//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Taking a Break 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Spyro and the others spent another week in Capora, doing what they did to all of the other lands they had saved from the other villains that sought to take over the lands and rule them with an iron fist, which was pretty much just helping Flame and Aurora return things to how they had been before the Dark Master launched his assault on the four islands, though it was clear that the pair were definitely considering this being their first, and only, adventure, which was understandable given everything they had experienced since the start of the adventure they had been on, even though the more experienced members of the group knew there might be another one in the future, given what the past had thrown at them after the very first adventure the siblings had been on. The Dragon Elders and Princess Vicky were happy to have some additional assistance in restoring order to some of the realms that they watched and ruled over, though it was rather easy for them to do so since there weren't any of the gem enemies to worry about, as with the Dark Master's defeat all of his creations had fallen apart and returned to their original form, though some of the creatures whose forms had been stolen were actually rather passive, meaning the ones they had faced had been modified by their foe, though they did have to knock around a few creatures in the process, just to get them to agree to the peace the others enjoyed. By the end of the week in question the group was sure that Capora would be like the Dragon Realms, Avalar, Avalion, and all of the other lands they had saved and assisted in the past, the races coexisting in peace and harmony with each other, though one of the more interesting things was that the Mermaids that had been inside the ruins actually left their home and swam up to the surface so they could see dragons with their own eyes and stop calling all of them fish, like the first one had done when they explored Sunken Ruins earlier. Another reason for their stay in Capora, other than to help the Dragon Elders and their new friends, was so their wounds could heal up nicely, as Malefor had mixed some of his magic into their casts to ensure that their bones healed correctly, and once the seventh day arrived they were able to take off the casts and flexed their previously cracked or broken bones, finding that the damage the Dark Master had done had been reversed and they were totally fine, which was another reason they were thankful for the first purple dragon's help at the end of this recent adventure.

While they did that Spike spent his spare time completing his work on the journal that would become the book detailing their efforts in Capora, complete with illustrations of some of the enemies they had seen, the types of people they had met, and even a set of near perfect drawings on what the Dark Master looked like, something that really impressed those that came over to see what he was doing, though that wasn't the only thing he ended up working on, as he and Malefor spoke for a time on something that he had been thinking about, since the end of one of their previous adventures, and hadn't told anyone about.

"Spike, what are you and Malefor talking about?" Elora asked, speaking up once everyone had gotten their casts taken off and were able to make sure that their previously injured bodies had been fully healed, where she found that her wounds had healed nicely and, more importantly, that there was no damage to her body, something that the others found when they checked their bodies as well, before she focused on what the pair of dragons were doing at the moment, where she and the others could see that there was a drawing of a building of some kind resting between them.

"We have been discussing the possibility of creating an academy of some kind, to teach the next generation of heroes how to fight and to pass on how we help people," Spike replied, referring to all the skills that he and the others had picked up over the course of their adventures, and they had picked up quite a number of powerful techniques and skills, despite the fact that a good number of their skills would have to be held back, given how powerful they were, before he considered something else for a moment as Malefor refilled the juice glasses they had been drinking from, "plus we were trying to come up with a list of individuals that could become professors, or at least that's the idea that we've been talking about, and this academy would be built in the newly dubbed Skylands."

"I can understand where you're coming from, and I'm sure that there are many who would jump at the chance to join such an academy, especially after everything you guys have done," Hunter remarked, as he was referring to all of the various races that Spyro, his siblings, and their friends, which he was part of, had assisted over the years, because if he, Elora, Bianca, and Cynder, at the very least, were anything to go by he suspected that many of the other races would feel the same way, that they would jump at the chance to learn from the heroes that had saved their lands and their homeworlds from those who were trying to take over the lands in question, to which he smiled for a moment, "I'm sure that if you guys built such an academy, and fulfilled everything that you are planning on putting inside it, you would have a good number of heroes lining up to learn from you and whoever you selected as the instructors... if it wasn't for the fact that we learned from the Peace Keepers, and quickly learned how to match some of your skills, I know that I would have definitely signed up to be a student and, eventually, become a hero through whatever trials the students will be going through."

"Trust me, we're not planning on forcing students to do anything like what you just went through, but we are considering sending them to help realms out," Malefor said, his tone revealing that he was happy with what he and Spike had planned out so far, even if they were technically in the early stages of planning the academy and that it would be some time before they could move onto the next stage, as they needed to tell the Dragon Leaders, Elders, and all of the other leaders of the other lands what their plans were to see if everyone was interested in such a thing, before he took a sip from his glass and glanced over to the rest of the group, who were sitting around the building that Moneybags had set his shop in, though he had closed up the shop since it was of no value at all since it had been an attempt to get information from their foe, which he had failed to do, "other than that we haven't done much, other than help out the Elders and check on Red, whose still sleeping last time I checked with Elder Harnell, whose staying near him at all times while the others continue to restore the peace that the Dark Master shattered. How's the Professor doing?"

The reason he asked that was because no one had seen the mole in question since the Dark Master had been bested and he had been told of the news, to pass it on to the rest of the leaders of the other lands, but once that was done he left all of them to their devices, which had been helping everyone in Capora, so he was interested in whether or not Cynder or her friends knew what he might be up to, even though he was also sure that they would hear from the Professor once he was ready to tell them whatever he had been doing since the last adventure had ended.

"He told us that he was heading to the wrecked laboratory," Cynder replied, where the reason she knew that was due to the fact that Spyro had asked their friend that question when he last came to the house that they were resting in, so this was just her telling her father what she knew on the matter, before she considered what she had heard for a few seconds and came to a decision on exactly what the Professor might have been interested in, "actually, he might have gone there for the Orrery, since that was still in one piece, despite the ruined nature of the rest of the lab that the Dark Master had built so long ago, so he's likely dismantling the area so he can reassemble it somewhere safer."

"Good, it would be a shame to lose a machine like that," Spike commented, mostly because he was interested in the fact that the machine showed their world, the two moons, the sun, and what looked like three or four more planets, which he was interested in since there was nothing on the other worlds or what the distance between their world and the others happened to be, due to the fact that space was a total mystery to him and all of the other scholars, before he grinned for a moment as he considered what the Professor might be doing at the moment, "there's no telling what sort of information we could gleam from the Orrery, so it would be nice if he was able to secure it and transport it to a brand new area for us to study it in, like one of his labs or something."

"I see. Well, its good to hear what he's doing," Malefor said, as he had to admit that idea of learning what the Orrery had to offer them and the rest of the world, and that was counting just the basics based on what they had seen inside the lab that it had been resting in, though as he opened his mouth to say more, however, they heard something on the second floor shift for a moment, which made sense due to the fact that one of the Elders was up there, which caused everyone else to glance up at the ceiling of the first floor for a moment as they wondered what was going on, but when they heard the brief sound of Elder Harnell's staff hitting the wooden floor.

In that moment the group burst into action, wondering if Red had finally woken up or if some new threat was invading Icy Wilderness to draw all of the heroes to another set of islands, where they headed up the stairs, as safely as they could due to the fact that they could only head up the stairs in a single file line, though what they discovered a few moments later, as they came to a stop in the open second floor, was that nothing terrible was happening, rather it seemed that something good had happened as they found that Red had woken up and that the reason Elder Harnell's staff was on the floor was due to the fact that he had been surprised by what his eyes were showing him, though it was clear that Red was shocked and confused by what was going on, given that the Elder that had been watching him happened to be in the middle of a hug, showing the group that he was overjoyed by what he was seeing.

"H... Harnell? What's... going on?" Red weakly asked, showing that he was still exhausted by what he had gone through and that there was a chance that he might not even be aware of everything the Dark Master had put him through, or if he did he could be repressing all the stolen years to prevent him from having a mental breakdown, which would make sense due to the fact that his soul had been forcefully ripped from his body and stored inside the phylactery that the dark dragon had told him to create, with the intention of using it on him, before he noticed who was standing nearby and grunted for a moment as he tried to leave the bed he had been resting in since he had been freed, even though Harnell stopped him since he was ready to do anything major at the moment, but that didn't stop him from bowing his head towards the group for a few seconds, "Wa... Wait, I know you. Th... Thank you for saving me..."

"You're welcome. We couldn't just leave you in the, um, situation we found you in, so we had to step in and save you from the darkness we found you in," Spyro replied, though he didn't want to trigger any bad memories on accident, since that would only harm Red in the long run and prevent him from even getting over what had happened to him, though he could tell that the rest of the group seemed to agree with what he was doing, but as he did that Malefor pulled out a quill and a piece of paper, which he quickly wrote on and then briefly nodded his head for a second as he held the paper towards Harnell for a moment, "Um, is something going on?"

"Its just a recipe for a potion that will help Red out," Malefor explained, revealing that, given his extensive knowledge of the forbidden soul based spells he had learned over the years, thanks to what the Dark Master had done before disappearing for a long time, until he showed up in Capora, that he had created something to help those that were effected by what the dark dragon had done to them, something none of them really felt like asking since it would likely give some a nightmare or two in the process, "there's not much else we can do, given everything that's happened, so this is the best I can offer at the moment, along with some time to talk if you want to discuss whatever happens next."

Elder Harnell nodded as Red laid back down, because while the formerly banished Dragon Elder might want to get up and see what had happened to the lands he was supposed to be watching over and protecting, just like his friends had done to the best of their ability, he knew that he didn't have the energy to really get out of bed and that it would be a some time, as in anywhere from a few days to a week at the very least, before Malefor beckoned for the others to follow him as he made his way back down to the first floor. Once everyone was back down on the first floor, but before they resumed doing what they had been doing when they heard the Elder drop his staff in surprise, that was when Malefor told them that they had to take a break, as in go to the beach like they did whenever they finished an adventure, and that he would likely return to Warfang for a time, just to be sure everything was going well without him being there since he had left Ignitus and the rest of the Guardians in charge of the city, but he would make sure to send word if anything happened, in either his home or in the newly freed lands of Capora, or any of the other lands for that matter. It didn't take Spyro or the others all that long to even agree to that, since it would be nice to take a small break before they did anything else, to which they told Malefor that his idea was a good one and that they would be excusing themselves for a time, where they departed from the house and headed for the area that the Teleportation Device was resting in, as while the Professor hadn't linked the device that were in the homeworlds of Flame and Aurora's lands to one of the other lands, like they expected, Spyro was planning on using it for a few seconds as solid ground for one of Spike's portals, hopefully with nothing bad happening since he had no idea if this was a good idea or not. Fortunately that didn't seem to be much of a problem for Spike, as he weaved a basic spell on the pad of the Teleportation Device to prevent it from interacting with the magic he was going to be casting next, though once that was done he activated his magic again and opened the way back to the Dragon Realms, the homeworld of the Artisans to be exact, and it wasn't long before it was stabilized, allowing them to pass through the portal and return to their own home, where Flame and Aurora joined them since they weren't needed in their own lands, and even if one of the Elders needed them they could ask Malefor or the Professor to get in touch with them.

Of course Nestor was there to greet them, as he had been in the middle of something and had paused his discussion to see what the group might be up to next, but after figuring out that they were heading to Dragon Shores at long last, since they usually went there after an adventure was over and they were a little late this time around, he nodded his head and let them head through the portal that would take them to their destination, where Flame and Aurora smiled for a moment as they stared out at the area in question, as this time around they would actually be enjoying their time here and not be uninvited guests like what happened the last time they had been here.

"Its going to be nice experiencing this place as actual visitors and not uninvited guests," Flame commented, though at the same time the members of the group that were wearing clothing headed off to the side for a time and quickly came back with the same swim suits that he and Aurora had seen the first time they met the group, while all of their weapons, pieces of jewelry, and everything else they might be carrying, like Spike's bag and what they were tied to, were set in the sand and were kept safe for the time being, "not to mention that we need to relax after everything we went through to take down the Dark Master and restore order to the homeworlds of Capora... even if the adventure was far more than what we were originally expecting it would be."

"Trust me, some of these adventures can be more than what you might expect at first," Elora replied, as she and Hunter, at the very least, had a similar experience to what Flame and Aurora had just gone through with their first adventure, but as she said that she glanced down at her changed body, due to the fact that she was actually referring to how her body had been changed by Ripto's wild magic, before focusing on the waves as Spyro and Cynder dived into the water, which just so happened to be when she grinned as the pair splashed each other without wasting a single second, "but, even though we have faced some difficulties in the past, thanks to the enemies we faced or the villains we had to bring down, I wouldn't trade my adventures with my friends for anything in the world, as they are some of the best years of my life, and I'm sure Hunter and everyone else that has joined Spyro, Spike, and Ember will agree with me. Still, I can understand your desire for this to be your first, and only, adventure, so you won't have to worry about anyone trying to force you to return to the hero business, not unless you decide to join us whenever the next adventure finds us and we find a villain that needs to be brought to justice."

"We'll see about that," Aurora said, though at the same time Flame nodded his head and dived into the water that was in front of them, something that seemed to put a smile on her friend's face as she watched him do that, though even as that happened she noticed that Spike was in the middle of pulling out the six odd gems that had been formed during the final battle with the Dark Master, which caused her to tilt her head for a moment as she saw that, "Really Spike? I would have thought that with a week off you would have researched those gems and already discovered everything there was to find about them, before storing them away in whatever area you were planning on keeping them in, or whatever you might have been planning on doing to them once your research was concluded."

"Just trying to figure out what that Harmony magic was and why these gems seem so lifeless now," Spike replied, though that didn't stop him from placing the six odd gemstones in front of him and stared at them for a few seconds as he pulled out the rest of his research materials, as his statement was due to the fact that the gems contained the same coloration that they had possessed when they were formed, but, at the same time, whatever magic had been inside the gems had vanished entirely, meaning each of the six gems were basically pieces of treasure once more, something that would cause him to hand them over to one of the Leaders of their homeworlds, Malefor, or even the Elders of Capora, but he wanted to be sure there was nothing dangerous about the gems before he did anything like that, despite the fact that none of his studies were yielding any results at the moment, "Also, I'd like to learn more about the odd magic we hurled at the Dark Master, even if it didn't do much against him, purely because its something entirely new and we know absolutely nothing about it, but, based on the way things are going, I don't think I'm going to learn anything new... not unless the life returns to the gems and they become capable of channeling that magic again, which would be rather disappointing if we couldn't learn anything from these gemstones."

Aurora seemed like she wanted to say something, anything that might convince Spike to stop worrying about the gems he happened to be studying at the moment, before she sighed for a second and headed into the water that was nearby, due to the fact that she wanted to relax and was planning on leaving Spike to his own devices, though Hunter worked in the sand and started to work on a castle of some kind as the others did whatever they wanted to do with their time off, which was interrupted by the arrival of Bentley, Sgt. Byrd, and the rest of their friends, as while many of them had been busy at the time of Flame and Aurora's arrival in the Dragon Realms they were interested in meeting the newcomers and learning more about them. Sol was with the group as well, where he was eager to meet their new friends, and he made sure to put down a basket that came from Alvar, a large one that contained lunch for all of them, something that put a smile on the faces of everyone else, though as they did that Blink, who had joined Sgt. Byrd in leaving Capora, so he could explore all of the other lands of the world, walked over to where Hunter was working and dug into the sand for a few moments, where he seemed to mumble about how sand wasn't the same as the rest of the earth he loved to dig through, before he used all the displaced sand to create a small hut of some kind, one that gave him the feeling of being underground despite the fact that he was clearly above ground, to which the group decided not to bother him or correct him. Bentley and the rest of the group, on the other hand, scattered around another part of the beach and started throwing a disc around, as one would take up a throwing stance and send the blue disc flying through the air, where someone would would either jump up and catch it or allow it to lower down to where they were standing and catch it with ease, though it did cause some of the others to watch what they were doing, as Amelia joined them not a few seconds later as she snatched the disc right out of the air, landed nearby, and then sent the disc flying towards the area that Bentley was standing in, who grinned as he caught it not a few seconds later, showing that having another player only made things more interesting for him and those that had started playing the game with him. Spyro was happy to see that everyone, as in their friends from Avalar, Avilion, Doxantha, and Capora, was getting along just fine and that everyone was having fun, so they could rest and relax before they tackled whatever the future held for them, though as he thought about that he noticed that Bianca was in the middle of walking over to where Spike was sitting, which meant she was either interested in learning a new spell or she was interested in helping him understand the mystery of the odd gems.

What happened next was that Bianca gathered her magic for a moment and then cast a spell that caused a bright flash to cover the area she was standing in, though when the light faded the rest of the group noticed something different about her right away, because she had transformed the lower half of her body into that of the Mermaids, as she had been very interested in the race that they met in Sunken Ruins, where her new tail was purple colored, something that caused her to bring her hand to her face after she crashed into the sandy beach, no doubt due to the fact that she had forgotten that she needed to be sitting when she cast the spell, and her gesture might be due to the fact that the coloration of her brand new tail wasn't what she had been thinking it would be, but that didn't stop Spike from using his magic to help her get over to the water, due to the fact that he had been sitting a bit away from where the water hot the beach.

"Was she always able to do that?" Sol asked, as this was the first time he had seen someone in the group take on the form that Bianca had taken on, where he watched as Bianca remained still as Spike brought her over to the water and then, as they reached their destination, she slipped out of his hold and went into the water, where she started to swim and see just how well this spell worked, though his question was directed towards Spike, because he was the one that would be able to accurately answer his question and explain what in the world was going on right now, even though everyone else seemed interested in just enjoying themselves, and Elora was laying in the sand nearby and seemed to be enjoying the sunlight, if the smile that was on her face was any indication.

"No, its a spell that she was in the middle of designing after meeting the Mermaids of Sunken Ruins," Spike replied, as he knew Bianca had asked him about such a spell several times over the course of the last adventure, usually when they let Sparx and the other dragonflies head through the holes that allowed them to access some areas that he and the others couldn't access normally, though he smiled for a moment as he watched what Bianca was doing, as she was testing the waters, so to speak, before she truly dived under the water and pushed this spell to its limits, so while he might not gain any information from the six gemstones he could gain some information on the brand new spell that Bianca had created over the course of their last adventure, "basically, its a Transmogrification spell that allows one to take on the appearance and form of a Mermaid, though either there are a few more tweaks that need to be added to the spell or its ready to be added to all the tomes that contain all of the spells we know about, though its hard to tell if the spell uses one's favorite color for their tail or if its supposed to copy the coloration of the rest of their body."

"Well then, why don't you use it on someone else, like Amelia or Elora, to test out your theories?" Sol inquired, as he knew what Spike was like and suspected that he was already thinking about trying it on someone else at some point in the very near future, just so he and Bianca could understand the spell his apprentice had created before they put it inside all of the tomes that detailed the spells a dragon, or anyone else that could wield magic, could learn how to use, though as he side that the rest of the group, or the vast majority of them, went back to what they were doing before the flash of light drew their attention to what Bianca had done, "I'm sure that someone would be willing to help you out, given that you know how to safely go about testing such a thing and, more importantly, how to return your helpers to their original forms once all of the testing was done."

"Yeah, not happening... at least for me, anyway," Elora spoke up, though as she did that she raised one of her arms for a few seconds and stared at the scales that had replaced her normal fur, back when they finished the second adventure that Ripto had been a part of, before she sighed for a moment before staring out at the water as Bianca burst out of the water and did a flip, showing Spike and those that might be watching that she was experimenting with her transformed body so she would have a good idea as to what to tell Spike when they went to write about this spell, "Thanks to what Ripto did to my body, well, I'm more worried that pouring more magic into me, for a Transmogrification spell to be exact, might finish what was started when we saved the realms of Castle Hills and transform me into a full dragon... not that I have anything against that, since Spike and the others are great heroes, its just that I would be totally lost if such a thing happened to me, so no more magic like that for me."

"And we'll see about testing the spell out later, depending on what Bianca has to say," Spike added, though he knew that Elora didn't want to risk finishing what Ripto had done to her, hence why he never pitched such a question to her, but at least it looked like Bianca was having fun with the spell she had created, hence why she dived below the water and totally vanished a few moments later, to which he chuckled for a moment as he returned to where the gems were resting, as with Bianca under the water he couldn't see what she was doing and had to leave the spell research in her hands, so he would focus on the gemstones again, "for now, however, I'm going to continue to rest and do my research on these six odd gems, and, more importantly, give Bianca all the time in the world that she needs to experiment with her new form, especially since she seems to be enjoying herself right now."

Sol said nothing to that as he headed over to where everyone else was gathering, and that included Blink since the rest of the group that was on the beach convinced him to leave his makeshift hut and join them, where it took the mole a second to understand the concept of what the others were doing before he threw the disc, something that was followed by a faint smile appearing on his face as he joined the disc throwing group, where Spike was sure that he would truly smile in time and just enjoy himself, just like what the rest of their friends happened to be doing at the moment. One thing that Spike could make a positive note of was the fact that the part of Bianca's new spell that allowed the user to breath underwater worked just fine, as some time passed, about three to four minutes, and he didn't see her surface at all, meaning she was doing just fine and that she would be back up whenever she was done with whatever she was testing out right now, hence why he focused on his own studies, even if the gems had seemingly lost all the magical power that had been inside them, which was making what he was doing pretty much impossible. Spyro and Cynder, for the most part, just remained in the water and enjoyed themselves as they took turns splashing the other by using their wings to knock up the water, or doing stunts in the air before diving like a cannonball into the water, something that encouraged several of their friends to clap whenever they did an impressive stunt, as that allowed the both of them to show off their training and gave Flame and Aurora an idea of what else they could learn in the future, if they desired such a thing anyway, and after this adventure the siblings were sure that Titan and the other Leaders would be willing to teach the newcomers some new tricks to help them in whatever they want to do. While they did that Bianca finally resurfaced, after about ten whole minutes by Spike's count, and she revealed that she had found a few interesting things while she was under the water, some crystals that looked like they were unrefined gems, an old wooden chest that had a busted lock and had some gold and silver coins inside it, and a statement that she had found what appeared to be a pirate ship of some kind that was partly destroyed, something that interested Spike since he knew that none of the records inside the libraries of the Dragon Realms said anything about the existence of pirates, but, at the same time, that meant there was something for them to learn about and study, provided they readied a submarine and got permission from Nestor and the others to see what was below the water of Dragon Shores, and he was sure their Leaders would be interested in this as well.

Spyro grinned as he looked at the rest of the group for a moment, as there was a number of things that they could do in the very near future, as there was whatever the Professor was working on, they could try to figure out what was located in Bianca's newly discovered wreck, Malefor likely had some more training for them, and who knew what else, as the more they explored their world the more they learned about the various lands and those that called them home, and with all of the plans that Spike had created with the first purple dragon, but he knew that whatever the future held he and the others would meet it like they had done everything else in the past and tackle anything that tried to bring them down.