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// Interlude: The Final Reward 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that the days following their visit to the beach were filled with more rest and relaxation, as if they deserved all this time off from what they were supposed to do, and while none of them wanted to argue with Nestor and the other Leaders they were eager to get to whatever their next lesson was, as they knew there were more things for them to learn, like swimming and other skills. Spyro was just fine with being given a few more days to relax, as they had been training for a long period of time before the interview happened and Gnasty Gnorc trapped all of the dragons in those crystalline prisons, but he shared the same opinions with his siblings, he wasn't going to complain about the situation they found themselves in. Ember, on the other hand, preferred to use some of her time to practice the skills that she had learned in the past, to make sure she didn't get rusty in the art of combat, and she made sure that both of her brothers joined her from time to time, even if one of them preferred to take the time to relax. The other part of her time was spent resting as well, as she couldn't deny that it was nice to take some time off and recover from what they had done after the interview, though what her mind was focused on was what she might learn when their lessons started, as she wanted to prove herself to Titan and the other Peace Keepers and knew that Titan was planning something for her at the very least.

Spike, on the other hand, was in the middle of reading through several new books that Cosmos had dropped off a few days ago, when he and the other Leaders came to talk to Nestor in their meeting chamber, which just so happened to be in the second level of the small structure that rested in Stone Hill, a building they were very familiar with, which meant that Cosmos had to be preparing him for his future lessons.

"Hey Spike, are there any interesting spells in those books?" Spyro asked, because he was interested in seeing if those books contained any spells his brother might use at some point in the future, mostly because of what he and Ember had seen when the Substitution and Reflection spells had been used, and it had been about five days since he got the books, so he had to assume Spike had found something that piqued his interest.

"Yeah, I've found a number of interesting and useful spells in these tomes," Spike replied, as he wasn't annoyed that Spyro wanted to talk with him, especially when he considered how useful his knowledge of magic had been during their first adventure and during the battles they had been in, regardless if it was a personal battle or if it was them against a certain foe, before he thought about answering the question with something he had noticed earlier, "You know how I was talking about resistances a few days ago, back when Ember first discovered that she was immune to lava, before we took on the commander of the realm that Revilo and Unika called home?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Ember remarked, as she knew that Spike had originally found it to be odd that a dragon could be immune to lava, even if that dragon was his own sister, before he discovered that he was immune as well and that Spyro was the only one that didn't have that skill, which she still found to be a little odd.

"Well, I think I might have found a water resistance spell," Spike stated, as he knew how dangerous the water could be for him and his siblings, when they didn't know how to swim just yet, something that he was hoping Nestor and the others would teach them in the future, and based on what he had read this spell might be exactly what they needed, "and the best part is that the spell can be cast on our dragonflies as well, not just the three of us."

"And why is such a spell useful to us?" Spyro inquired, because he failed to see why they would need such a spell in the first place, though he had to assume that the reason Spike was so excited about the spell was because it was new to him and that he could test it on him and Ember, just to see if it worked and add it to the list of spells that he knew, which was pretty long at this point, given all the basic spells he knew.

"As you know, young dragons can get hurt if they fall into deep water," Spike explained, reminding his siblings that the reason they were able to play in the water at Dragon Shores was because they had been in the shallow area, where they could stand and run around, or even lower their entire bodies into the water to cool themselves off, while adult dragons knew how to swim and weren't affected by the water at all, something he knew that Spyro and Ember were looking forward to getting when they matured, "but, if I apply this spell to all three of us and our dragonflies, we'll be able to fall into the water and not get hurt in the process, meaning that Sparx, Talon, and Cinder won't have to take damage if one of us were to fall into some deep water with this spell on... though to make the most of such a spell we would have to learn how to swim from one of our elders."

"That sounds interesting." Ember admitted, as she knew that they were limited by what they could do, since none of them could actually swim and none of them were immune to the water that surrounded most of the homeworlds and the various realms of the Dragon Realms, before a thought came to mind, "But what happens when we do learn how to swim and can freely explore a brand new area?"

"Well, once we learn how to swim this spell will also allow us to breathe underwater," Spike answered, because that was one of the more interesting aspects of the spell, even though the entire spell was interesting and he wanted to test it out, as he was sure that they could use something like this in the future.

"I'm going to expand on what Ember said, as that sounds like it would allow us to explore new areas," Spyro said, as while he had to agree that the spell seemed like one that was good for exploring underwater, and seeing what was below the surface of the water, he had to admit that it was an interesting spell, one that Spike might test at some point in time to be sure that it worked.

"Just be warned that the spell only works on normal water, like the beach, rivers, and lakes," Spike stated, referring to the bodies of water he and his siblings had seen during their adventure, ones that they had ignored for the most part and tried to avoid to the best of their ability, which had worked since none of them had fallen into the water, before taking a look at the tome once more, "toxic water, however, is still off limits to us, though I'm not sure if Ember and I can use this spell in combination with our lava immunity... it would be worth trying out in the future."

"Well, it's still a nice spell to have." Ember remarked, as it sounded like a nice upgrade for them to get, since it would allow them to touch the deep water and not get hurt at all, even if they had avoided the water for the most part during their adventure, and now learning to swim seemed even more appealing, especially since Spike was already thinking about what they could do once he cast the spell on all of them.

"Indeed it is, until you mature into adults anyway," a voice said, to which the trio glanced over at the area that dragons appeared in when they arrived in Stone Hill, since that was where they happened to be, just minding their own business until they figured out what they were going to do with the rest of the day, as it was just past the time they usually had their breakfast, where they found that Nestor had decided to see what they were up to, "I'm sure that Spike will have mastered the spell and will have placed it on all of you before your next birthday, which is less than a year away at this point, and that you'll be happy to have it until you mature."

"Oh, I'll master it long before then... depending on what Cosmos wants to teach me," Spike replied, as he knew that the Leader of the Magic Crafters was interested in seeing what he could learn during the next training session, one he claimed was going to be a more personal lesson, since Ember seemed focused on combat and Spyro would likely be joining her for that lesson in Titan's land, before a thought came to mind, "Do you have anything planned for us today, or are we taking another day off to do something relaxing again?"

The reason Spike was asking the question was because while he and his siblings had enjoyed the last six days off from training and learning more about their various skills, of which he spent a great deal of time working on a more accurate version of their adventure to add to the Dark Hollow library, they were itching to get back into the flow of things and see what sort of lessons the adults could throw at them.

"Actually, I do have something planned for you three, but it's not training," Nestor stated, which caused the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they took in that information, as it made them curious as to what their Leader had planned for them, along with the fact that it might mean that they could be going to one of the other homeworlds, before he turned around and beckoned for the three of them to follow him, "Come along now, Marco is waiting for us."

In that moment Nestor answered one of the questions that they had been curious about, as Marco was one of the six Balloonists in the Dragon Realms and that meant that Nestor was planning on taking them to one of the other lands that the dragon clans called home, which one they had no idea. Ember was hoping that they would be heading to the land that Titan and his fellow Peace Keepers called home, maybe to do some training and learn some new moves, as that would be the only reason to visit that homeworld, or at least that was what she assumed they could do in that land, since she didn't know what else they could do if they went there. Spyro, on the other hand, was hoping for either the Magic Crafters or the Dream Weavers lands, as both of them would be interesting for him and his siblings, as it meant either learning more about magic, from watching the masters as they practiced their various skills, or watching some dragons guard the land that Lateef and his fellow Dream Weavers called home, while some of them slept during the day. Spike, however, had to wonder if Nestor was keeping the destination a secret on purpose, so that Ember and Spyro wouldn't moan if they heard where they were heading, making him wonder if their Leader was planning on taking them to the land of the Beast Makers, a land that they knew better now than that did during their earlier years, but even now there was so much they didn't know and he was secretly hoping it was the homeworld they would be heading to.

Marco, as Nestor said, was waiting for them at the docks and it didn't take the siblings long to climb into the basket so they could depart, and as soon as they were in the air Nestor took off and followed after them, keeping himself near the hot air balloon as they headed towards their destination.





Spyro and Ember were both slightly disappointed when they finally reached the homeworld that they were going to be stopping at for the day, or for however long their visit was going to be, because after forty-five minutes it became clear that they were skipping the land of the Peace Keepers, not to mention the fact that it appeared that they weren't heading for the mountain area that the Magic Crafters called home. In that moment they knew which of the remaining lands that they were heading to, as they weren't heading in the direction of the Dream Weavers and a familiar swamp eventually appeared in the distance, informing the pair that they were heading straight towards the land of the Beast Makers, the last place either of them wanted to be. Spyro's reason for being annoyed with this land was Tree Tops, as he really hated how that area was laid out, but it had been made better by how easy it was to defeat Metalhead, the commander that had been put in charge of this land when Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell, though Ember was less annoyed than he was, because the smell wouldn't bother her at all, not when she could find a lava pool and dive into it, which apparently cleaned her more than a normal bath did, or at least that was according to what Spike told her. Spike, on the other hand, was happy that they were heading to the land of the Beast Makers, as he remembered something Bruno and Sadiki had said back during their first visit to this land and he was hoping that this was the moment they got clarification on the matter.

When they finally reached the landing area, which was where they had been brought a week ago when they were in the middle of saving the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc, the siblings spotted Bruno standing near the area that Marco was going to land in... though once he did that, and the three of them climbed out of the basket as Nestor landed near them, Marco took off and headed to a place where he could rest until they were ready to leave, and, more importantly, where he could be away from the smell of the swamp.

"Nestor! I'm glad that you, Spyro, Spike, and Ember made it here without anything stopping you," Bruno said, his tone revealing that he was definitely happy to see them, especially after all the siblings had done to save his homeworld from the various dangers that had been placed here by their foe, before he beckoned for them to follow him as he started to walk towards his destination, "Come, we'll be going somewhere special today, for one last reward for all your hard work in stopping Gnasty Gnorc, and Sadiki is waiting for us near the portal to his realm."

"It seems like you guys have done away with the electrical panels the Gnorcs installed," Spike commented, as it only took him a few seconds to notice that the panels that he and his siblings had walked over during their visit to this land, which had been after the spell had been cast, had been deactivated and had been removed from where Gnasty Gnorc's forces had installed them.

"Indeed we did, because it annoyed all of us more than we were willing to admit." Bruno replied, his tone revealing that none of the Beast Makers really cared for all the electrical stuff that had been brought into their land and had taken great pleasure in ripping it all out, before he thought about something else that was related to that, "Well, we didn't do the tearing out, because we didn't know much about how all this stuff worked, so we asked some of the dragons from the other lands to come and help us, and it seems there are some that know this stuff better than the Gnorcs that installed them did. Nestor, have you told them about our plans yet?"

"Not yet, but I might as well tell them now." Nestor stated, because he had been hoping to keep this a secret for a few more days, before he actually told the siblings what he and the other Leaders had planned, before he sighed as they make sure to use the logs to cross over to the next part of the path they were following, "With Gnasty Gnorc defeated, and his influence over the rest of the Gnorcs taken care of, several of the dragons that call the five lands home accompanied both myself and the other Leaders to the land that our foe had called home, so they could evaluate what he had done and what it would take to revert it back to how it had been before he took over. What we discovered, however, is that the dragons that came with us felt that the land could be transformed from the Junk Yard, or the Gnorc Gnexus as some called it, and take on the appearance of a sixth homeworld, one dedicated to machinery and the various energy sources that will keep the more industrialized realms powered, or at least that was what they said."

"A sixth homeworld?!" Spyro inquired, as that wasn't something he and his siblings had even thought about, though the way Nestor described the type of land the other dragons thought that place could become gave all three of them an idea as to who their Leader was talking about, as there were a few oddballs among the dragons that they had freed, more in terms of the mechanical components they had.

"The Machinists homeworld, to be exact." Nestor replied, where he noticed that all three of the young dragons were interested in what he was talking about, while at the same time Bruno seemed like he could care less about what he was talking about, though that was only because most Beast Makers didn't care for the electrical stuff, "In fact the dragons that accompanied us are in the middle of creating a new look for the land, to make it stand out from the rest of the lands the various clans call home, and depending on what they do they might start work on their new land at some point in time, once they agree on everything they want to do."

"That's interesting," Ember admitted, though while she and Spyro were interested in what they were hearing, as it allowed them to understand what some of the dragons were up to after being freed, Spike was the most eager out of all of them, not that she expected anything different from her brother.

"Other than what I've said, about the new homeworld, there's not much more I can say," Nestor stated, though that was to be expected, since this seemed like a fairly new project that the dragons were taking on and they might not want to tell anyone about it until they were ready to reveal it themselves, which might take some time when they considered the dragons that might be interested in such a project.

"Personally, I really don't care about the project and what they have planned," Bruno said, since it was all based on machines and electricity, or whatever types of power the dragons would rely on when they got started, he stuck to his teachings as a Beast Maker dragon and let the others do what they wanted, before he smiled as he spotted the area that was ahead of them, "We're almost to our destination, and it appears that Sadiki is waiting for us."

Sure enough Spyro, Spike, and Ember found that Sadiki was standing near the portal to his realm, just like Bruno had told them when they first arrived in this land, though at the same time it made them interested in what they would be doing today, especially since it appeared that the dragon in question had a few supplies with him, which looked like they would be useful in tending to someone's wounds.

"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I trust the three of you are interested in what we have planned for you today?" Sadiki inquired, though he waited for the group to get close to where he was standing before talking, but his focus was on the siblings and the fact that they must have been thinking about what they would be doing today, especially since Nestor likely hadn't told any of them anything about what they had planned.

"Of course we are!" Spyro declared, because while he and Ember weren't all that happy to be here, in the land of the Beast Makers due to the fact that they were hoping for one of the other homeworlds, both of them were interested in seeing what sort of day Nestor had planned for them and Spike, "Nestor's been keeping quiet about it since we left our homeworld, so we're eager to hear what you guys have planned for us."

"It's better to show you, rather than tell you." Sadiki replied, to which a smile appeared on his face, as this was a rare event, for anyone in the Dragon Realms, and given what he knew about the siblings he knew that they would keep what they were about to see a secret, though it was a final reward befitting what they did for the Dragon Realms.

His statement made the siblings tilt their heads for a moment, though at the same time Bruno lifted his brown hat off his head and reached inside it, where he withdrew a golden key that had etchings that looked like flames, though once that was in his hand he replaced his hat, picked up his staff again, and advanced on the side of the temple that was facing the portal to Sadiki's realm. Spyro, Spike, and Ember watched as he slipped the key into a hidden slot that they didn't know the existence of, which was a good thing since it kept the inside of the temple safe, and turned the key for a few seconds, before he heard a click and nodded his head, before he withdrew the key and pushed on the face of the temple that he was standing in front of. In that moment the siblings watched as part of the area in front of Bruno opened like a set of double doors would, revealing a hidden chamber in the middle of the temple, where a lone portal rested, one that he and the rest of the Beast Makers went to great efforts to hide, before he beckoned for the group to join him on the other side of the door. Once all of them were on the other side, and no one was standing near Sadiki's portal anymore, he turned around and closed the door, where the siblings noticed that there was a piece of metal that he could move into position and block the door from this side, meaning that the door was locked in a different manner, though once that was done he turned around, stored the key in his hat again, and then headed through the portal that was in front of them, to which the siblings followed after him, so they could see what was on the other side.

When they appeared in the starting area of the realm that the portal took them to, however, all three of them stood there with a look of shock on their faces, as they quickly discovered that the realm in question was an island, just like they had been told a number of years ago, but in the middle of it was an active volcano... though that was before they spotted a pair of large beings, at least as tall as Nestor, flying through the air, with bright red feathered wings and feathers on their body, instead of scales and dragon wings.

"No way." Ember commented, as she was surprised by what they were discovering, because while she and her siblings had been told that these creatures actually existed, and weren't just stories like the scholars made the rest of the dragon clans believe they were, it was another thing to actually see the majestic birds in action, "Those aren't what I think they are... are they?"

"Phoenixes." Spike stated, as he recognized the appearance of the magical creatures instantly, as they looked exactly like how they were described in the book they were mentioned in, and he could tell that their talons would be useful against whoever tried to attack them, especially since they had a fierce look to them as they flew through the air, before noticing that the pair were flying down to where they were standing.

It didn't take the pair of phoenixes long to reach the area that the group was standing in and come to a stop, allowing the siblings to see that they both stood slightly taller than Nestor did, confirming Spike's thoughts on the matter, before Spyro noticed that their eyes were a calm sapphire blue, which he felt was odd given the near fiery nature of their bodies, though he decided not to say anything, as he suspected a conversation was about to happen between the phoenixes and their Leaders. One thing he and his siblings silently agreed on was that they were being given one final reward for facing Gnasty Gnorc and stopping his plans, and that was being included among the number of dragons that knew about the seemingly mythical race and were allowed to meet a few of them.

"Bruno, Sadiki, thank you for coming so quickly," one of the phoenixes, the one to the siblings' right, said, though his tone suggested that they were getting tired of having to do something, which made them wonder what was going on at the moment, before the pair of phoenixes noticed who else was in front of them, as a pair of smiles appeared on their faces, or at least they assumed that was the case, since it was hard to read their beaks, "and you three must be Spyro, Spike, and Ember, the young dragons that put a stop to Gnasty Gnorc's plans and saved the Dragon Realms at the same time, with some amazing feats from what we hear."

"That's us!" Spyro declared, though he didn't bother to question how the phoenixes knew their names and had some idea about what they had done a week ago, because they were friends with the Beast Makers and that meant that Bruno and his clan shared whatever they learned with the majestic birds, to keep them informed about what was going on in the Dragon Realms, and he was positive that Spike had already come to this conclusion.

"Good to hear." the second phoenix said, where the siblings found that this one seemed more focused on the reason they were out here in the first place, and not on the fact that they had just met the three young dragons responsible for saving the Dragon Realms, something that caused his friend to refocus on Bruno and Sadiki, "Lady Eterna is waiting for you inside the volcano, so you can check on the situation and see if anything is wrong, not that I'm expecting either of you to find something wrong while you're here."

Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they had no idea what the phoenix was referring to with that statement, though what surprised them wasn't the fact that Nestor, Bruno, and Sadiki could fly, since they were adult dragons and weren't restricted to the ground, rather it was the fact that they were allowed to take flight as well when the rest of their group took off. As the group flew to the top of the volcano, so they could head to where their hosts were taking them, Nestor informed the siblings that the island that the phoenixes called home was enchanted to have the same properties as a Flight Realm, though it was more in the sense to allow the younger Beast Makers the chance to see one of the species they would be working with in the future, instead of forcing them to walk across the entire island, which did work to their benefit, otherwise they would have had to run after the group. The other piece of information that he had to give them was that the island this volcano was on was about the same size as the rest of the homeworlds, the only major difference between them was that the phoenixes didn't have portals or realms like the lands the siblings were familiar with, but they did have an area that held the portal that would send them back to the chamber inside the temple. The only thing that he could tell them was the reason behind why Bruno and Sadiki had been called in to help the phoenixes, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember already had some ideas as to why the the phoenixes had called in two of the greatest Beast Makers to help them out, even though they remained silent as they headed towards their destination, which would either prove them right or prove them wrong.

When the group reached the top of the volcano, and were able to glance down at the area that was below them, the siblings discovered that there was a large caldera directly below them, filled with areas where the phoenixes likely called home, places where they stored food and items that they might work with, and who knew what else. That was when Ember spotted the area that Bruno and Sadiki might have been called in to help with, an area that rested near the center of the volcano and happened to contain four nests that were separated from each other, where a number of eggs, ones that were slightly bigger than the eggs she and her siblings had recovered, rested. Her thoughts were instantly proven to be right, as that was the area that the two Beast Makers headed to while one of the phoenixes accompanied them, which was when they noticed that an even larger phoenix, no doubt Lady Eterna, sitting near the eggs and she seemed happy to see the pair, where the three of them focused on the eggs and ignored everyone around them for the time being. That left the siblings and Nestor to do as they wished, even though Spyro, Spike, and Ember were fine watching the phoenixes go about their business and let their own leader make sure everything was alright, though at the same time they noticed that there was one phoenix, who wasn't as tall as the others and seemed to be around their height, coming in their direction, which made them interested in what was going to happen next.

"Hey, you three are the dragons that beat up Gnasty Gnorc, right?" the phoenix asked, though his tone was surprising, as he seemed more excited than any of the other members of his race that the siblings had met so far, even if they only knew the names of two of the phoenixes, leaving them wondering who Sol was.

"I wouldn't say that we 'beat him up', rather we put a stop to his plans," Spike replied, because that was what he and his siblings had done, they faced Gnasty Gnorc and put an end to whatever he had planned for the Dragon Realms, and they also gave him a taste of his own medicine in the process, "either way, we're the three young dragons that stopped Gnasty Gnorc and his plans."

"You guys are so cool! I wish I could do something epic like that." the phoenix stated, showing that hearing about what happened to the Dragon Realms must have really excited him, more than what the siblings were originally thinking when he asked them about what they had done, before he focused on something else, "By the way, my name's Sol, and it's a pleasure to meet the three of you. How about I give you guys a tour of the island, while we wait for Lady Eterna and the Beast Makers to do their thing?"

It didn't take the siblings more than a few seconds to agree to such a thing, to which Sol smiled and turned around so he could fly off to another part of the island, where Spyro, Spike, and Ember flew after him and left Nestor to wait for Bruno and Sadiki to conduct their business. What they discovered was that the Caldera, as the phoenixes referred to the area they called home in that manner, just like how a dragon named the various realms attached to a homeworld, wasn't an active volcano like they originally thought, it was a volcanic crater that had a number of the resources Sol's species needed to survive, with the rest of those resources being outside the protected area they called home. There was a grassy area where sheep and other animals roamed, a large population that would be more than enough for the phoenixes for years to come, which had a lake in the middle of it, providing water for the animals so they didn't have to wander over to the beach to get something to drink. There were trees with fruits growing from them, for everyone to enjoy, that just so happened to be scattered around the island, but the area that Sol really wanted to show them was a large boulder that was a minute or two away from the north beach, where they found that a number of passages carved into it, like a small obstacle course or something, where phoenixes could practice their skills before they became adults, as none of the adult members of his species could really use the area at this point in time. In that moment the siblings understood Sol better than what he was expecting, as he was the youngest member of his species and there wouldn't be anymore phoenixes for some time, which seemed to be the same thing that they were going through, as they were the only young dragons in the Dragon Realms and there were eggs being prepared for the special event that would allow them to hatch.

In that moment the siblings decided to befriend Sol, as he seemed a little lonely, and raced him around the course that had been carved into the massive boulder, though while they knew that they wouldn't be able to visit him all the time, due to his kind wishing to remain hidden from the other species of the Dragon Realms, it seemed like the gesture was enough to enlarge Sol's smile, allowing them to put their thoughts of the future to the side as they focused on having fun for one more day, especially with someone that might be a friend in the very near future.