//------------------------------//
// Dragon: A Startling Discovery 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember more than a few seconds to go from Town Square and return to the central area of their homeworld, after freeing the realm they had been in from the forces that Gnasty Gnorc had sent there, though the moment they reappeared in front of the portal to Town Square they headed out so they could find Nestor. The reason they wanted to see the Leader of their land was because they wanted to make sure that the dragon egg they had found while they were exploring Town Square had appeared where Nestor had asked Spike to send it with his teleportation breath, even though all three of them were sure that it had arrived safe and sound. The area the egg should have appeared in was around the portal to Dragon Shores, where Nestor and the other Artisans dragons could see it, which meant that they had to head through the large open door once more, since beyond that rested the courtyard that the other portals to the other realms rested in. At this point they were sure that the rest of the dragons that called this land home had been freed, thanks to the efforts of those they had already freed so far, but at the same time they knew that all they were going to do was make sure the egg had appeared where Spike had sent it, and then they would tackle Nevin's castle, where the leader of Gnasty Gnorc's forces for this homeworld was waiting for them.

It didn't take them long to reach the courtyard where Nestor had told them to drop off the other dragon egg, where they found that the majority of the Artisans dragons happened to be wandering around the area that they were in, to make sure things were okay in their home, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered that the second egg was exactly where they were told to put it.

"Good, the egg arrived safe and sound," Ember commented, though she knew that there was no reason to doubt Spike's teleportation breath, as it was something that worked every time he used it to move something to another location, and she could tell that her brother was happy to see that the egg had arrived at it's destination.

"That it did." Spyro said, as he was happy that Spike had returned the egg without anything happening to it, which showed that he had improved his special breath over the years, before he turned around and headed back out of the courtyard, as there was someone they needed to take out before they did anything else, "Well, now that we know the dragon egg arrived safe and sound, and that one of the other dragons will see it while they're saving the other realms from whatever is happening to them, I think it's time we headed back to Nevin's castle and take out the being that Gnasty Gnorc assigned to our homeworld."

"I agree with that plan." Ember stated, because she had been waiting for this since the moment they learned that someone had taken over Nevin's castle and was directing the other enemies from that area, but now that she and her brothers had taken out all of the enemies in the other realms, and saved them from the chaos that had erupted, it was time for them to focus on their first major foe, before heading to the land of the Peace Keepers, "I'm curious as to what sort of opponent is waiting for us in Nevin's castle... he or she, or even it, has to be quite strong for Gnasty Gnorc to put so much faith in them and give them control over some of his forces."

Spike nodded his head in agreement, as he couldn't fault Ember's logic on the matter, but as they walked out of the courtyard that the portal to Dragon Shores was in, and headed towards the dragon head statue that contained the portal to Nevin's castle, he paused for a moment as he glanced over at the area that the two waterfalls were in, where he knew the hidden portal to their homeworld's Flight Realm was located behind.

"Spike, is something wrong?" Spyro asked, because whenever Spike stopped like this, and seemed to be lost in his thoughts, it meant that he was considering something and usually that was connected to him discovering something that they could have missed while they were exploring a realm or going through one of the lessons that Nestor and the other Leaders had for them.

"No, I was just thinking about whether or not we should try to open the way to the Flight Realm and see if there are any Gnorcs messing with it," Spike replied, where he noticed that Spyro and Ember glanced at each other once he told them what was going through his mind at the moment, not that he blamed them since only Lucas was supposed to know how to open the way to the Flight Realm, which seemed to be associated with the waterfalls, before he gasped as he considered something that he never considered before.

Spyro and Ember watched as Spike shifted his course and headed over to the area that the waterfalls, and the hidden portal, rested in, where the two of them sat down near where Nestor had been imprisoned, as it gave them a good view of what their brother was doing, before watching as Spike climbed up onto the edge of the stone wall and then jumped on one of the five stones that were in the water... though not even a second later it glowed, causing Spike to smile as he jumped on the other four stones, which, once they were all glowing, the wall sunk and the hidden portal appeared.

"No way." Ember said, as she and Spyro were surprised by this turn of events, especially since neither of them were expecting this to happen when Spike decided to head over to the waterfalls, but that was when they glided over to where their brother was standing and landed near him, "Spike, how did you figure out how to open the hidden passage?"

"Well, the last few times we went to do our gliding I noticed something odd," Spike replied, though his tone revealed that he was pleased with himself, that his thoughts had been correct and that there wasn't some sort of magical spell that would unlock the hidden passage that Lucas had shown them years ago, before he focused on what he was going to tell his siblings, "the magic that Lucas was using wasn't being directed towards the wall, like he and Nestor lead us to believe, rather it seemed that he was directing his spell towards these stones, hiding the glow from us before we opened our eyes and saw that the way was open. He was hiding the way to open the path to the Flight Realm, though now that I think about it some more, and really consider what he had been doing, it definitely seems like something that a Keeper of Secrets would do to keep the hidden portal a secret."

Spyro and Ember chuckled for a moment, as only Spike would think about something that Lucas, the Keeper of Secrets, had done and attempt to figure out what was wrong with what he had done in their presence, though Spike was happy with himself, which eventually lead to the three of them heading into the Flight Realm, just to check and see if there were any Gnorcs here. As they appeared at the edge of the Flight Realm, which was common whenever they came here to do their flying training with Nestor and Lucas, the trio discovered that there were a few small trains on the train tracks, there were some energy pillars that they didn't recognize, and Spyro spotted what he assumed were planes off on their left, while Ember spotted a golden chest in one of the tunnels. Spike wasn't sure how the Gnorcs had gotten trains out here, since none of the tracks actually went off towards any of the nearby islands, but he had to assume that the Gnorcs had boats that carried the trains to this area, though that was when he and his siblings split up so they could tackle the few foes that were in the area. Spike decided to follow the tracks, as one of the things he had noticed was that the trains were carrying explosives, meaning the Gnorcs might be planning on setting the barrels around the island, so they could blow some holes in it to get the rest of the treasure that was here, while Spyro focused on the strange energy pillars and Ember headed over to where the planes were flying.

They discovered something interesting as they flew around the small island, and that was the fact that the explosives the Gnorcs were moving around didn't pack that much of a punch, as Spike breathed fire on them and the trains were what ended up exploding, while Spyro flew through the energy pillars and shattered them, as if they couldn't take having a dragon fly through them. Ember, on the other hand, spun around as she flew after the Gnorcs that were in the air, as in the pilots of the planes that were flying around one of the larger stone pillars that had been built around the island, where she showed off as she weaved through the air and did circles around the various planes for a few moments, which did seem to annoy the Gnorcs inside the planes a little bit and, unless she was mistaken, it appeared that they might be getting ready for battle. As such Ember fell behind her targets and loosed several bursts of fire at them, eight to be exact, blowing the eight planes out of the air in the process, eliminating the enemies that were in the air in a matter of seconds, before she focused on the other energy pillars that were around her. While Spyro and Ember were doing that, however, Spike flew around the island to make sure the Gnorcs hadn't done anything to the land itself, since they were transporting explosives when he and his siblings arrived, before heading towards the tunnel that the golden chest had been in, where he made his way towards an open area and breathed fire on the chests that he found, breaking them and recovering the gems that had been trapped inside them.

In the end, when they were sure that all of the enemies had been taken care of and all of the chests had been broken, the trio regrouped at the top of the island, in the same area that Nestor and Lucas brought them to during their first flight lesson, only to discover a decent amount of gems waiting for them.

"You know, I wasn't actually expecting to find anything when we came here, yet we stopped the Gnorcs from whatever they were doing and retrieved more of our stolen treasure." Spyro commented, though at the same time he tilted his head for a moment, as he was trying to determine how many gems were sitting in front of them, before turning towards Spike, who seemed to be counting the gems that they had recovered, before they were set off, "Hey Spike, how much treasure do you think we recovered from this realm?"

"Based on the colors that a gem could take, it seems that the Gnorcs had stockpiled three hundred gems," Spike replied, as there were a number of colors that a gem could take, which determined the overall value of an individual gem, and based on his calculations that was the number he had come up with, though once he did that he nodded towards Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, who flew around the large pile of gems and tapped them like they did in the other realms, adding these gems to the ones they had collected so far.

"We should be on the lookout for any Flight Realms in the other homewords, just in case the Gnorcs have invaded them while the other dragons are trapped." Ember added, because she knew that they were going to tackle the various realms that each homeworld had, the ones that the Leaders wouldn't be tending to, and felt that adding these realms to their list was a good move to make, though she was happy that both Spyro and Spike agreed with her.

Once the gems were gone, and had been teleported back to the central area of the Artisans homeworld, the trio took off and headed in the same direction they took whenever they were leaving the Flight Realm, though it wasn't long before they returned to the other side of the portal, jumped back onto the ground, and headed off for the portal that was contained inside the statue of a dragon's head, which opened when they got near it. The moment the way was open the trio headed through the portal and headed to Nevin's castle, though when they arrived all three of them discovered that the time was set to twilight and that the castle seemed to be sitting on a cliff that overlooked a lake, no doubt so Nevin could have some sort of inspiration for when he was doing his paintings. The other thing they discovered was that the shepherds were back, the more aggressive ones that they encountered back in Stone Hill, and there were some white dogs, that were at least as big as they were, sleeping near the shepherds, as the first shepherd that they would have to contend with had only one dog near him, while it appeared that the one that was standing on a raised platform might have two dogs sleeping near him. They had to assume that the dogs had been gems until Gnasty Gnorc cast his spell, just like all of the other enemies they had encountered so far, which meant that they would be more aggressive than their normal counterparts and would keep attacking them until they were taken out, though that only made the trio ready themselves for the battle that was to come.

The moment Spyro took a step forward the shepherd that was near them pointed at him and started issuing the command to attack to the dog that was sleeping near him, causing the dog to yawn for a second, though that was all Spyro needed as he breathed fire and took out the shepherd, though as the dog got up something interesting happened, the dog jumped into the air and clearly intended to flatten Spyro, who rolled out of the way before he could be hit, allowing his siblings to breath fire on the dog, first causing it's fur to become charred and then knocked it out.

"Okay, note to self, these dogs attack fast and aren't scared of dragons," Spike said, though they were lucky that Spyro had dodged the first attack so well, as it let them see just how dangerous these dogs could be, before noticing the other aspect of the dogs that they would have to watch out for, especially since most of the enemies they had taken out so far had gone down in one hit, save for the bulls in Town Square, "and the dogs are also like the bulls we encountered earlier, as we'll need to hit them twice to knock them out and return them to their previous form."

"I'm sure getting hit by those dogs would hurt," Spyro added, but he counted himself lucky that he knew how to dodge the attacks of their enemies, thanks to the training that Titan gave them, otherwise he was sure that the dog would have hit him, which would have hurt Sparx and it didn't appear that there were any critters that could release butterflies in this realm, meaning they had to be careful while they cleared out Nevin's castle.

Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as they knew that Spyro's statement was true, before carefully looking around the area that they had appeared in for any gems, though once they were sure they weren't leaving anything behind they walked forward and investigated the outside of the castle. The reason for them being cautious is because this was technically their first time visiting Nevin's castle, as the painter generally didn't allow visitors since that ruined his creative streak and usually ruined whatever he was working on, but they had the feeling that whatever piece he had been working on earlier was already ruined, due to being trapped in a statue like everyone else. The first thing they did was climb up to the top of the platform on their left and take care of the shepherd and the pair of dogs that were sleeping near him, where the plan was to have one of them flame the first dog and anger it, so while it was jumping through the air one of the others could use their fire breath and take their foe out, allowing the third sibling to take care of the shepherd, before moving onto the other dog. There was even a sleeping dog on the other side of the steps, heading towards the entrance of the castle, though it wasn't much of a threat when Spike and Ember loosed two bursts of fire at the dog and knocked it out, returning it to it's original state as they quickly gathered the rest of the gems in the area, so they could turn their full attention towards the castle's entrance, where a shepherd and a dog waited.

The trio simply repeated the same tactic they had used to get by the other shepherds and the dogs that had been in their way since they arrived, flaming the dog twice and then the shepherd, allowing them to move into the castle itself, but even as they did that they were still curious as to what sort of enemy would be waiting for them to arrive.

Once they entered the castle itself they had to be a little more careful with their flames, as Nevin's paintings were on the wall and all three of them knew that if one of them were destroyed the painter would be annoyed with whoever wrecked his art, something he spent a long time working on, so they needed to avoid ruining the art as they dealt with the shepherds and the dogs that were inside the castle. What they had to do was entice the dogs to abandon the shepherds, which actually wasn't as hard as they thought it would be, allowing them to hit the dogs away from the paintings and, once the first two dogs were taken care of, Ember charged into the shepherd and took him out, which in turn let them explore more of the castle, instead of being contained near the entrance. If they went around the central pillar and headed to their right they would have to deal with a shepherd and his dog, and the same was true if they tried to go straight, so all they did was approach the group on the right and simply repeated the tactic they had used so far, loose two flames at the dog and then charge into the shepherd, before focusing on the other group that was near them, so they could clear out the inside of the castle. Fortunately the other group was just as easy as the previous groups, making them wonder if Gnasty Gnorc's spell had failed in some manner, as none of the enemies they had fought really seemed to care about hurting them, but that didn't stop them from keeping their guard up as Spike found a side passage that lead outside.

The passage brought them to a ledge that wrapped around the outside of the castle, heading off to their left to be exact, and they found two more dogs and a shepherd, enemies that were easy for the trio to defeat, before they smashed the iron chests that were nearby and headed back inside the castle, where they stopped when they came to the only statue they had seen so far and freed Nevin from his prison.

"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for releasing me from that statue," Nevin said, showing that he was grateful that they had come along and bested the forces that had seized control of his castle, even though it appeared that they had been right about him being imprisoned while he was in the middle of paining something, as his color palette was in his left hand and his brush was in his right hand, before he really focused on the three of them, "though I should warn you that Gnasty Gnorc has entrusted the capture of our homeworld to one of his most devious henchmen, one that I certainly didn't see coming when he walked by my statue earlier."

"Oh, it's someone you know?" Ember asked, which she considered to be good news for her and her siblings, because if one of the older Artisans dragons knew who their final opponent would be they could get some information from that dragon and then use it against their foe, and she was sure that Spike agreed with her.

"Actually, it's someone that everyone in the Artisans homeworld knows," Nevin replied, though that made the trio pause for a few seconds, which was what he was expecting to happen, especially since he was sure Nestor and the other dragons were accounted for and no one else seemed to be missing, before he readied himself to tell them the piece of information that he gained while he was a statue, "the commander of Gnasty Gnorc's forces, for the Artisans homeworld to be exact, is none other than Toasty."

"Toasty? You mean the rare sheep that Argus and the others saved a long time ago?" Spike inquired, because he had determined, from his own reading of the scrolls that the scholars wrote on the grey sheep that lived with all the other sheep that called this homeworld their home, that the only thing that set Toasty apart from the other sheep were his eyes and the color of his wool, so he had a hard time believing what he was hearing.

"I did not believe my eyes when I saw him walk by my statue earlier, but that is the truth," Nevin said, though he couldn't fault the trio for not believing what he had told them, as it seemed odd for a sheep to ally themselves with Gnasty Gnorc and turn against the dragons that had saved him many years ago, when he could have been eaten by one of the creatures that roamed the land he was originally from, before he focused on the path that was near them, "Just be careful when you fight him, as he is a formidable foe and he might have a few tricks waiting for you."

Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other before they walked along the path that was behind Nevin, though that was when they discovered that the area their foe was in was circular shaped, like a ring or something, and sleeping in front of them was another dog, though it was the being standing on the opposite side of the ring, near a gate of some kind, that held their attention. What they discovered was a tall figure, taller than any dragon they had seen so far, despite the fact that it appeared to be hunched over a little, that was wearing a worn out red coat that covered the majority of it's body, one that came with a fur hood, and while the being's feet were hard to see they could make out the skeletal fingers that seemed to be the figure's hands, where it's right hand happened to be holding onto a curved piece of wood that had a curved blade as the head, which meant it was a scythe. The being's head appeared to be a jack-o-lantern, made from a pumpkin that had menacing and wicked facial features carved into it, with a decent sized bell around it's neck, like the bells Toasty and the other sheep wore, and it was cracked a little, though as they came to a stop the being turned it's head and stared at them for a few seconds, making them wonder what it was going to do. The trio had a hard time believing that this was Toasty, because none of them had heard of a sheep being able to put on a costume like this and wield a weapon, but at the same time they determined that this had to be a creature that had originally been a gem, instead of a sheep like Nevin seemed to think, and readied themselves for the battle that they knew was coming their way.

The scarecrow maintained it's stare for a few more seconds, as if it was making sure that it wasn't seeing things and that they were actually standing on the other side of the ring, before it raised it's left hand and pointed at them, or, to be more accurate, it was pointing at Spyro, instead of all three of them like they originally thought.

"You!" the scarecrow said, though while the trio didn't see the mouth of the jack-o-lantern move at all they did hear a voice come from the being that was standing across from them, one that was definitely male and, more importantly, the tone revealed that the scarecrow was mad about something.

"Sorry, do we know you?" Spyro asked, because he and his siblings had the feeling that Nevin must have been wrong about who their foe was, as there was no way that a sheep could be their opponent, and by asking this question they could get some answers, before they torched the scarecrow and saved the Artisans homeworld in it's entirety.

"Of course you wouldn't recognize me with this disguise on, so allow me to reveal who I am," the scarecrow replied, though as soon as it said that the area beneath the metallic bell shifted for a few seconds, which was followed by the head of a sheep popping out of the coat, but that was when the trio recognized the grey wool that the sheep had and the red colored eyes, with the yellow sclera that was around them, though what they didn't recall seeing in the past were the small horns that were growing behind his ears, "Remember me now?"

"Well I'll be, Nevin was right." Spyro commented, which was quite the surprise for them, due to the fact that none of them could have imagined that their foe was an angry sheep that was capable of wearing a disguise like this and could even talk with them, something he was sure that Spike was making a note of for Argus and the others.

"Seriously Toasty?" Spike asked, as there was something that he needed to wrap his head around before they even thought about engaging their foe in battle, though he was hoping that they could talk about this and stop Toasty from doing something that he would regret, "Look, I can understand that you might be annoyed by the pranks that Spyro pulled on you over the years, just like how many of the Artisans dragons were getting tired of them as well, but you have to admit that this is taking things way too far!"

"And what would you know?" Toasty angrily replied, showing the trio that he was not only angry at Spyro, for all of the pranks that he had suffered over the years, but that he might also be angry at all of the dragons that called the Dragon Realms their home, which made them wonder what he was going to say, "You and Ember never paid attention to me in the past, as you spent your time going over all those old scrolls and books in Dark Hollow's library and Ember focused on mastering all of the combat skills that you were taught. Anyway, this isn't just about all of your insufferable sibling's pranks and your apathy towards me, it's about how you and the other dragons use my fellow sheep as fodder for your precious dragonflies, as you ignore us when your dragonflies are healthy, but when they're hurt you either burn or charge into my kind to feed and heal your dragonflies. So, in order to free my kind from your tyranny, I learned about Gnasty Gnorc and acquired the necessary skills so I could talk, allowing me to offer my services to your enemy when the time came, and now that he's trapped most of you in those statues, save for you three, it's time to fulfill my end of the bargain."

"Well, so far you aren't doing a good job at stopping us from rescuing the others, since we've already freed all of the other Artisans dragons," Ember remarked, as she figured that they might as well tell Toasty that his forces had lost and that he was the only one left, save for any remaining dogs and shepherds that they hadn't see yet, though the only reason she was doing this was to see if they could get their foe to stand down and admit defeat.

"Look, Toasty, we don't want to fight you." Spike said, because out of the three of them he was the only one that would even attempt to get around a fight without one breaking out, and he decided to walk towards their foe, where the dog got up and growled, only to get a glare from Toasty that made the dog back off and hide behind his disguise, "We can resolve this peacefully, as in you can surrender to us and tell us everything you know about Gnasty Gnorc's plans, if he has any, and then, when our main target is taken care of and the Dragon Realms are returned to normal, we can discuss what we and our elders can do to make you and the other sheep happier. Just set the scythe down and climb out of that costume so we can talk like reasonable beings."

Spyro and Ember wondered if Spike was actually going to convince Toasty to stand down and admit defeat, and they were sure that the other dragons might listen to them if the sheep actually put his faith in what their brother was telling him, but after a few seconds they noticed that Toasty, somehow, tightened his grip on the handle of his scythe as he focused on Spike for a few seconds.

"No." Toasty stated, though that was when something happened that the trio didn't expect, as Toasty's scarecrow arms moved with the speed of an adult dragon's arms and grabbed onto the handle of his weapon, which was followed by him swinging his scythe like he was actually the tall scarecrow, where the head of the scythe made contact with Spike and knocked him backwards, though he was fortunate that he and Talon shared the bond that all dragons shared with their dragonfly companions, even though his color dimmed a little, otherwise that attack would have cut through the scales on his chest and done some real damage to him.

"Spike, are you okay?" Spyro asked, though at the same time Ember growled as she faced the sheep that was getting ready for the start of their battle, by hiding himself back inside the disguise so he could focus on attacking all three of them with his might.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He just caught me by surprise, that's all." Spike replied, but at the same time he shifted his gaze over to where their foe was standing, as he was surprised that Toasty didn't want to listen to reason and was ready to follow Gnasty Gnorc's orders, to take control of the Artisans homeworld and make sure no one took that control from him, before he got up and focused on the battle that would be happening soon.

The first thing the trio took care of, before engaging Toasty, was the dog that decided to charge at them, and not a few seconds later, after two short bursts of fire, it was down to them and their foe, though they had to be careful in how they approached their foe, because it was clear that he was quicker than they originally thought he was and could likely hit them before they even hit him. Spike, on the other hand, was of the opinion that one of them might have to take a blow to open Toasty's defenses, long enough for one of the remaining siblings to flame him and, hopefully, damage the disguise to the point where it became more of a burden and was discarded. All three of them dodged Toasty's incoming attack and backed off a little, giving them some breathing room before their foe decided to attack them, which gave Spike the chance to tell his siblings about his idea, because so far Toasty was guarding the gate behind him and didn't appear to be in the mood to move from that spot, meaning they couldn't get behind him, which left them with little options as it was. Neither Spyro or Ember really liked the idea, since it meant getting hit and hurting their dragonflies in the process, but they really didn't have much of a choice in the matter, not when they had no idea what else Toasty was capable of, and, despite the fact that they would take some damage for the trio, Sparx, Talon, and Cinder agreed to the idea instantly, which caused the trio to ready themselves for what they were about to do.

Spyro was the first one to charge Toasty, because he was the one that angered the sheep in the first place and felt that it was only right to make their foe target him first, and sure enough Toasty focused his attention entirely on him as he swung the scythe with the same speed that had allowed him to hit Spike, though instead of dodging Spyro took the blow and rolled back to watch what happened next. Sure enough Sparx changed color, just like Talon had done for Spike, but Toasty, who was entirely focused on him, didn't notice the attack that was coming from behind, as Ember loosed a burst of fire at the costume, causing it to shake as it was struck, before Toasty popped his head out and glared at her, before the gate fell and he retreated to the next ring as he hid himself once more. In the next ring they discovered two dogs sleeping in the middle of the area, where the siblings had to determine that he actually didn't need the protection, he just wanted some minions to wear them down and make it easier for him to defeat them, though the trio showed him that it didn't matter, as the dogs were rather easy to defeat, allowing them to face Toasty without any interruptions once more. Ember was the one that took the blow this time around, allowing Spyro and Spike to combine their flames as Toasty's guard was lowered, this time burning away both the straw limbs and the coat at the same time, forcing their foe to panic as he realized that his disguise had failed him and he dropped his scythe as he headed into the third ring, which happened to be near the exit portal for Nevin's castle.

While Spyro and Ember dealt with the three dogs that were between them and Toasty, however, there was something that was bothering Spike and he was curious if their foe would take a few seconds to explain something to him, just so he didn't spend the next few hours trying to figure it out on his own.

"Hey, Toasty, how were you able to move the arms of your disguise if you couldn't reach that high?" Spike asked, as he had noticed that both Toasty's hind legs and front legs were touching the stilts that allowed him to stand above them, but that left the question of how he was able to move the straw arms and grab hold of the scythe like they were real, though the only reason he was asking this was because there were no pieces of robe under the coat.

"Magic of course." Toasty replied, though at the same time, as Spyro and Ember paused due to their shock, which was timed after defeating the other dogs and clearing the area, a slight smile appeared on the sheep's face as he focused on Spike for a few moments, as if he was happy to reveal this to someone, "Nestor and the others didn't tell you this, but I'm originally from the land of the Magic Crafters, where I was nearly eaten by one of the beasts that roam the land, until one of the Artisans dragons rescued me and brought me here, so they could 'keep me safe'. Before that incident I was carefully studying the Magic Crafters, seeing how they learned how to tap into the magic that was all around them and use it in whatever manner they desired, and by doing that I got an idea of how to speak and how to tap into the magic that exists in all of the homeworlds. Trust me, it was hard learning how to wield this power and I'm years away from becoming a master like Cosmos and the other members of his clan, but what I have learned is more than enough for me to crush all of you and end your quest to save the other dragons!"

Spike was impressed by this information, as it revealed that maybe, just maybe, there were more to the sheep that lived in the Artisans homeworld and a few of the other realms, because if Toasty was able to do all of this in about fifteen years, and do it so none of them realized what he was doing, there was a chance that the other members of his kind might have the same intelligence that he had. Of course there was one key piece of information that Toasty admitted and didn't seem to understand, and that was the fact that his knowledge and control of magic wasn't the best in the world, as when his horns glowed, so he could do something, his scythe moved a tiny bit before going still, showing that he had already exhausted himself and that it would be some time before he was able to use magic again. That lead to Spyro and Ember striking the stilts and causing Toasty to fall to the ground, though the pair did wait to see if the sheep would surrender now that it was clear that he had been beaten, but, as they soon discovered, his rage and anger towards the dragons caused him to charge at Spyro and bash his head into his scales, like he was trying to knock him over, all while claiming that he would never surrender and that nothing could stop him from saving his kind from the tyranny of the dragons. From what Spike could tell there was no way that Toasty was going to calm down and listen to them, especially since he seemed ready to get himself killed for his mission, even if he was going about it the wrong way, and Spyro just hit him with his tail, to put some distance between him and Toasty, only for the sheep to collapse a few seconds later.

In that moment Spike wondered if their foe had been exhausted from all the years he spent trying to get back at the dragons for what they did to the rest of his kind, and that being beaten by three young dragons had been the final straw for him, though as a butterfly parted from his wool, the same that happened when Nestor first showed them how to take care of their dragonflies, Ember loosed some flames and started to cook the fallen sheep.

"What are you doing?" Nevin asked, as he hadn't left the area like all of the other dragons did when they had been freed from their prisons, mostly due to the fact that this was his castle and he was sure the others didn't need his help in fixing anything, but he was curious as to what Ember was doing.

"She's cooking Toasty, as it's an old Peace Keeper tradition to not waste the body of a skilled opponent, and by cooking and eating the foe it's like taking on their strength," Spike replied, though at the same time what Ember was doing was a really old tradition, something that the current Peace Keepers rarely did when fighting tough beasts, but it had interested her and this was likely the only time she was ever going to do something like this, "or at least that's what is written in the scrolls and old tomes in Dark Hollow's library."

Nevin stared at them for a few seconds, as if he was debating whether or not he could talk with them, before shaking his head and walking away so he could survey the damage that had been done to his castle, of which he would find none, leaving Ember to continue what she was doing, Spyro to gather the three blue gems that had been resting near the final gate and the gems from the nearby chests, and Spike to write about what he had learned... but when they done honoring Toasty, and had cleared up, they were going to leave and head to the land of the Peace Keepers, to repeat what they had been doing so far, until they found and defeated Gnasty Gnorc.