second, he had been the only one on his class to manage to land a hit of an advanced Munduri technique in the dummy.

Spyro had all reasons to be proud of himself, and he knew that his father also would be. Spyro now had something else to share with him, and one more reason to anxiously wait for his return from his last campaign.

“Now, I ‘m glad to see that you all are open to the advanced techniques of the Munduri.” Karuum Nalug said, “And while it is true that some of you did better than others, I’m proud to say that every single one of you is learning the advanced part of the art. This brings me a great satisfaction.”

The ape looked through each one of them with a shine in his eyes that was so common in a teacher that saw his students growing and learning. “Well, this concludes or lesson for today, all of you are free to go back to your daily routines. I hope to see you all in the next class, when we will refine better the techniques that were teach today. The class is dismissed.”

“Yes, Karuum Nalug.” The class chorused as one as they all bowed their heads to their teacher, and soon, the students were dispersing one by one, forming groups and chatting among themselves as they went to go back to their lives. Spyro was among the ones that stayed behind, as he walked back to his group.

“You did awesome, man!” Sparx said, flying next to the head of his friend, and Spyro smiled back at him. Soon, they noticed someone else approaching them.

“You were really impressive today, young dragon.” The grey ape said, “Few times I saw a student be able to learn and apply the Kakuma Yakuniki so well so little time after being taught how to do it. Normally it takes a while of practice to be able to do that. You are really an amazing practitioner.”

Spyro could not help but blush a little at the compliment, and he was glad that his scales did not made it clear to others who were looking at his face. “Thank you, Karuum Nalug. You are very kind.” Spyro said, and the ape simply shrugged.

“I’m just telling the truth.” The ape said to him, and he looked at the members of the group that Spyro was in. “So, how has this little purple dragon been treating all of you so far in this week?”

“Oh, you know the drill, Nalug.” One of the apes of Spyro’s guard said, dropping the “Karuum term, which was something that, in the culture of the Munduri, was close to “sensei”, a term that was used to describe masters and teachers of the art. “This little rascal gets in as much troubles as any teenager does, and sometimes we do have to get into quite a pickle by following him.”

Spyro looked away, and he could not help but blush more, and hope that his scales would hide the fact that he was blushing.

Nalug chuckled, and he said, “Yes, I know how teenagers can be. Nothing too new in there, just the usual for the young lads.”

“Yeah, the usual thrill.” Sparx said, “Purple butt gets in trouble, is bulky babysitters come to save his sorry tail. The use.”

“Sparx!” Spyro said to the dragonfly, who only smiled smugly at him. The rest of the group chuckled at this. This kind of scene had already become normal among them, once they all had the chance of knowing Sparx and Spyro, and they had long ago learned how to see past the “purple dragon” thing, and to see Spyro as he truly was: a young lad who actually cared much for the ones around him.

Of course, not everyone thought like that, and that was no secret to anyone.

“Well, I really admire your dedication and talent, young one.” Nalug said to the young dragon, “You are still training in your free time, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.” Spyro said, “When I have the chance I practice by myself, and dad helps me practice when he is around the village.”

“Quite a partner you have.” Nalug said, “I was present during the time your father was learning the practice of Munduri. He was a very promising student in it, much like you. In fact, he was one case of the ones who had managed to perfectly apply the kakuma Yakuniki shortly after being taught it, much like you.”

Okay, now Spyro felt even more reasons to feel proud of himself.

“He did a very good work teaching you in the basics, by the way.” The grey ape added, “Most of the students I have come with little knowledge of the art of Munduri. You, whoever, came with a very good knowledge of the basic. Gaul could really have become a very good Karuum if the whole situation was different.”

“Yeah, dad is really great at Munduri. I guess he is one of the few that could compete with you.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he is.” Nalug said, and he looked at the young dragon, “Well, I guess that you have more places to be going now, ani’t I right? I’ll be seeing you in the next class. Continue practicing, it will lead you to true mastery.”

“Yes, Karuum Nalug, I will.” Spyro said, bowing his head. The ape bowed his head back, and soon, the purple dragon was departing with his group, leaving behind a grey ape that was smiling in a warming way at him.

A nice kid. You did a great job raising him, Gaul.

As Spyro went by, a couple apes who stayed behind had saw his interactions with the Karuum, and they were already whispering among themselves.

“Why the Karuum always speaks to him when the class ends?”

“Maybe to give him some tips on how to be better. He does that for the purple dragon more than for anyone else. I thought he didn’t had a favorite student.”

“All because that purple lizard is under king Gaul’s protection.” One ape said bitterly, and the other apes around let out mumbles of agreement.

“I’m telling you guys, one day that dragon is still going to bring real problem to all of us, and Gaul will have the fact that he took a dragon under his protection coming back to slap him in the face.”

“Man, what a day!” Spyro said as he walked in the village, his personal guard following him very closely as he walked.

“Yeah, the day in the life of the prince of apes is surely something.” Sparx said to the young dragon as he floated right around his left horn. “So, what now, studying some important laws? Etiquette lessons? A date with the princess of the neighbor country? Solving a discussing between two bickering apes in the edge of the village? Maybe a speech for the people to practice when you will be at the throne? What is next in the agenda of prince Spyro?”

Spyrro chuckled, and soon, one of the apes said, “Actually, mister Spyro should be using some time of his day to study some lessons.”

“Oh… I kind of hit the spot with the law thing.”

“Oh, come on guys, can’t I take the day off for now?” Spyro asked, and the apes said:

“Your father made clear that during his absence you should still do the chores that you normally do when he is in the village. This includes using your time to study and to learn as much as you could. After all, these knowledge will be very precious for your future.”

Yeah, what kind of future a dragon could have in a village of apes. Spyro through for himself a little bitterly, but he did not risked saying it aloud, for he knew that someone who was nearby could easily misinterpret what he was saying and taking it the wrong way.

Spyro knew that he would have problems to live in the village ever since he learned of the war, of Malefor, and of his own nature as a purple dragon. Of course, the problems only grew as Spyro himself grew older. Spyro was not even fully grow yet, and he already had to look down to make eye contact with most apes in the village. That made most of the apes of the village be even more scared of him, and that was something that Spyro could easily notice only by the way that they behaved around him.

Spyro was still in his growing process, and he was sure that at some point he would start to have the “growth spurts” that were so natural to all of the creatures, and Spyro was sure that were normal for dragons also. If he grew around the size of the dragons that he read about in books, then he was pretty sure that he would have to be careful to even move around the village without breaking anything. It was hard to imagine himself having a life in there once he was a full grow dragon. Even because he was pretty sure that the rest of the village would be too scared of him to even come close.

Still, his father always insisted into him learning all that he could to “contribute with his growing”, which included lessons in math, history, and even some political matters. Some lessons that even the other chimps around Spyro didn’t had. Still, the purple dragon never complained about them aloud, and he knew that he was not going to start now.

Sighing, Spyro just said, “Fine. But just because I don’t want dad pulling at my horns when he comes back and one of you tells him that I have been slacking off with my studies.” Spyro said, and soon, the rest of the purple dragon’s group was moving in direction to another place of the village, all the while, the rest of the apes in there were looking at them, moving away, and whispering among themselves as they passed.