//------------------------------//
// Dragon: End of an Adventure 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Spyro, Spike, and Ember were incredibly happy with themselves as they used the exit portal to return to the Gnorc Gnexus so they could head back to their home land, as they had done everything they had set out to do when the dragons were first trapped in those crystalline statues. All of the dragons had been freed from their prisons, by them and the other dragons they had freed, all of the twelve stolen dragon eggs had been recovered from the thieves that had stolen them, and Spike was sure that, unless his calculations were wrong, that they had recovered all the treasure that had been in the Dragon Realms before the big interview. That meant they had recovered twelve thousand pieces of treasure, just like Astor had told Bob and the rest of his crew when they came and asked them questions, meaning that things could finally return to normal now that Gnasty Gnorc had been defeated and had been given a piece of his own medicine. Of course, at the same time, the three of them were interested in seeing if the final dragon head was open so they could see what the final realm of this land was, though if it was just there for decoration, and didn't serve any purpose, they would be fine with it, which was why they were looking forward to returning to the Gnorc Gnexus, to see what had happened to the dragon head.

When they finally emerged from the portal to the area that Gnasty Gnorc had been waiting in they found two things, the first being that the dragon head with the green lights was still locked, though what commanded their attention was the fact that the five Leaders were waiting for them to emerge from the portal, and there was a new statue where Nestor had been when they reached this land.

"Nestor, what are you guys still doing here?" Spyro asked, because while he and his siblings were happy to see the Leaders again, after all of them had wished them well after being freed for the second time, he was surprised to see that none of them had left the land that their foe had called home, meaning they must have been waiting near one of the few lighthouses that were around this small island, "And whose trapped in that statue?"

"We had faith that you would succeed in stopping Gnasty Gnorc and were waiting to congratulate you on a job well done, once you three came out of the portal anyway." Nestor replied, where he and the other Leaders smiled and nodded their heads, indicating that they were quite pleased with what the trio had done since all the other dragons had been hit by Gnasty Gnorc's spell, as well as indicating that the real celebration would take place elsewhere, before he glanced at the statue for a few seconds, "As to whose trapped in this statue, we have no idea. We told the other dragons of the lands we watch over to continue freeing the other dragons and make sure the realms are safe, before the five of us came here alone, to face our foe together, and you know how that action turned out since you had to free us all a second time... so we have no idea whose inside this statue."

"Well, only one way to find out." Spike stated, to which he approached the statue and tapped on it, just like he and his siblings had done during their adventure, and watched as the prison shattered before their eyes, which was when all of them found that Magnus had been trapped inside the statue, who stretched his wings and slapped his belly a few times, much like he did when they first freed him, before he stood straight up and focused on what was around him.

"Magnus? What are you doing here?" Ember asked, because she knew that all of the other dragons had been told to restore order to their realms, based on what the Leaders told them anyway, so she was curious as to why one of Titan's fellow Peace Keepers would have come here, to face Gnasty Gnorc she assumed, instead of focusing on what his Leader had told him earlier.

"I came to help Titan and the other Leaders in the battle against Gnasty Gnorc, even if all of them had no idea that I was following them since they left their homeworlds," Magnus replied, though at the same time he knew that Titan was going to talk with him when they returned to the land they called home once this was over, hence the reason he took a moment to rub the back of his head, before he seemed to think about something, "Say, what happened to Gnasty Gnorc anyway, since I'm assuming you three beat him?"

"We chased him around the realm he was hiding in, surprised him with a new trick that Spike and Ember discovered in the realm that Revilo and Unika call home, and then used his own spell against him." Spyro stated, to which he noticed that a few of the Leaders, Cosmos and Lateef to be exact, were interested in what sort of trick the pair had learned, while all of them were interested in the last part of his statement, to which he smiled for a moment as he got ready to tell them what he and his siblings had done, "Spike managed to predict that Gnasty Gnorc was going to use that crystallization spell on us, to trap us in statues as well, so he cast his Reflection spell, creating a new barrier in front of us, allowing him to catch the blast before it could hit us and let us send it right back at him, trapping our foe in the same type of statue that all of you had been trapped in after he cast the spell the first time."

"That is a good use of the Reflection spell, and good thinking on Spike's part," Cosmos said, his tone showing them that he was quite pleased with the progress that Spike had made in his studies of the various magic spells that he and the other dragons had access to, while at the same time showing that he was interested in seeing just now skilled Spike was at some point in the future.

"If you think that's good, you should hear what he did in his battle against Blowhard," Ember remarked, as that was an impressive battle, especially with the type of spell that Spike had used and the plan he had used against his foe, and she was interested in seeing how the other Magic Crafters reacted to what she was talking about, before she remembered that Spyro hadn't revealed what their new trick actually was, "besides, the trick Spike and I learned is that we're apparently immune to lava, as we were able to swim through the lava that Gnasty Gnorc jumped over, though while my bracers seem to be just fine when i do that Spike took off his satchel, and his new hat, to avoid torching his stuff."

"You and Spike... are immune to LAVA?!" Titan exclaimed, because while he was happy that Gnasty Gnorc had been bested by the three young dragons, and released all of the homeworlds from his iron grasp, the fact that two of them were immune to lava was something that none of them were expecting, as his jaw had dropped and he was sure that the same was true for the other Leaders.

"Yeah, we figured that out before freeing the land of the Dream Weavers from Gnasty Gnorc's commander, and we know that Spyro doesn't have that immunity due to him testing his luck," Spike replied, though he had known that telling the Leaders would have this sort of reaction, as all of them were utterly shocked by the news they had given them, before he noticed that the final dragon head had opened after they freed Magnus from his new prison, "Well I'll be, that metallic dragon head must have been tied to all the dragons and everything that Gnasty Gnorc had stolen from the Dragon Realms, meaning that recovering everything, all the treasure, all the gems, and freeing all the dragons, must have broken whatever binding our foe put on that dragon head, allowing it to open and reveal what the final realm of this land is, even if it's possible that nothing is in there."

"Well, I think it's best that we return to our lands and tell the other dragons the good news," Nestor said, though at this point he was sure that nothing else would be able to surprise him, as the trio had gone a great number of things that were either hard to do when they're young or were just out right impossible, like the lava immunity, so whatever they did in the future would be tame in comparison to what he and the other Leaders just learned from the trio, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter.

"Wait, before you go, can some of you head into Gnasty Gnorc's realm and pick up his scepter?" Spike asked, which caused his siblings to glance at him for a moment, while at the same time causing the Leaders and Magnus to stop before they opened their wings, as while he was sure he could move it with his Teleportation Breath he really wanted to see what was inside the other realm they had opened up, so he thought that maybe Titan and Magnus could carry the item in question back to one of their lands, "I would like to study it with the other scholars, to see if it's referenced in any of our tomes or scrolls, and with some of the Magic Crafters, to study the spell that Gnasty Gnorc was using, to add it to the list of spells a dragon can learn, if we're able to replicate it anyway."

Nestor chuckled for a moment, because he should have known that Spike would be interested in the weapon of their foe and the power it held, and he could tell that Cosmos agreed with the idea, to which he nodded his head and both Titan and Magnus headed into the portal the trio had come out of, to find the scepter in question. Spyro, Spike, and Ember stood near the remaining Leaders for a few minutes, allowing them to get a few moments of rest before they headed into whatever the final realm had for them to face, while at the same time this would allow Spike to tell Titan and Magnus if they had picked up the right scepter, even if it was the only weapon in that realm. Fortunately it didn't take long for the two dragons in question to walk out of the portal, carrying the scepter Gnasty Gnorc had been wielding, though the real interesting thing, that Spike and his siblings weren't expecting, was that it had shrunk since the last time they had seen it, since Titan held it in his free hand. Cosmos, seeing the look on Spike's face, quickly explained that some scepters were enchanted to grow or shrink in response to the being that was using it, so since their foe was such a big person it had enlarged to fit the size of his body, to make him truly menacing, and he was happy to see that Spike understood what he was talking about, while Spyro was a little lost and Ember seemed to get what he had said.

Spike informed his siblings that he would tell them what Cosmos has said later, once they were done clearing out the final realm, to which they bid the Leaders and Magnus farewell, allowing them to watch as the six dragons took off and headed back in the direction of the lands they called home, before they turned around and headed through the portal that had been revealed to them, so they could see what was on the other side.

When they finally arrived at the starting area for whatever realm they had been heading to Spyro, Spike, and Ember paused for a few seconds and took in the area around them, as they happened to be standing on a decent sized platform that was separated from the rest of the realm by a channel of some kind. From what they could tell the realm itself was made from a number of buildings that were related to what Gnasty Gnorc had been doing, meaning they were factories or something like that, and were combined with small castle like areas, like their foe had built this area to mimic the places that the dragons lived in, to the best of his ability anyway. One thing they could see, not counting the fact that this realm had been built with mountains on all sides of it, was that there appeared to be a large number of chests scattered around the area, meaning this could be a treasury of some kind, where their foe had stored all the personal loot he had found since taking over this land, or at least that was what the siblings assumed from a glance. The sky was also a shade of green that was linked to the factories that were still operational, either meaning that some of the Gnorcs, those that weren't created from gems, were still working despite their boss being beaten or they were designed to function until they ran out of whatever was powering them, but it wasn't toxic and they could breath just fine, and there wasn't a horrible smell in the air, which was interesting as well.

"So, Gnasty Gnorc had his own treasury," Spyro commented, as this wasn't what he and his siblings were expecting when they decided to enter this realm and see what was waiting for them on the other side, but even as he thought about that he noticed that there wasn't much they could do besides stand at the starting area, since it seemed next to impossible to glide over to the area that was in front of him, "Spike, do you have any ideas on how we're supposed to get across this channel so we can investigate the rest of the realm?"

"I think the answer is simple, we fly." Spike replied, to which he ran off the platform they were standing on and spread his wings, where Spyro and Ember watched as he started to fly before their eyes, revealing that this realm was actually a Flight Realm, one that none of them had known about, especially since the others were easy to find, before Spike noticed that he couldn't go passed a certain point, meaning they could only fly so high, "Well, having a height limit in a Flight Realm is a little annoying, but it makes me wonder if there's a way to make it so we can explore the entire area..."

"Given what you've done in the past, I'm sure such a thing is possible," Ember remarked, as she was sure that if Spike felt there might be a way for them to increase the height limit, so they could fly even higher in this realm, than that meant there was likely something they needed to do to make that happen, though even as she said that both she and Spyro took off as well, so they could see what else was in this realm with their own eyes.

As they flew around the area the siblings discovered that they really couldn't fly very high, not even so they could get above some of the large platforms that were in this area, forming different levels that likely indicated how high they could fly if they figured out what sort of magic was keeping them bound to this height. What they soon discovered was that they weren't alone in this realm, as there was a purple robed thief standing on the platform in front of them and it appeared that he was holding a key in one of his hands, causing the siblings to land for a moment as Spike looked around the area once more. It was in that moment that he found something he had missed, that being a number of locked doors that looked like the ones from when they faced Gnasty Gnorc, each higher than the one before it, making him wonder if they were what he and his siblings needed to open, in order to give them the ability to fly even higher in this realm. Since it appeared that it was the only thing they had to go on, as it didn't seem like there was anything else that might tell them what they could do, Spyro and Ember decided to agree with him and proceeded to chase after the thief, who smiled and ran from them as he wrapped around the structure that he had been standing near, all while ignoring the four gems that were on the ground so the siblings could pick them up. In the end it was rather easy for them to corner the thief and then flame him, as Ember fell back and forced the thief to stop when she appeared in front of him, allowing her brothers to hit him from behind so they could claim his key.

Once that was done they explored the rest of the area that was available to them, smashing two purple gem chests that were near where the thief had been running, as well as a pair of wooden chests and a metallic chest, before heading to where the first locked door was located and picked up the five gems near it and crushed the pair of gem chests to the side, only to head to the next platform that was in front of them and repeated the process on three more of Gnasty's favorite gem chests, only to head back to the locked door at last.

Spike wasted no time in slipping the key into the lock, allowing him to open the door and reveal a small set of stairs, which was accompanied by a pair of normal chests, to which he and his siblings broke apart the chests and claimed the gems that were inside them, before climbing up the stairs so they could reach the next platform, where the second locked door rested. In that moment Spyro decided to see if Spike's theory about the height was true and jumped off the edge of the platform without being told what to do, only to find that he was able to fly higher than he was able to when the first door was locked, causing Spike to jump for joy for a few seconds, before he and Ember took to the air once more. From there they flew back to where the purple thief had been running around and found a few more metallic chests to smash, which Ember did so, before discovering a flat area with some grass that a second purple thief called home, though all three of them could tell he had been waiting for them and was ready to run around the area until they hit him. Spyro and Spike were more than happy to engage in some light running with the thief, since it allowed them to circle around the area they were in and let their dragonflies pick up the gems that were scattered on the ground, before they eventually stopped when the thief was back in the position he had been in when they arrived in this area. It was in that moment that Ember flamed one of the circular metal chests three times, from behind the chest, and blew the lid right off it, where she and her siblings watched as it flew through the air and hit the thief in the head, knocking him to the ground in the process and caused him to drop the key he had been holding onto.

As soon as the second thief was taken care of the siblings smashed through three more wooden chests and one more circular metal chest, though once all those gems were freed and added to their collection the three of them took off and returned to the second locked door. It didn't take them long to get back to the door and open it, though as they did so a blue thief in a flying vehicle, which Spike knew to be an plane since it looked like the various planes they had taken down in all of the previous Flight Realms, flew above their heads and started to fly around the realm they were in, making sure to fly at a height that was higher than where the second thief had been positioned. Spyro, now understanding this Flight Realm better thanks to what Spike had proved, knew that all they had to do was go through the tunnel they had opened, as well as climb the stairs that were inside it, to reach the next platform that was at the end of it, which was both higher than the previous one and had a few gems for them to pick up along the way. From there he and his siblings took off and flew after the thief that was inside the plane, knowing that he had to be carrying the key to the next locked door, which just so happened to be on a platform that was above where the starting area for the realm was located. What the siblings soon discovered was that this particular thief wasn't very good at flying his plane, as he was rather slow and seemed to be focused on a single building, instead of flying faster and circling around more of the structures, so that allowed them to catch up with him and blow the plane apart, dropping the thief to the ground while they collected the key, where Spike watched as the thief disappeared like the rest of his kind, showing off the magic he and his fellow thieves possessed, only to head over to where the next locked door was located.

Once the siblings landed on the platform, and found a locked chest nearby, Spike quickly unlocked the door and they headed into the tunnel, finding a number of gems laying on the upper level, while off to their left a thief took off in another plane, showing that they would have to follow him and figure out his route, before taking him out for the key he possessed so they could access the locked door that was at one of the ends of the tunnel they had been in.

This time around the thief seemed to be flying through the mountain that was behind the starting area for this realm, which was when the siblings discovered that the channel contained a circular lava river that went through the mountain, only to be interrupted by a body of water that filled the area in front of the platform they appeared on. The first thing the siblings did was follow the thief and his plane for a time, finding that he did loop around the inside of the mountain, which also allowed them to see the various pipes that Gnasty Gnorc had installed in the area as they followed their target, but the moment they emerged from the mountain Ember turned around and flew back into the mountain, following the path they had just finished. Their method of dividing and conquering, which had only begun to use in the lands they were familiar with, allowing them to attack the plane from both sides and surprise the thief, so much so that he must have used his magic to flee the moment he realized he was screwed, which also let them take his key before it fell into the lava and fly back up to where the next locked door was located. As it turned out the locked door lead them to a dead end that had a single gem, but, at the same time, Spike realized what it meant, as they were likely at the highest point they were allowed to fly at and they could reach any point that they wanted to, which was why he and his siblings headed outside and took to the air once more, this time flying higher than what they could over the course of following the path of the locked doors and the thieves that had the keys.

From there the siblings flew all over the buildings, finding a few fireworks on them that went around the area and blew apart the locked chests that the rest of the gems were trapped in, though once all of the gems had been picked up they headed for the exit portal, at the highest point of the realm, and found another tunnel... one that, upon investigation, brought them to a room with a number of odd posters, a picture of Gnasty Gnorc, a bunch of letters, and a number of fireworks boxes, which they blew up and collected the freed gems.

"It seems that Gnasty Gnorc liked his motivational posters, which he likely created to help him succeed in his quest to take over the Dragon Realms," Spyro commented, though while there were a fair number of them scattered around the room he did find out that many were duplicates of ones that he had already seen, but he could tell that Spike was focused on something else and Ember really didn't seemed to care about the posters all that much, "but, from what I can tell, this was where Gnasty Gnorc lived until that broadcast happened."

"Well, he got a taste of his own medicine, that's for sure." Ember remarked, though as she said that she found that one of the posters was related to practice and that it wasn't about being the best at something, rather it was about totally destroying everyone else, which made her think their foe had forgotten what these posters said when they arrived and that he decided to go with a completely different plan.

"It looks like he was hoarding two thousand gems in this area, making fourteen thousand total bits of treasure in all the lands of the Dragon Realms," Spike stated, showing that what Astor had said when the interview happened was correct and that it wasn't a sign of old age, even though the dragon in question was getting pretty old, before he glanced at his siblings, as it didn't appear that there was anything else for them to do now, "I think it's time we head back home, take in the fact that we just saved the Dragon Realms from Gnasty Gnorc, and then relax before we do anything else... though I think Nestor might have a surprise for us when we return to our homeworld."

Spyro and Ember, finding that they agreed with Spike, headed for the exit portal they had walked by and returned to the Gnorc Gnexus, where they quickly made their way over to where Hak was waiting for them, who understood that they wanted to head home and let them climb into the basket of his hot air balloon, before doing so as well and took off so he take them back to the land of the Artisans dragons.





By the time Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the homeworld that they called home, and where they had spent a great deal of time learning all the skills they used against Gnasty Gnorc's forces, it was well into the evening and all three of them knew that it would be night in no time. For the most part they had spent the journey resting and recovering from the last part of their adventure, so they could be ready for when the hot air balloon reached the dock, though once Hak came to a stop at their destination, and landed on the dock, the siblings climbed out of the basket and stretched both their legs and their wings, though all of them were eager to get a good night's sleep when it came time to go to sleep. Based on the lack of noise they had to assume that the rest of the Artisans dragons were likely getting dinner ready before they relaxed a little and then went to sleep, to which the siblings walked up the tunnel that would take them back to the area they had started their adventure in. They were happy to be back home, even though they were happier to have helped the Dragon Realms and save everyone from their foe's plans, and they knew that this adventure would be one the other dragons talked about for years to come, especially since Spike had made sure to write down the last bits of their adventure before they neared the land they called home.

When they finally reached the area in front of the large wooden door, which lead to the area that contained the portal to Dragon Shores, the siblings came to a stop and took in the sights of their home once more, as it was great to be back and they were looking forward to telling everyone about their adventure.

"Surprise!" a number of voices shouted, to which Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced around them as an illusion spell faded away, one that reminded Spike of their first birthday, and found that all of the Artisans dragons, including all of the Leaders, were present in the area around them, as well as a number of tables filled with food and several cakes and party decorations that looked like this was a celebration for what they had done.

"Guys, you shouldn't have." Ember remarked, because while she knew all of the dragon clans were happy that they had been saved from the crystal prisons that Gnasty Gnorc trapped them in, and saved everything that had been stolen, she didn't think they needed to throw a party for them, or at least not as soon as they got home, since it would have been better for this to happen like tomorrow or something.

"Nonsense, you three saved the Dragon Realms and you deserve something for your efforts, and the least we could do is throw a party in celebration of what you did." Nestor replied, as he knew that Spyro would love to have a party after all the hard work they had put into saving the homeworlds that they called home, and Spike likely shared that thought to some level, while Ember felt it wasn't necessary, but they had planned on thanking the trio as soon as they got back and now was the time to do so, "though Bob and his crew are still around, so you'll likely be approached by them at some point during the party, just to ask a few questions before they get on their way."

That piece of information caught the siblings by surprise, as they had thought that Bob and his crew would have left the moment all the dragons were sealed inside those crystalline statues, but now it appeared that they must have been following someone and got some information on what was going on, so whoever was watching their program would be able to understand what was going on with the Dragon Realms. It also meant that they would have to take some time to answer a few questions before the day was over, though for right now they listened to their stomachs and joined the dragons that had gathered here, so they could celebrate with them, stuff themselves with Alvar's cooking, and maybe tell bits and pieces of their adventure to the dragons that had gathered to celebrate what they had done. Due to their eagerness to stop Gnasty Gnorc and restore order to the Dragon Realms none of them really had anything to eat since they left their home earlier, so they could head to the land of the Peace Keepers, so they were definitely hungry, but that only made the other dragons laugh and cheer as they celebrated, while at the same time making sure to drink something every now and then so they didn't hurt themselves in their excitement. In fact one of the things that the siblings told the other dragons about were the commanders that Gnasty Gnorc had assigned to the homeworlds, mostly to leader his forces and stop the three of them in their tracks, and almost all of the Artisans dragons were shocked to hear that Toasty had betrayed them to join their foe, which made the scholars wonder about the other sheep, something that Spike shared and would be looking into at some point in the future.

After telling the Artisans dragons about what they had done with each of the commanders, impressing them when they mentioned how Ember had taken care of Doctor Shemp and what Spike had done to take down Blowhard, which they knew was going to really impress the Magic Crafters, they ended up moving the party to one of the other realms that the siblings hadn't been to. This one wasn't all that important to be perfectly honest, it was actually just a nice field with a few areas where Nestor and the rest of their clan just relaxed and played games, as Argus and Thomas determined it was time to show them a game called sheepball, though from what they learned, from hearing about Toasty, they were going to need some new items to play the game with and potentially rename it, to make sure the same thing didn't happen again in the future, but for now the siblings watched as the sheep that were involved in the game smiled, as if they liked being bounced against the ground and thrown through the air. While they were doing that, and some of the other Artisans joined them while some sat off to the side to watch, Cosmos separated himself from the group so he could take a few moments and personally study the scepter that Gnasty Gnorc had been using, as it was a fascinating item and he knew there were others that would want to study it as well.

This also served as the best opportunity for Bob to approach the siblings and ask them a few questions, where they turned away from the game of sheepball that was happening, which Argus, despite being a scholar, was winning at the moment, and focused on the crew that had been talking to Astor earlier.

"Spyro, Spike, and Ember, you three have defeated G-nasty G-norc," Bob said, once more saying Gnasty's name in a weird way, not that any of them really cared to correct him at this point, since no one else could really tell the difference between how he said it and how someone else said it, "rescued all of the dragon eggs that had been stolen, saved all the dragons from being trapped in those crystal statues, and recovered every bit of treasure in the Dragon Realms. How are the three of you feeling after such an adventure?"

"Well, I can't speak for Spike and Ember, but I'm certainly fired up!" Spyro replied, because while he was annoyed that all of the dragons had been sealed away in those crystal statues, and both their eggs and their treasure had been stolen from them, he had to admit that the adventure had been an exciting one and that he wouldn't mind going on another one at some point in the future, hopefully without the fate of the Dragon Realms being at stake, "Though all three of us are happy that we were able to restore the Dragon Realms to the state they had been in, before Gnasty Gnorc cast that spell of his and put his plans into action. And you know what, despite his misguided nature and the weird minions that he sent to stop us, I felt that he was a worthy adversary."

"Um, what's a minion?" Bob asked, as while he followed most of what Spyro said, which was good for the viewers since they would be able to do the same thing, he wasn't so sure about that one word and feared that he would have to answer questions about it later on.

"It's just a fancier word for the forces that helped Gnasty Gnorc, hired or otherwise." Spike answered, as he knew that some of the viewers might not know what the word meant, just like Bob didn't know what the word meant and had a look of confusion on his face, so that was why he was answering the question, before someone got upset.

That answer seemed to satisfy Bob, which meant it would do the same for his viewers, but before he could ask the next question that he had, which was likely something that Ember was going to answer, a green light went off and both Argus and Thomas were trapped in a pair of crystalline statues once again, surprising the sheep that landed on the ground a few seconds later, as he expected to be caught by someone.

"Sorry, that's my bad," Cosmos said, where the siblings noticed a faint glow in the crystal of the scepter they had asked Titan and Magnus to bring back, meaning there must have been enough of Gnasty's magic inside it for one final spell, one that was much smaller than the other times he used it, and that meant that Cosmos had accidentally activated it, trapping both Argus and Thomas once more.

Spyro, Spike, and Ember chuckled as they moved to free the two dragons so they could return to the celebration, as no harm had been done and it was a scepter that none of them really understood all that well, so mistakes were bound to happen at some point, but for now they would make sure the scepter was kept safe and away from those that would misuse it, all while they would be looking forward to what the future held for them and the rest of the Dragon Realms.