After infusing Krystal's staff with the Fire Blaster spell, Fox and Sunset made their way back to the Temple. In order to make it out of the hollow where the spell was sealed, Fox had to use the spell to launch a small ball of fire at a glowing red sun symbol - like the one above the temple door - to turn it green and open a gate. With this knowledge, Fox was able to open the temple door in the same way.
Inside the temple, Fox and Sunset found the Queen Earthwalker, sprawled on her side and looking severely unwell. Sunset raced forward immediately. "<Your Majesty!>" she called out worriedly. "<Are you alright? What happened to you? Where's the King? Where's> Tricky?"
"<The King...Walled City...>" the Queen spoke up, seeming dazed. "Prince Tricky...<the Sharpclaws took him...to> Ice Mountain..."
"Ice Mountain," Sunset repeated to confirm. "<The> Warpstone <can send us there, right?>"
"<Yes...>" the Queen confirmed before laying back, still plainly listless.
"We need to get to the Warpstone," Sunset told Fox quickly. "He can send us to the Ice Horn, where the Sharpclaws took Tricky!" She then raced out of the chamber.
Fox raced after her, shaking his head ruefully. "I really should have learned to speak the language..."
"I'll have a translator program for you soon enough," Slippy promised. "Should be ready by the time you get to Tricky-"
A large explosion heralded Sunset blasting a hole in the wall around the Warpstone glade at a cracked portion, making a path through to the Warpstone for herself and Fox since levitation hadn't worked for some reason.
"...give or take a few minutes," Slippy allowed as Fox chuckled.
It didn't take long before Fox and Sunset reached the platform that let them speak to the Warpstone. "Ah, Sunset!" he declared warmly as he saw her. "Been a long time since ye last came ta me for an adventure! Ah'm afraid ah'm a bit more limited than ah was when last ye were here. Ah can only send ye to the Ice Horn or the maze just now...and only ta Krazoa Palace if ye have a Krazoa Spirit with you. Ah canna reach further than that, or ta the broken pieces of th' planet. Ye'll have ta find yer own way ta those."
"We'll manage," Sunset allowed intently. "Right now, we need to get to Ice Horn."
"Then climb on up!" the Warpstone replied happily, lowering his right hand for them to step on.
"I'll never get used to this," Fox grumbled as the stone hand closed around them before flinging them through space and time.
As they came out the other side, Sunset grinned up at a woozy Fox. "I can't get enough of it, personally."
As they moved out of the cavern, a large ship came out of the sky, lowering Prince Tricky in some sort of stasis field. Fox immediately grabbed Sunset by the arm. "Wait until the ship leaves," he instructed firmly as Tricky was lowered towards a pair of Sharpclaws. "We can handle a few Sharpclaws without drawing too much attention. We can not blow a ship out of the sky if it turns its weapons on us without drawing a lot of attention...assuming we aren't forced to run for it."
"But-" Sunset began.
"Tricky's tough," Fox insisted. "As tough as you. He can handle being held captive long enough for things to be safe to rescue him." He winced as he saw one of the Sharpclaws strike Tricky with its mace. "And you can fix him up if he needs it."
Sunset bit her lip. She hated that her Dad was right, but she knew charging out there to rescue Tricky while the ship was there was suicide...and once the ship was out of sight, Tricky'd been moved out of sight as well. "Well, there are only so many places they could have taken him up here," Sunset pointed out ruefully. "Shouldn't be too hard to find him."
"Probably that large steel door over there," Fox pointed out. "I heard it open and shut."
"I don't see a Sun Sigil," Sunset pointed out irritably. "How are we supposed to get it open? Somehow I doubt you want me ripping it out..."
"Yeah, we're trying for quiet," Fox pointed out firmly. "Let's see if we can find another way. Like you said, there's not much here to explore."
Off in one corner of the area, they found one of the Fuel Cells the Ar-Wing ran on. "We should keep an eye out for these," Fox said as he collected it. "It shouldn't take any tweaking to work in the Ar-Wing, and that will let us gather enough energy to safely reach the floating chunks of the planet."
"I'll grab any I see," Sunset agreed.
A large stack of boxes blocked off an area of the snowy field, but Sunset dealt with that by blasting them to bits. This startled the two Sharpclaws behind the pile enough that she and Fox were easily able to subdue them, which revealed the Sun Switch to open the metal door.
As the door opened, Sunset caught sight of the two Sharpclaws continuing to harass Tricky with their maces. "Leave him alone!" she screamed out as she charged forward.
"Sunset, <help!>" Tricky called out as the Sharpclaws spun to face them. As soon as their attention was off him, he dashed to the side.
As Fox charged in to help Sunset, she slid under the first Sharpclaw and punched upward as she passed, making it collapse forward as she scooped up Tricky before hitting the downward slope they'd discovered together on their first visit. The second Sharpclaw pursued on some form of speeder craft. Fox KO'ed the first one as it recovered from the groin hit before snatching the second speeder to pursue.
He managed to get ahead of the second Sharpclaw and smash it against a wall to keep it from pursuing...only to find himself flying off the edge of the slope and into the hot spring below with a scream.
"<Brings back memories, huh,> Sunset?" Tricky asked with a chuckle.
"<Wish I could be as happy about it as you,>" Sunset offered sadly, "<but your Mom isn't doing well, and from what she said, I think your Dad might be a prisoner of the Sharpclaws. Only reason I can think of why he'd be in the floating Walled City while your Mom was in Thorntail Hollow.>"
Tricky's face fell. "<You...you're kidding...>"
"<I wish I was...>"
"Slippy, please tell me the translator is almost finished?" Fox pleaded as he clambered out of the spring.
"And...uploaded!" Slippy declared happily.
"Is there anything I can do?" Tricky asked hopefully, his words now translating. "I want to help!"
"Well, I know you're great at digging and scenting," Sunset pointed out. "That ought to help somewhat."
"I'll do my best!" Tricky insisted eagerly.
Smiling, Fox turned to lead the pair further into the frozen area they were now in.
"Where are we going?" Tricky asked curiously.
"Back to Thorntail Hollow," Fox replied readily.
"Are we there yet?" Sunset asked impishly.
"Sunset, you know this area better than I do," Fox pointed out dryly.
Sunset and Tricky exchanged impish grins.
"Where are we going?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Where are we going?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Slippy, can you turn the translator off?" Fox groaned ruefully.