Diamond Cut- Part 1

Spyro, now a seasoned adventurer, is tasked with cracking the mysteries of a strange magical crystal, which seems to have a powerful effect on the young dragon. Enjoy!

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The geode was one of the stranger things to pass through the Artisan Dragons' Realm in the past few years. A giant gemstone big as a wagon wheel, it had a bright purple hue that glowed faintly with magical power. What that power was, exactly, was anyone's guess. The dragons of the Magic Crafters clan couldn't decipher what its power was, so they had passed it on to the Artisans- who also couldn't figure out the crystal's power. None of their tools could cut the crystal, and soon, every dragon in the Artisans' castle gave up on the strange crystal; all except for one.

Spyro had grown into a proper Artisan dragon after all his travels and adventures, and after taking down the likes of Ripto and Gnasty Gnorc, he was certain that he could handle a shiny rock. Even though he wasn't a geologist or jeweler, more content to travel and continue mapping out the different realms, he had been trained in quite a few different disciplines from Nestor, the Artisans' leader. But just as it had been for all the other dragons, none of Spyro's tools could crack the crystal.

"You're kidding me…" he muttered, angrily hefting the crystal up and turning it around- he hadn't even managed to leave a dent. Fully grown, Spyro was tall, broad-shouldered, and plenty strong, even if he did lack the sheer bulk of other dragons, like Bubba- he should be able to do something to this crystal. "So, I get why every other Artisan is stumped…"

Sparx, his loyal dragonfly, hovered nearby and, with a stroke of inspiration, buzzed in Spyro's ear.

"Gah! Sparx! Don't do that," Spyro muttered, waving his hand. "Wait… blow fire on it? C'mon, like none of the other Artisans had thought about that?"

Sparx shrugged, buzzing again. Spyro groaned. "Alright, alright, stand back…" he held the crystal in his hand and breathed in deeply, bathing the crystal in dragonfire. The crystal responded, the purplish hue glowing brighter and thrumming with magical energy.

"Oh! Well, that's… progress?" Spyro said, setting the crystal down and taking up his chisel and mallet again. "Okay, let's try again."

The dragon swung his mallet and the crystal finally cracked. Spyro's eyes lit up. "Hah! Easy." He continued to hack away at the crystal, chipping away impurities and bits of earth, and starting to shape it to his will. He was no master jeweler, but he did what he could to give it some shape- with each swing and another strike against the crystal, however, Spyro began to feel good. Maybe it was just swelling pride that he succeeded where every other Artisan dragon had failed- but he was beginning to feel stronger.

The magical power of the crystal began seeping into Spyro's body, the dragon slowly absorbing the crystal's energies, and converting it into raw muscle. So entranced with his task, Spyro hardly noticed as his body began to grow; with each strike, his chest spread further out, his shoulders and back sprawled out like his wings about to take off, and his arms swelled. His pecs began to churn and inflate like a forge's bellows, his neck grew thick as a bull's, and his shoulders were sprawling out like a hilly landscape. His biceps inflated with each pump and curl of his arms, while his triceps began to resemble the anvil he had been working on. His back stretched out further and further, unfurling like a second pair of wings. Even the dragon's voice deepened, losing its callow tenor and moving into a more powerful baritone. Still, Spyro seem entranced on the glowing crystal and entirely unaware of his transformation- Sparx would buzz in his ear, other dragons would gawk and stare, but Spyro kept chipping away.

Until, finally, something was obstructing his view- a dense mass of metallic yellow that filled the lower part of his field of vision, and his arms were being weighed down and forced to his side. He stopped his work, huffing slightly as that yellow mass bounced- it took him a moment to realize he was staring at his own cliff-face of a chest. Gasping, he finally saw the extent of his transformation- immense arms with biceps like hills, a chest you could lose a hand in, and shoulders and back that made an impressive mountain range.

"Woah…" Spyro flexed his arm, feeling a surge of power rush into his bicep as it ballooned, a faint, light purple glow coming off the peak of his bicep, like sparks off of molten metal. He breathed in deeply, enraptured- whatever this was, it felt good.

"Sparx, check me out!" Spyro laughed, flexing his arms again. The dragon huffed, thumping his deep chest, hard as iron. "I feel amazing! What is this thing?" He turned back to the crystal, still glowing brightly. The stone was brimming with so much power that it floated in Spyro's hand, and he could feel another rush of strength pour into his body, his legs filling out to catch up with the rest of him, as his wings flared out wider to keep him aloft.

The dragon's dragonfly companion buzzed worryingly in Spyro's ear, and he irritably waved him off. "Okay, okay! I know- strange magic's not to be trusted. C'mon, Sparx. I'm not stupid, I'm not going to let this…" Spyro trailed off, catching his reflection in a sheet of polished metal near the forge- he let out a short, deep laugh. Was he bigger than Bubba at this point?

Sparx buzzed him again. "Gah! Stop that! Look- I'm not gonna let this go to my head. Okay? We'll go let Nestor know what happened, and then we'll go straight to the Magic Crafters to find out what this is, and see if there's any more-" Sparx gasped angrily. "To see where it came from, Sparx! Jeez." Spyro's eyes already drifted back to his reflection as he started flexing again, testing just how big this new physique could go, more crystalline sparks flying off his body. "Don't you trust me?"