With the residents of Frozen Altars helped out, and they had recovered all the gems and eggs that were in that realm, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora quickly returned to Evening Lake and swam up to the surface so they could take a moment to rest above the water and plan their next move out, as there were only two realms left for them to assist, which wasn't counting the Speedway that was near Charmed Ridge. Despite the fact that they had gone into Frozen Altars to cool down after all they had learned about Moneybags in the first realm they picked out for this homeworld, which involved starting another war and a few other things, they were still ticked off at the bear and knew that once the Sorceress was taken care of they were going to figure out a way to deal with the greedy bear. At the very least the four of them had been able to assist all of the Penguins and restore order to their realm, like they had done for the realms they had visited in the past, and they would do the same thing for the next location they went to, hence the reason that they left the lake behind for a few moments so they could actually talk to each other. One thing they could do, while they were sitting there, was stare at the whirligig for a few moments, though it did make them think about what would go inside the tower that Bentley and some of the other residents of the realms they were helping would eventually stand in, just like the castle in Sunrise Spring and the keep in Midday Gardens.
"So, which realm do you want to tackle next?" Ember remarked, because at this point there were only two realms left for them to deal with, before they headed into the Speedway and completed all of the challenges that the residents had to offer visitors to their realm, though her question was directed towards Spyro, "Do we head through the portal to Lost Fleet, and see what the Rhynocs are doing there, or should we head to the Fireworks Factory and assist whoever is there?"
"Honestly, it doesn't matter at this point, not when they're the last two," Spyro admitted, as while he was perfectly fine with the group asking him which realm they were going to tackle next, since they had been doing that for a while now, he did know that there were only two realms left and it really didn't matter at this point in time, before he focused on what his sister was asking him, "but, if you really want to know, I was thinking we could tackle whatever dangers Lost Fleet has to offer, along with collecting all the eggs and gems that are there, before we see what the Fireworks Factory has, since I'm sure the residents of Evening Lake's realms might have a way for us to get to Midnight Mountain."
"Makes sense that Bentley and the others might have a better way for us to get to the last homeworld, just like Sgt. Byrd and the others from Midday Gardens built the whirligig for us." Spike commented, as the moment they helped out the last realm of the second homeworld they learned of the device that would allow them to quickly get to this land, as the hot air balloon would have taken them longer, so that told him there was the possibility that Midnight Mountain might be more than an hour away if they used the whirligig, but they wouldn't know what was going on until they assisted the final realm of this homeworld, "We're getting close to the end of this adventure, not to mention the Sorceress that needs to be taken out, since she clearly doesn't have the best interests of the Forgotten Realms in mind."
"There's also the fact that we haven't encountered a sign for the other hero yet," Elora added, referring to the fact that Sgt. Byrd and Bentley, and potentially Sheila as well, had signs that revealed they were busy being locked inside the cages the group had found them in, guarded by Moneybags no less, and she was sure that they would find something that told them who the final hero of the Forgotten Realms was, since she was positive they would encounter them whenever they reached the final homeworld.
"True, there's still that we have to keep an eye out for," Spyro said, showing that he agreed with Elora's statement, as it was something they would find in due time and might discover in Lost Fleet or Fireworks Factory, since they had no idea which one the sign would be in, before he shook his head and focused on what they were going to do next, "Come on, let's see what's in Lost Fleet and restore order to the realm in question, since I'm sure there are Rhynocs there as well, just like all of the other realms we've been to so far, and then we can worry about what's in the Fireworks Factory."
The rest of the group thought about that for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement, to which the four of them dived back into the water and quickly headed for the portal that they were going to be assisting next, though it didn't take them long to pass through the portal and head to the next realm that was on their list to help out, especially since it only took a couple of second for them to appear in the starting area for Lost Fleet. Unlike Frozen Altars, where they stood on a platform that was covered in snow, or Charmed Ridge, where it had been a platform above another one, this time around them were standing on some sand and could see that the sky was normal and that, at the moment, they didn't see any mountains that were surrounding the area, which made sense due to the fact that this could have been a realm that was underwater, but that wasn't the case either. As it turned out there were a few large ships that were near them, all of them looking like they had been damaged in some manner and had sunk at some point in the past, before they noticed something that would limit their ability to explore the realm, a river that looked like it was either made up of acid or was covered in an acid substance that floated on top of the water, meaning they either had to find the Invincibility powerup to get around it or were just going to totally ignore the rivers while they explored this realm.
It was in that moment that an Opossum, who was standing like Elora and Hunter did, while wearing what appeared to be a miner's outfit, or maybe calling it an explorer's outfit was more correct given the fact that it didn't look like there was any sort of mining to do in this realm, walked over to the area that they were in and stopped for a moment, meaning he was the one that was going to tell them what was happening to the realm they had picked out.
"You be careful, roun' dese parts, li'l dragons and faun." the Opossum stated, though his accent was hard to place and it seemed like he was messing up a few of the words that he used when talking to them, why they had no idea, but at the same time the group remained silent as they listened to the information that he had to give the four of them about the realm they had picked out, "Dere be more ghosts in dis shipyard din I kin shake my pick at! Durned shame too, 'cause I was mighty close tuh findin' my treasure."
Once the group had been given that piece of information, and barely had time to think about what they had been told over the last minute, the Opossum headed off and left them behind, showing that his words had been more of a warning than anything else, making them wonder what in the world was happening to this realm, even though it would involve the four of them taking down the Rhynocs that were here. The first thing they did was turn to the right and noticed a large red crab that seemed to be approaching them, where all of them moved out of the way as it tried to snip at them with one of its claws, so what happened next was that Ember crushed it into the ground with her hardened tail, causing a gem to fall in the spot it had been standing in, allowing them to know that the Crabs of this realm were enemies, not that they were expecting anything else when it tried to attack all of them first. Once they had determined that they explored the area that was around them and found that there weren't many gems for them to pick up, as there were three near one wall and two more near another Crab, who Spyro charged into, but other than that there were a large number of purple coral clusters that were scattered around the starting area and the rest of what they could see that the moment, meaning there was a lot more of it all over the realm, though it wasn't long before all of the gems were collected and they resumed following the path that was in front of them. Of course that meant encountering another Crab that was hanging between the two wrecked ships that were near the starting area, which were close to each other and had a narrow passage between them that lead to the next part of the realm, though Spike solved the problem by blasting the Crab with an Arcane Missile, which allowed them to continue moving again.
It was when they tried to enter the next part of the realm where they discovered one of the ghosts that the Opossum had told them about, though they frowned when they noticed that it was carrying a lantern in its left hand and that it wasn't even transparent at all, which was why Elora jumped into the air and kicked it in the side of the head, revealing that it was just a pair of short Rhynocs that were playing dress up, so she kicked the other one, who had been the legs, and took them both out as they earned a pair of gems for her efforts.
"Well that was disappointing." Spike commented, because when he heard the mention of ghosts he had been hopeful that they were the real deal and not some foolish Rhynocs just playing games, but, as it turned out, it was just some short Rhynocs having fun, scaring away anyone that tried to loot the ships for treasure, no doubt because of the eggs that they had hidden here, on the Sorceress' orders, "I guess we can call them Fake Ghost Rhynocs, or even Faker Rhynocs due to the fact that they aren't what they're appearing to be."
"I think both of them are good names, so it all depends on what you want to call them." Elora replied, as Spike was the one that usually came up with the names of the enemies that they encountered and he made sure to tell the rest of them what he had decided on after they encountered a new foe, that way everyone knew what to call each of their enemies in the realms they had been to so far, though it was rare for Spyro or Ember to even come up with something, as they were more focused on beating their foes and clearing a realm out, so they were leaving the decision up to Spike, who would have a name in no time.
Before they even left the area that the first pair of short Rhynocs had been in, as in not a few seconds after Elora told him her thoughts on the matter, Spike already had a decision and decided to call them Fake Ghost Rhynocs, since it would allow anyone reading his journals, and the books that would be published later on, to understand that their foes had been pretending to be ghosts the entire time. As it turned out there was a river of acid beyond where the Fake Ghost Rhynoc had been stationed and further beyond that was another one that happened to be guarding a turret that they could use in some manner, though aiding the other Fake Ghost Rhynoc was a flying version of the foe Elora had taken out, which was smaller than what her foe had been, meaning it had to be a single Rhynoc in a costume, making it, as Spike called it, a Fake Flying Ghost Rhynoc. With that information the group moved to strike down their enemies, where Spyro, Ember, and Elora jumped over the acid river and ducked under the incoming attack from their flying foe, which allowed them to corner and take down the Fake Ghost Rhynoc, though while they were doing that Spike loosed a Fireball through the air and struck down their flying foe, clearing the immediate area in the process. Once that was done Ember spotted one of the circular metallic chests and smashed it open with her hardened body by charging into it, proving it was as effective as smashing one of these chests with her tail, allowing the dragonflies to pick up the gems she had freed before they focused on the turret and the potential enemies or openings it could be used on.
As it turned out the Opossum that had ran ahead of them, and had emerged unharmed due to the Rhynocs that were in the area, had painted a red cross on part of the wrecked ship that he was standing near, indicating where an opening was located and that he needed someone to blast it open, which is what Elora did when she climbed onto the turret and loosed a charge from it, blowing open a hole in the side of the section of the ship the Opossum had pointed out, giving all of them a way forward once more. Instead of worrying about the birds that were flying in the air, or trying to climb up a wall of sand that they could likely get to later on, the group collected all of the gems that they had access to, including two that were on a small platform on the side of the ship, before heading through the opening that Elora had created, where they smashed some straw baskets and picked up the gems before turning to the right of the opening. In the area that was in front of them stood another Fake Ghost Rhynoc, which was why Elora jumped into the air and kicked the first one off of the second one, allowing Spyro to charge into the other one and take it down so they could defeat two enemies at the same time, while Ember spun around and used her hardened tail to smash her way through two Crabs that were trying to go after the others, taking them both down before they even had the chance to hurt anyone. Spike, on the other claw, took a moment to loose another Fireball through the air, where he struck down a fake Flying Ghost Rhynoc that was on the other side of the acid river that was blocking their way, thus allowing them to jump over to the area it was guarding so they could pick up all the gems that were in the area.
From there the group found the next area that the Opossum had jumped to, where they would have to glide over a small sunken area to reach him, but that didn't stop Ember from using the Headbash to take out the Crab that was down there and retrieve the gems it had been guarding, which was when they glided over to the Opossum and found that the reason he had stopped was due to the enemies that were in the tunnel he had discovered. Since it was clear that he was waiting for the way to be cleared, no doubt because he had seen how skilled they were at fighting the various enemies of this realm, Spike used his Arcane Missiles to take down the two Crabs that were right in front of them, opening the way for Elora to reach the Fake Ghost Rhynoc that was at the end of the tunnel and kick it in the head, which allowed Spyro and Ember to either charge or flame the other two into the ground, just like the last couple of times they had encountered this type of foe. After those enemies were taken out Ember headed to the right with Elora and found a few gems that lead them right to a Crab, one that she smashed into the side of the wrecked ship that was in front of them, opening the way for Elora to access the turret that it had been guarding so she could blast a new hole in this side of the ship, thanks to the red cross the Opossum put on it. There were also two birds flying around this part of the area, though before Elora could even target them, after blowing another hole in the side of the ship and allowing the Opossum to head inside the vessel, Spike blasted both of them out of the air with some Arcane Missiles, saving them some time and giving the dragonflies some additional gems to collect as they moved through the rest of the area.
They regrouped near the tunnel and then glided over the larger acid river that was in front of them, where Spyro, who was at the front of their formation, landed and charged into the Crab that was in their way, defeating it in a few seconds so the others could land, which would allow them to glide over to part of a wrecked ship that happened to be in the acid river that filled this area. As it turned out there was also a Fake Flying Ghost Rhynoc over there and was taken down rather fast as Spyro flamed it and let Ember smack it with her tail, only for them to discover that it was guarding a path down to some gems, before they turned around and started climbing up to the front of the vessel, which was followed by them gliding through the opening that Elora had created, where they came to a stop when they found the Opossum standing next to the inactive exit portal, which had a chest and a whirlwind near it.
"Wouldja lookit that!" the Opossum commented, where he turned to face them as they touched down in the chamber that he was standing in, revealing that the chest had been opened, no doubt him him to make sure everything was still in the container, allowing the siblings and Elora to see a pile of golden coins and, more importantly, one of the missing eggs that they were looking for, which the Opossum didn't seem happy to see, "Some fool hid a dag gum in me treasure... you can have it, if you want."
The group, of course, accepted the egg and then watched as the Opossum actually picked up his chest and moved on to another part of the realm, no doubt to count all of it in a private area, so while Spike checked the egg out the others spent a few moments looking around the chamber, finding a number of gems to pick up and an Invincibility Gate that was in front of one of the acid rivers, meaning they could use it to explore the area and maybe find things that they would have missed without the powerup, before Spike joined them after sending the egg back home. There was also a Crab near the Powerup Gate they had discovered, one that Spyro charged into and defeated in seconds, though once he had done that the four of them headed through the Invincibility Gate and dived into the acid that was in front of them, where both their bodies and their gear were protected from the acid by the ability that they had accessed, allowing all of them to swim around and check out the area that they were in. As such the group followed the path that was under the acid, of which there were multiple paths and they picked one at random, before they jumped out of the water when they reached what appeared to be a dead end, after picking up a number of gems in the process, which was when they found a small area that had one of the eggs they were looking for, allowing them to send it back to the Dragon Realms before using the nicely placed whirlwind behind it to leave the area. That, in turn, brought them to a higher position that allowed them to glide out into an area that they had passed through earlier, but if they turned around as they started to glide, however, the four of them could land on a wooden walkway that lead them right to one of the side portals for this realm, allowing them to pick up a gem as they landed and then headed through the portal.
Not a few seconds later they discovered that they were in a small passage that the Opossum from earlier was in, but behind him rested a pool of acid water and to his right rested another Invincibility Gate, making them wonder what he was going to ask them to do, before they noticed the submarine that was resting in the pool of acid, how none of them knew since they needed the Invincibility Gate to access the area it happened to be resting in.
"Dese here waters used to be my favorite divin' spot," the Opossum stated, speaking to them the moment that they approached him, while at the same time that made them question both his sanity and the danger of the acid, since all of them were under the impression that this area had been here for a long time and that there was no way this guy could have swam around this area without the use of a machine like the submarine, "but I can't get any loot with these subs patrollin' around. Think you kin pilot this here sub I brought for scrap?"
The group determined that they could clear the area out, though they also discovered that they were only capable of sending one of them, maybe two if it was one sibling and Elora, into the submarine, so Spike and Elora climbed into the vessel and closed the hatch so they could head under the acid water, where it looked like someone had reinforced this submarine to resist the acid, while at the same time Spyro and Ember used the gate to gain the ability to follow after them as they moved through the area the loot was in. Spike determined that the targeting system of the submarine was bad and wouldn't put it past Moneybags to sell something like this to the Opossum, though that didn't stop him and Elora from firing at the six enemy subs that were in the water with them, though while they did that Spyro and Ember swam around and collected the loose gems that happened to be in the area, but it wasn't hard to figure out that they were looking for any eggs that were in the area. Surprisingly enough the enemy subs didn't even try to fight back, like they were being piloted by Rhynocs that had no idea what they were doing at the moment, but that didn't stop them from clearing out the area that they were in and picking up all of the gems that were resting everywhere, even if those that were outside the submarine had to circle back to a second Invincibility Gate that was down in the acid river, again making them wonder how it wasn't falling apart, before they decided not to both questioning things all that much.
When they finished clearing out the area, and made sure that both the enemy subs had been taken out and the gems had been picked up, the group returned to the opening that would take them back to the Opossum and climbed out as they reached the area in question, though while they were given an egg as a reward for their actions, which was just fine as Spike quickly determined, the Opossum revealed that more enemies were coming into the lake, as he called it, so Spyro got into the submarine this time and headed back into the acid water again with Ember joining him outside. That left Spike and Elora to stand guard over the egg, but even if they didn't dive into the lake they heard the sounds of the others tearing apart the new submarines that were invading the area, so it wasn't long before Spyro and Ember returned to the area that they were in and told the Opossum that the seven submarines that had invaded the area had been taken out, earning the group another egg for their efforts. As such Spike took a moment to make sure both of the eggs were alright and then sent them back to the Dragon Realms, so they could be added to the others they had rescued so far, before they bid the Opossum farewell and headed back through the portal that had brought them to this area in the first place, allowing them to return to the main part of the realm so they could resume the search for the missing eggs and the other side section that they would be heading into at some point. From there they glided back down into the area they had cleared out earlier and headed back to where the exit portal was located, which would allow them to access another part of the realm and, more importantly, the other side section once they figured out where the other portal was located, even though it was possible that the path to that area was hidden by the acid rivers.
The whirlwind that they had been walking towards brought them to the upper level of the main ship that was in the middle of the realm, where they were able to collect a couple of gems that were up there, find a wooden plank that would have allowed them to glide to where the first side portal was located, and a turret they could use on something, where the group determined that it had to be for the birds that were flying through the area. Instead of wasting time on trying to aim at the five birds, and missing a number of shots just to take one of them down, Spike hurled a few Arcane Missiles into the air and struck them down, allowing the dragonflies to collect the fallen gems that he freed, while at the same time allowing them to pick out where they wanted to go next, even though the paths they could pick from were becoming more and more limited as they explored the realm they were in. Ember was the first one to move, as in she climbed up to the area that the turret was resting in and glided over to a cave that was off in the distance, where she ended up smashing one of the circular metallic chests and claimed the gems that were inside it, though as she did that the others glided over to the front part of the other ship that was near the starting area, which just so happened to have a whirlwind that Ember used to catch up with them. From there it was a simple matter for them to pick up the gems that were around them, walk up the sand and enter an area that had five Crabs patrolling the place, and start clearing the way so they could explore the last bit of the realm, which was why Spyro charged into his targets, Ember smashed hers with her hardened tail, and Spike and Elora worked together to bring two of them down, by Elora kicking them into a Fireball that Spike had prepared for them, allowing them to clear the entire area of foes in a matter of seconds.
Of course, as they cleared that area out, Spike spotted that the three smaller boats that were partly buried in the sand that they were walking on, like lifeboats that some ships used, did provide a way up to an area that three more Crabs were patrolling, to which the four of them jumped onto the first one, leapt to the second, made sure to land on the third one, and then jumped up onto the area the Crabs were on, where Ember smacked them down with her hardened tail, before Elora kicked a fourth one that had been hidden by the others. Once those foes were taken care of they walked up the rest of the hill, while making sure to pick up the gems from their defeated enemies and the ones that had been on the ground, before finding a point where they just had to walk down into an area below them and did so without delay, even though Spyro flamed the Crab that was in their way so they could move forward without being bothered by it. There were two more Crabs right in front of them, on another lower level of the path they were following, along with one to their right, one that could be accessed by jumping over some of the acid river, and two more even further beyond the first pair, which was right before the portal they had been looking for, the one for the other side section, so the group focused on their foes for the next couple of moments. That was when Ember smashed through the first pair that was in front of them, Spike blasted the one that was off to the side with another Arcane Missile, and Spyro charged one of the last two as Elora kicked the other into the ground, allowing them to clear the area and claim the gems that had fallen, along with the ones that had been laying on the sand in the first place, before they headed through the portal that was in front of them.
What they discovered, when they finally appeared in the other side section of Lost Fleet, was an area that looked like it had been part of the seafloor at some point in the past, before the water had receded to allow visitors to visit the wrecked shipyard they had passed through earlier, and it also looked like someone had converted part of it to a skateboard arena, which explained why they found Hunter standing near a Rhynoc that was practicing with a board, though its skills were rather bad as they watched it wipe out a few times, before they approached their friend, even though that let them find out that there were more Rhynocs in the area than just the first one.
"Guys, you're just in time, because a Rhynoc skateboard gang just showed up while I was looking for the stolen eggs and challenged me and my friends to a race." Hunter stated, not that the group was all that surprised by what their friend was telling them, because they were in an area that had been remodeled into a skateboard arena and there was a team of Rhynoc skateboarders getting ready for something, but the group said nothing as they waited for him to give them all the information that he had, before they agreed with help him out, "Listen, I know that I could have just ignored them and not agreed to the race in your stead, but they mentioned that they have a dragon egg, which they're supposed to be guarding, and I knew you guys would have been mad at me if I turned down a race with one of the missing eggs at stake. Also, they said that while the four of you might be tough fighters, and are capable of taking out multiple Rhynocs in seconds, one of them claimed that all of you were slower than a bunch of Molten Crater fire slugs. I've seen you in action, and I know for a fact that all of you are way faster than a fire slug... and I've seen some surprisingly fast fire slugs over the last few years, be they from Avalar or these lands. Still, the Rhynocs agreed that if we faced them in a race, and one of us was able to beat all of them, they would willingly hand over the egg they're guarding... plus, if we do this right, one of us might be able to save another dragon egg from the sand crab burrows I've seen."
"A race for one of the eggs, now that we can do." Spyro replied, because while it was interesting to hear that this batch of Rhynocs felt that they were better than everyone else, when it came to skateboarding, he and his siblings, along with Hunter and even Elora, had some skills when it came to this sort of thing, which was why he felt that it was okay for them to get involved in this sort of thing.
Hunter, happy to see that they were all in agreement, produced boards for them to use, each of them colored in a way to match the rider that it belonged to, like how his was modeled after his fur, which was followed by the five of them taking their places at the starting line that was to the left of the portal they had walked out of, letting the five Rhynocs know that the race was going to begin and took up their positions at the front of the pack. The first lap around the area was rather straightforward, as the group kept up with the Rhynocs as they moved around the track that had been created in this area, which included smashing the straw baskets that were in the way as they let Sparx, Talon, and Cinder pick up all of the gems that they went by, but it was near the end of the first lap that they got serious, right before they crossed the finish line to start the second lap. As soon as they reached that point in time Spyro flipped through the air, due to performing a trick on one of the few ramps in the area, and landed ahead several of the Rhynocs, which was followed by their foes being surprised as Spike, Ember, Elora, and Hunter flipped through the air as well, each doing their own set of stunts as they did that, before landing near Spyro as they continued racing against the skateboarders that were ahead of time. The better Rhynoc skateboarders were surprised by the fact that they had caught up so quickly, like they had been relying on their own insults on the group's speed, though it wasn't long before Spyro was able to flip over the second place Rhynoc and speed forward, eventually overcoming the first place racer that had been rather lazy in what he was doing, which totally shocked the entire Rhynoc team when they noticed that. Of course he wasn't the only one that passed by the former first place racer, as Spike and the others did the same thing in due time, causing all of their foes to actually cry when they got passed, though that let them spend the final lap just racing and taking out the sand crabs that were in their way, since they seemed to have the other egg they were looking for.
In the end the five of them reached the finish line for the third lap way ahead of the Rhynocs, where they smiled as each of them climbed off of their boards and waited for their foes to finish the race, though when the group of Rhynocs did that their leader handed over the egg that they were supposed to be guarding and then the pack headed off, leaving the group to check the egg out and send it back home... though before they did that one of the sand crabs walked over and gave them the second egg that Hunter had spotted, before heading off, allowing them to send two eggs back to the Dragon Realms, clearing the realm out.
"Ah yeah, we sure schooled those Rhynocs," Hunter remarked, showing that he was incredibly happy with what they were able to do in such a short period of time, while at the same time his statements about the skills of the siblings was true, even if some of them didn't practice all that much in the past, though he was pleased to see that all of his friends were happy that they had recovered all of the eggs in this realm, along with the gems according to what the dragonflies told them not a few moments later.
"And, since we've cleared this section of the realm out, we have all the eggs and the gems," Spike said, as he had been keeping track of the number of eggs they had collected in each realm, where six seemed to be the magic number, save for the Speedways and the ambush areas, and knew that their dragonflies wouldn't lie about the gems, so it was easy for him to determine when they were done with a realm, before another thought came to mind, "Oh, there is something we need to tell you before we leave this realm, Hunter, and that's the fact that Bianca warned up about a trap that the Sorceress set up in Evening Lake, even though we aren't sure where its located, and she asked us to tell you about it, so you wouldn't fall for whatever trap our foe set up."
Hunter nodded his head and saluted the group, showing that he got the message and that he would keep an eye out for anything suspicious or out of place, to which Spyro lead the others back to the main part of the realm and they headed back towards the exit portal, as it was time for them to check out the final realm of Evening Lake, then tackle the Speedway they had neglected to enter earlier, before heading for Midnight Mountain to put an end to the Sorceress and whatever plans she had in mind for the remaining stolen eggs.