Spyro, Spike, and Ember remained sitting as Amos departed from the area that the land of the Dream Weavers was located in and headed towards the location of the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, so they could finally take on the person that was responsible for trapping all of the other dragons in those statues and loosing all those enemies they had taken out as they traveled through the homeworlds. The main reason they were silent at the moment was because of the fact that they were realizing that they were nearing the end of their adventure, something that each of them had thought about once or twice in the last couple of hours, but now the fact that they were heading to the land of their enemy meant that this was real, that they were about to face the person responsible for everything they had seen so far. Amos informed them that it would take about thirty minutes to get to the last land that made up the Dragon Realms, the land that was their enemy's base of operations and was likely where the main force of his soldiers were waiting for them, as he had to know that the soldiers that had been created from gems had been taken out and that the commanders he had picked out for the homeworlds had been defeated in battle. Other than the fact that he knew how long it would take them to reach their destination, however, Amos didn't have much else to tell them, allowing the siblings to focus on what they were going to do when they reached the land they were heading towards, especially since they had no idea how many realms the land possessed.
The ride also gave them some time to rest and ready themselves for the battle to come, as they were hoping that they would be able to tackle Gnasty Gnorc immediately and put a stop to his plans, whatever those plans happened to be, before he did something even worse than what he had done so far.
"So, what do we actually know about the land that Gnasty Gnorc rules over?" Spyro asked, because just sitting still and keeping quiet for the entire thirty minutes didn't sit well with him, and he could tell that Ember, at the very least, had the same opinion on the matter, even if Spike was interested in writing down everything that happened in the land of the Dream Weavers, for the scholars of Dark Hollow once this adventure was over.
"Well, it used to be called the Dragon Junkyard, or just the Junkyard as some preferred to call it," Spike replied, once more showing that his studies came in handy so he could answer one of the questions that his siblings might have on something they discovered or something they wanted to talk about, which caused both of them to turn towards him while Amos directed them towards their destination, "so it's where unwanted stuff has been sent over the years, before Nestor and the others, at some point in time, stopped dropping stuff off here, which was likely around the time that they confronted and banished Gnasty Gnorc to this land. From what I can tell Gnasty Gnorc has likely spent a great deal of his time shaping the land into his home and his base of operations, to invade the Dragon Realms at some point, and, based on what happened during the interview earlier, Gnasty Gnorc had seen the broadcast and was very upset with what Lindar said about him, causing him to launch his attack earlier than he planned."
"He's unlucky that the three of us weren't affected by that spell," Ember added, because she was happy that the spell that had trapped all the dragons in those crystal statues had missed them, either due to them not being adults or for some other reason that none of them knew about, as it allowed her and her brothers to reverse the damage he had caused to the homeworlds and the realms in each land, before finally taking the fight to him so this didn't happen again in the future, something she expected him to due if he was left to his own devices.
"Without knowing the specifics of that spell, my best guess is that Gnasty Gnorc targeted all the adult dragons that were scattered across the Dragon Realms," Spike said, showing that he had some idea as to why they had been skipped by the spell, while at the same time revealing the reason why his idea might be subject to change, something that his siblings knew he would have mentioned at some point, and showing that he had been thinking about this for some time, "As to why he didn't cast the spell a second time, and target the three of us, it's either because the spell can only be cast once a day or once every couple of hours, or Gnasty Gnorc felt that his commanders could take us out so he could focus his efforts on resealing the dragons that we rescued and taking the treasure that we had recovered over the course of our adventure, to reform the soldiers we had taken out before each battle."
"Well, whatever the reason is, Gnasty Gnorc won't have enough time to use the spell before we reach wherever he's hiding at the moment," Spyro stated, because based on what he had seen so far, and what they had encountered in the past, he had the feeling that their foe would be hiding somewhere, to give himself the time he needed to cast the spell and imprison them in those crystal statues, no doubt to be trophies or something, and he also had the feeling that they would be able to find him before he had a chance to do anything with his spell.
Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, as they were sure that they would be able to find Gnasty Gnorc in no time, once they reached their destination anyway, though all three of them were eager to see what the land he called home looked like before they did anything else.
Eventually Amos informed them that they were near their destination, the land that their foe called home, so Spyro, Spike, and Ember gathered near the edge of the basket and looked out at the land that they were descending towards, though all of them were surprised by what they saw. The first thing they noticed about the Gnorc Gnexus, as Amos called it, was that it had been created in the style of the other lands, in some manner, and it revolved around a central hub area that likely had a few portals scattered here and there, though it would be rather easy to find them since the area in front of them was a large circular island that was made out of metal. Around this island rested a number of natural islands, where the siblings could see that Gnasty Gnorc had his forces build a few lighthouses for some reason, and possibly some houses as well, even if they couldn't see them at the moment, before they focused on the next part of the island. There were three metallic dragon heads, made to mimic the style that the portal to Nevin's castle was housed in, and could only be accessed by specific means, though Spike noticed that all three of them were closed and that each of them had glowing lights in their nostrils and their eyes, as one had a yellow glow, the second had a pink glow, and the third had a green glow. The next thing of interest was the stone archway that seemed to be in the shape of a tunnel, one that certainly housed the first portal he and his siblings would have to go through, to tackle the forces that were waiting for them on the other side, before he noticed something that really caught his attention, and he was sure the same applied to his siblings.
There was a crystalline statue, like the ones they had been breaking to free the trapped dragons of the homeworlds, resting in the center of this island, meaning that someone had either come to talk with Gnasty Gnorc, and had been sealed by the spell, or someone they had rescued had come here to tackle Gnasty Gnorc in their stead, but they wouldn't know what was going on until the statue was broken.
"Here we are, the Gnorc Gnexus," Amos said, where he made sure the basket touched down on the wooden dock that happened to be attached to the island, almost like Gnasty Gnorc was waiting for someone to arrive in this manner, which allowed Spyro, Spike, and Ember to disembark and prepare themselves for what was ahead of them, "Trust me, this is the least friendly place you three will ever visit, but if you want to leave for a time, to rest from whatever is waiting for you, you could always ask Hak to take you back to one of the other homeworlds."
"Thanks, but we won't be leaving until Gnasty Gnorc is defeated," Spyro stated, because this had been what they had been working towards since they started their adventure, to tackle the person responsible for the chaos that had befallen their home since the dragons had been trapped in crystalline statues, and they weren't about to back away now.
Amos, instead of sticking around to talk with them, nodded his head in understanding and quickly pulled his balloon back into the air, leaving the siblings to what they were doing, which was why they were focused on the statue that was in front of them at the moment, as they were eager to see what was going on... but when they tapped on the statue, and freed the dragon that was trapped inside it, all three of them were surprised by what they discovered.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, thank you for freeing me once more," Nestor said, though as soon as he said that he stretched his arms and wings for a moment, showing that he still didn't like the feeling that came from being trapped inside one of those crystalline prisons, something the other dragons no doubt shared.
"Nester? What are you doing here?" Spyro asked, as he was confused as to why the Leader of the Artisans dragons, the clan he and his siblings belonged to, was here, in the land that Gnasty Gnorc ruled over, when he should be back in their homeworld, making sure everything was okay, to ensure the other realms they hadn't visited were saved and the dragons that called those realms home had been rescued, and that nothing else had been stolen.
"Spyro, let me tell you and your siblings something important, Titan, Cosmos, Bruno, Lateef, and I were the ones that originally stopped Gnasty Gnorc and banished him to this land," Nestor stated, where he could see that Spike was nodding his head in agreement, which made sense since he likely read the tome that contained the information he was talking about, before he focused on what he wanted to say, before one of them accused him of something, "We knew that you three were doing a good job in tackling the various challenges that the homeworlds and the various realms were throwing at you, but it didn't feel right asking the three of you to tackle Gnasty Gnorc, especially since we were the ones that bested him in the first place. We thought that the five of us, as Leaders of the dragon clans, could take on Gnasty Gnorc and set things right, but in the end he just trapped us in those crystal prisons again and scattered us between the central hub area for his land, Gnorc Cove, and Twilight Harbor."
"Well, if anything this gives us an advantage for when we fight him," Spike commented, where Spyro, Ember, and Nestor turned to face him for a moment, as he had noticed something about what he had been thinking earlier and what they had just been told, and if he was right they could actually face their foe now, instead of having to worry about the spell that he used to trap everyone, "Gnasty Gnorc just used that sealing spell on the five Leaders, the same spell that he was likely recharging in anticipation for our arrival, meaning that he can't use it again for some time, giving us a window of opportunity to tackle his lands, recover what he's stolen, free the remaining Leaders again, and then, once the way is clear, we can face him without having to worry about the spell being used against us."
"Leave it to Spike to figure out a potential weakness in what our foe's been doing," Ember remarked, though she had to admit that it was a grand thought to have, as Gnasty Gnorc seemed to rely on that spell more than anything else at the moment, and with it having been recently used on Nestor and the other Leaders, wiping out the charge he had been preparing for them, it gave them the chance to fight back without having to worry about being trapped in crystal like all of the other dragons they had freed.
"Well, you should be careful as you travel through this land," Nestor told them, as while he knew the siblings would do just that, if what he had seen with his own eyes and what he had heard from the other Leaders was to be believed, he just wanted to give them a little warning before he departed for somewhere else, where he could wait for the other Leaders when they were freed from their new prisons, "Gnasty Gnorc and his minions have been hard at work preparing for this invasion of his, and there's no telling what he's hiding in the realms that his forces are in, so I would advise being careful as you explore this land and take back anything that's been stolen, while also rescuing the other Leaders."
"Don't worry, we'll do what we've been doing and take down whatever Gnasty Gnorc has waiting for us," Spyro said, as he knew how he and his siblings would react to the enemies of the realms that were in front of them, especially the fact that they would claim everything that was stolen and free anyone that had been trapped in those crystalline prisons, so while he understood why Nestor would want to warn them he knew that it wasn't necessary at this point.
Nestor nodded his head in understanding and departed from the area that they were in, knowing that the three of them would be able to tackle whatever was in front of them, and the first thing Spyro, Spike, and Ember did was split up for a few moments to gather the bits of treasure that was scattered around the island that they were on. That involved breaking the three metallic chests and the three normal chests that were nearby, along with picking up the gems that were laying on the ground near the metallic dragon heads and the dock that Hak was waiting on, even though none of them were thinking of asking him to take them somewhere else, since they had finally reached their destination. By the time they were done collecting everything in the area Spike had the feeling that the rest of the gems were trapped behind the dragon heads, meaning that they could only be collected once they cleared out the only realm that they had access to at the moment, one that was called Gnorc Cove based on the sign that was near the portal, which appeared to be just a stone arch at the end of the tunnel. Once they confirmed that there was nothing left for them to grab, as Sparx, Talon, and Cinder kept pointing at the closed heads, to verify what they were thinking, the trio turned towards the portal that was nearby and headed for the first realm of this land, so they could see what sort of dangers were waiting for them.
As they appeared at the starting area for the realm the three of them discovered that the area seemed to look like a large dock of some kind, though for now they couldn't see much thanks to the large crates that were stacked up on their right side, so all they could do was jump over the small gap in front of them, to touch down on the walkway that would take them deeper into the area they were in, and see what was waiting for them. Standing at the end of the walkway that would allow them to see what the realm offered, even if it was a little short, was a Gnorc that was dressed up in a white apron of some kind and wore gloves over his hands, though what was interesting was that he picked up a metallic barrel that was to his right and rolled it down the walkway they were on, which would be replaced by another one after he waited for a few seconds. The siblings discovered that if one of them charged the barrel it wouldn't be destroyed, like the majority of the metallic items they had charged through in the past, rather it would hit the barrel somewhere else, and if it was the dockworker that was in front of them it would simply destroy the barrel he was in the process of picking up, so that allowed them to break his next attack and then flame him, to which they turned to the right so they could see what else this realm had.
Spike noticed, while Ember smashed a metallic chest that the dockworker had been guarding, that there were smaller Gnorcs, dressed up like the dockworker, with the exception of the yellow hardhat, in this realm as well, though they were carrying wrenches and happened to be standing on one of the metallic barrels. He then spotted that there was another metallic barrel that lined up perfectly with the engineer, as he decided to call them, to which he charged at the barrel and hit it, where he knocked it into the air and it sailed right into the engineer, taking both him and the other barrel out, which was very interesting and was something they would have to keep in mind while they explored this realm. Off in the distance, at the end of the path they were following, appeared to be a large ship of some kind, one that the dockworkers and the engineers were likely loading with whatever Gnasty Gnorc had made in preparation for his invasion of the Dragon Realm, but one thing they were sure of was that if they broke everything, in some manner, he would be unable to do that, which would surely tick him off even more than he already was. From there they turned to the right and found one of the dockworkers rolling more metallic barrels through the area, though this time, thanks to the larger area they were in, it was rather easy to avoid the barrels and flame him while he was distracted, though the fact that a gem replaced everyone that had been defeated told them that Gnasty Gnorc was keeping the original Gnorcs somewhere, no doubt making them work on something else, before they pushed that thought out of their minds and focused on what was in front of them.
They climbed on the smaller crates that the dockworker was guarding and found that there was actually a path they could follow, which was a little odd but they weren't going to question it at all, but they did stop to break the pair of normal chests that were on a level above them, before returning to the path and found a red barrel with "TNT" written on it's side, to which Spike had his siblings stand back as he breathed fire on it, where they watched as it exploded a few seconds later and tore apart the locked chest that was near it, releasing the gems that were inside it.
"Explosive barrels, interesting." Spike commented, as this was something new that none of them had experienced in the past, which was good in his eyes, since it meant they needed to be more careful as they explored this realm and faced all of the dangers that were waiting for them, and he was sure that Spyro and Ember would be excited to face a new obstacle and the challenges it presented to them.
What was also slightly interesting was that the explosive barrel was replaced a few seconds after the first one was detonated, meaning that the plates they were resting on resisted the explosions that they let off, but instead of spending so much time focusing on the new type of barrel they had discovered the three of them glided over to the next part of the path, which was to their right, and kept moving. It wasn't hard to collect the gems that were in the way, but that was when they spotted a dockworker that was wearing a metallic apron, to protect himself while he worked with the explosive barrel that was in his hands, though it took the siblings a few seconds to determine that such a thing was a bad idea. The reason for that thought was because there was a metallic barrel nearby and, if they lined up their attack perfectly, it would wreck both the explosive barrel and the dockworker's armor, to which Spyro charged into the metallic barrel and sent it flying at their foe, watching as it detonated the explosive barrel in seconds, and, at the same time, it did tear the dockworker's armor to pieces, revealing his bare chest to them. That, of course, was followed by Ember flaming him, allowing her to drop another foe as they advanced into the next part of the docks that happened to be in front of them, though Spike made sure to pick up the nearby gems before they glided over to the next area.
The siblings landed in the next area and avoided the explosive barrels that were being rolled in their direction, though that allowed Spike to set one of them, which was resting near a dockworker, on fire, which took out the foe that was in their way as they explored the area around them. They also discovered that there was another armored dockworker off on the right, holding an explosive barrel in his hands, so Ember just flamed the barrel and watched as it explored, tearing the armor apart in the process, which allowed her to flame him down as she and her siblings continued to explore the area they were in. Interestingly enough there didn't appear to be any scattered gems in this area, which was odd when they considered the previous realms they had taken on, but they did find a ramp with a dockworker rolling explosive barrels down the path that they would have to take, so all they did was time their jumps and made sure not to touch the explosive barrels that were coming their way. Spyro, the first one to reach the end, targeted the dockworker the moment he reached the top of the ramp, taking him out and allowing Spike and Ember, who were close to the end, to not have to worry about more barrels coming their way, before they explored the rest of the area they were in, since they wanted to make sure they got everything before heading into the ship that the path was leading them to. There were a few gems behind where the dockworker had been standing, a pair of metallic chests to their left, and three normal chests that were near where the next trapped dragon was resting, which only made them wonder who they would be freeing this time, since they knew it had to be one of the other Leaders, based on what Nestor told them.
Once all the gems had been collected, and the chests had been broken, the trio tapped the statue and watched as it broke apart like all of the other ones they had seen in the past, when they had freed the other dragons in the other lands, and found that Lateef was the one who had been left here by the Gnorcs.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, keep up the good work," Lateef said, though while he was happy that the three of them were doing such a good job, taking out their enemies and recovering everything that had been stolen, his tone did reveal that he didn't like the fact that he and the other Leaders had been imprisoned a second time by their foe, "I suspect that Gnasty Gnorc is getting worried about the three of you."
"He should be, given what we've done to his commanders and the forces he sent to the other lands," Spyro replied, because at this point he was sure that he and his siblings would be able to take on whatever Gnasty Gnorc had in store for them, allowing them to put an end to their adventure while stopping whatever plans their foe had, even if they had to fight their way to where Gnasty Gnorc was waiting for them.
Lateef nodded, showing that he agreed with the trio this time around, before spreading his wings and taking off so he could leave this realm, where the siblings jumped over the gaps in the path and headed towards the ship's opening, but not before stopping nearby to hit a barrel into a locked chest and claim the gems that were trapped inside it. When they entered the ship at long last they found three metallic chests and a barrel waiting for them, along with a dockworker that was wearing armor and was carrying an explosive barrel, so the answer was pretty straightforward for them, as all they did was knock the barrel into the air and break the dockworker's armor, before flaming him down and moving towards the other part of the ship, which turned out to be the backside. It appeared that they could jump over to a tunnel that would allow them to move another part of the docks, so they smashed the pair of chests that were near them and then jumped into the tunnel area, where they avoided the rolling barrels, normal barrels this time around, and took in what was standing in their way this time around. There was a dockworker rolling the barrels down the tunnel they were in and an engineer that was standing on an explosive barrel, so all they did was blow up the barrel, knocking out the engineer, and then flamed the dockworker that was behind him, where they ignored the explosive barrel that came out of the storage area and smashed the normal chests that were on their right, but that left a locked chest unable to be opened, which annoyed Spyro a little.
Fortunately Spike had the answer, as it appeared that there was a barrel high enough that they could use it to smash open the chest, just like they had done before entering the first ship, so instead of just standing there, wasting time, he and his siblings glided over to the next part of the docks, which was broken up in such an odd manner. From there they followed the path that was in front of them, where they smashed the pair of normal chests to their right and then faced the walkway that would likely bring all of them to the top of the area, though before they could really walk down the path they had to charge a metallic barrel that slammed into an explosive barrel an engineer was standing on, which exploded and tore apart the explosive barrel the dockworker behind the engineer was holding, wrecking his armor and allowing them to flame him as they moved forward. From there they picked up the gems that were in front of them and then, after avoiding the barrels that were coming their way, jumped up onto the walkway the barrels were coming down, where Ember flamed the dockworker that was at the end of it, allowing her siblings to catch up as they turned their attention to what appeared to be the upper part of this area. That was when they smashed a few metallic chests and picked up the gems that were scattered around the area, before reaching the highest point and found the lone metallic barrel that Spike had noticed, which lined up perfectly with the locked chest, so Spike charged into it and they watched as the locked chest was smashed open, where he glided back down to where the now freed gems rested and quickly picked them up, before making his way back to where his siblings were waiting for him.
Once the three of them were back together they dropped down to the walkway that would allow them to access the back of another ship, picking up a pair of gems before entering the ship so they could see what was waiting for them this time around, where the first thing they noticed was a pair of gem chests, which they quickly smashed open. From there they found a dockworker rolling metallic barrels down towards them, so what Spyro did was charge into one and knocked it back to him, knocking him out in the process, which allowed him and his siblings to gather the gems he had been guarding and then turned towards the exit, where they discovered a line of three engineers that were standing on some metallic barrels, with an armored dockworker, holding an explosive barrel, at the end of the line, which proved to be rather easy to deal with since all they had to do was hit the first barrel and it took out the engineers in seconds. From there it was a simple matter to flame the dockworker and take him out, before they turned to the left and found three normal chests and another trapped dragon, where they quickly smashed the chests and then tapped the statue so they could free whoever had been trapped in this area.
Titan was the one that burst out of the crystalline statue a few seconds later, as they knew it was a Leader based on what Nestor had told them, which only informed them that Bruno and Cosmos were trapped in one of the other realms that were part of Gnasty Gnorc's land, though he stretched a little before focusing on them.
"Thanks for freeing me again," Titan stated, though while his tone revealed that he was happy that they had saved him from his new prison, they all knew that he was likely sore about being trapped again, especially since this time around he and the other Leaders had come here expecting a fight, only for Gnasty Gnorc to trap them all in those crystalline prisons again, like he was showing them that they weren't worth his time to actually fight.
"No problem, and don't worry about Gnasty Gnorc, we'll take care of him," Ember replied, as she understood what was bothering Titan and wanted him to know that he didn't have to feel so annoyed about what their foe had done, and it appeared that he actually understood what she had told him.
Titan nodded and departed from the area, just like the other Leaders they had saved so far, allowing the trio to focus on what was in front of them this time, which turned out to be four engineers that actually had some space between them, so charging into their barrels would only serve to take each one out, instead of taking all of them out with a single attack. The siblings were actually fine with this, as it allowed all three of them to take a turn hitting the engineers as they followed the path that was in front of them, even though Spike, who was the last one to hit a barrel, did so in a way that actually allowed him to use the third barrel to hit the fourth guy, which was when the siblings turned their attention to the circular area that was in front of them, even though they had to glide over to the starting point of the area. This time around they found four engineers standing on explosive barrels, in a line to be exact, so all they had to do was flame the first one and the entire line was taken out, allowing them to access the lower part of this area, which appeared to have a pair of paths for them to choose from and had a pair of dockworkers waiting at the bottom. Both of the dockworkers seemed to be wearing armor and were holding a metallic barrel in their hands, but that was when the siblings spotted a metallic barrel in the middle of the room that they could charge into, allowing them to smash the barrels and armor of the two foes that were blocking one of the tunnels, before they flamed them and moved on to see what they had been guarding.
As it turned out all they were guarding was a dead end, which had three metallic chests lining the way and a few gems resting near the end, where a key happened to be resting, so it didn't take them long to gather everything that was in the tunnel before they returned to the central part of this underground area, which was when they discovered a third tunnel that was under the stairs they used to get down here, hidden from sight for a few moments. Something told all three of them that the third tunnel was the one that would lead them right to the exit portal, so instead of heading down that one they turned towards the one that was to the left of the one they had been in, if they were looking at the entrance like the pair of dockworkers were still there, but the first thing Spyro did was use the newest metallic barrel to open the locked chest that was nearby, as it had no slot for a key and this was the only way to open it. Once that was done they picked up the gems and headed into the tunnel that was near where the chest had been resting, where they found a fireworks box in front of them, though to their right, standing at the end of the tunnel, were two dockworkers that were rolling barrels down towards them, one using metallic barrels and the other using explosive barrels, but fortunately those attacks were stopped by barrels that were standing upright and were being replaced each time one of them broke. Spike really had no idea why Gnasty Gnorc had allowed this to be designed this way, as it's purpose almost seemed to be wasting resources for no good reason, but, at the same time, neither Spyro or Ember were going to complain as they dodged the incoming barrels and then flamed their respective targets.
That allowed Spike to catch up with them, where they found that this was a dead end as well and just so happened to be where the chest that the key went to was located, so it wasn't long before they had the gems that had been trapped inside it and made sure to break the fireworks box for it's gems, before heading towards the final tunnel that had to connect with the area the exit portal was in. As they followed the final tunnel they found a few metallic chests lining the way, which they smashed, and then came to a point where a dockworker, wearing armor and carrying an explosive barrel, was standing at the edge of the next part of the walkway they had to walk on, but fortunately for them there happened to be a metallic barrel at the end of the section they were on. That allowed them to break the explosive barrel and the armor their foe was wearing at the same time, and the barrel that replaced it took out the dockworker with ease, allowing the siblings to glide over to where he had been standing so they could look for the missing bits of treasure and make their way to the exit portal. As it turned out the section the lone dockworker had been on was very short, as the siblings reached the end within a few seconds, but there were a pair of gem chests to their right, which they broke, and another gap in front of them, this time with two dockworkers, armed exactly like the one they had taken out, blocking the way this time around, and it came complete with a metallic barrel to their left. It was rather easy for them to take out the two dockworkers, since they were just like the previous one they had taken out, and glided over to the area they were guarding, allowing them to pick up a few gems before using the whirlwind they had been protecting, which took them up to the next level of the area they were in, which happened to be a walkway connected to the exit portal.
As soon as they landed they picked up the gem that was in front of them, the last according to their dragonflies, to which they jumped into the exit portal and headed off for the Gnorc Gnexus, as they were eager to see what sort of dangers and challenges the next realm had for them, before they faced off against Gnasty Gnorc himself.