It didn't take Spyro, Spike, and Ember long to get back to the portal that the Gemcutter had called up after giving them the Talisman to this realm, even if they stopped for a few seconds to stare at the ladder that none of them could climb up and the Powerup Gate that was at the top of it, just out of their reach at the moment, which eventually caused all of them to resume walking towards their destination. When they reached the chamber that the portal was located in they found no one standing near it, indicating that the Gemcutter had wandered off after they had helped him and the others out, to which they rushed through the portal and headed to Summer Forest at last, as one of the people that had called them to this land was waiting for them to arrive so they could focus on Ripto and whatever he was planning. When they came out of the other side of the portal, and were allowed to see what was going on, the siblings found that there were a number of oak trees around the area that the portal to Glimmer was located in, trees that had green leaves that moved in the wind, and that there was green grass all over the place, though that was before they spotted the elegant stone structure that was in front of where they were standing. There were also a small river that seemed to be running through the area they were in, heading to a small pond that was off on their left, which made them wonder what else they were going to find in this realm and see if there were any enemies that needed to be fought, just like their homeworlds after Gnasty Gnorc tried to stop them from freeing everything from his grasp.
Once they noticed all of that the siblings noticed that one of the people that had called them to this land was standing at the edge of the platform that the portal to Glimmer was located on, the same one that they happened to land on as they came out of the portal, and from what they could see the person was annoyed about something, which was likely linked to Ripto and not what Ember did to Moneybags earlier.
"Oh, hello again." the lady said, where the annoyed expression disappeared as she turned and looked at them with a smile on her face, indicating that she was happy to see them, especially since she figured that they were the key to taking out Ripto and stopping whatever he was planning, as the siblings were sure he was planning something, "With everything that was happening, after you guys came out of the Professor's portal, my friends and I really didn't have a chance to introduce ourselves. My name is Elora."
"It's nice to meet you, Elora. I'm Spyro, and these are my siblings, Spike and Ember." Spyro replied, though it was nice to know which of the three remaining people, as in the small mole, the cheetah, and the lady in front of them, was Elora, as the Gemcutters said her name like they knew who they were talking about and it was nice to finally link the name with who it belonged to, before he turned his head as he looked at Elora's hooves for a few seconds, "Anyway, what are you supposed to be? Some sort of goat creature or something?"
"I'm a fawn, you dork." Elora stated, though at the same time she bent over a bit, mostly so her head was lined up with Spyro's head for a moment, before she returned to standing upright, where the look on her face indicated that she wasn't annoyed with what Spyro had said, almost as if she was expecting none of them to know what she was and was fully prepared to inform them of what she was.
Before either Spyro or Elora said anything else Spike felt the urge to chuckle for a moment, as it wasn't every day that someone called his brother a dork in such an interesting way, while at the same time Ember rolled her eyes, as she didn't seem to care about the word at all and just wanted to focus on their new adventure, but she remained standing there as she waited for the conversation to be over.
"What's so funny?" Spyro asked, because he was sure that there was nothing funny about what had just happened to him, or at the very least that was his thoughts on the matter, though he did notice that Elora seemed happy about Spike chuckling, almost like this was a little reprieve from whatever had annoyed her before their arrival, so he guessed he could overlook his brother's actions for now.
"Nothing... other than you being called a dork." Spike replied, showing his brother what he found to be funny, even if Ember didn't share his point of view, but he, like Spyro, noticed that it made Elora temporarily forget what was going on in Summer Forest, something bad from what little they could see, and he was happy to do anything to take her mind off of whatever had been bothering her.
"Anyway, did you guys have a chance to meet the Gemcutters in Glimmer?" Elora asked, deciding to get back on topic, though her words indicted that the portal the one kangaroo rat had summoned, after giving them the Talisman, might have been accessible if there weren't any enemies around the chamber it rested in, but that didn't bother the siblings at all, since they were more than happy to help him and the rest of his clan out.
"We did, and they gave us something before we left their realm," Ember answered, as she had the feeling that the Talisman was important, based on what the guidebook did to it when the Gemcutter called it to them, and she knew that Elora would be amazed by what they had been given earlier, though at the same time Spike dug into his satchel so he could pull out the book in question, "they called it a Talisman."
"No way, they gave you their Talisman?!" Elora inquired, her face revealing that she was surprised by that piece of information, because while she had informed the Gemcutters that the siblings were on their side, to stop Ripto, what she wasn't expecting was for them to hand over the Talisman that was connected to their realm, before noticing what Spike was doing at the moment.
"Yeah, and I made sure to put it inside the guidebook," Spike replied, where he opened the book for a moment and showed Elora the page in question, so she could see that they were telling the truth about acquiring the Talisman, before he recalled something he had read, even if he hadn't had the time to read everything in the book, "the guidebook said something about them being important, but I haven't had the chance to actually read up on everything that's inside the book, so my knowledge is limited at the moment."
"I take it you're a scholar?" Elora inquired, because this wasn't something she was expecting, as the Professor's books said that dragons were mostly dangerous creatures that didn't have scholars, but, if Spike was one, than that meant there was so much more to dragons than what she and the others knew, only for Spike to nod his head to indicate that he was a scholar, before she thought about something, "Well, now that's interesting. Anyway, there are fourteen Talismans in all of Avalar, and all of them are magical in their own way, but if you and your siblings can collect enough of them we can use them to break into the castle and defeat Ripto!"
Before Spyro, Spike, or Ember could say anything to that, and confirm that it sounded like a great idea to check out the remaining realms that happened to be scattered throughout Avalar, to help them and recover their Talismans for the big battle with Ripto, the portal behind them shimmered and the cheetah came through it, only to stop and huff for a few seconds, like he had been running or something.
"Hunter, where have you been?" Elora asked, though this time her tone suggested that she wasn't happy with the cheetah that had been with her earlier, when the siblings had arrived in Avalar, and that caused the person in question to stand straight up again, showing the siblings that this must be a common occurrence between the two of them, to which they remained silent as they waited for them to wrap things up, "You were supposed to arrive in Summer Forest a few seconds after I did, not a few minutes."
"I, ugh..." the cheetah, Hunter, started to say, but as he did that he found four sets of eyes on him, instead of what he was used to feeling when this sort of thing happened to him, which eventually caused him to sigh as he readied himself for what he was about to say, especially since there was a chance that Elora would be angry with him and a chance that the dragons might laugh at him, "I got lost."
"Hunter... never mind, I'll talk with you later." Elora said, where she let out a sigh for a few seconds, indicating that she didn't want to deal with what Hunter was doing at the moment, as it seemed like the cheetah was the cause of a number of headaches for her, before she focused on the important piece of information she had gained, "Anyway, Spyro, Spike, and Ember are going to help us Ripto down and restore the peace that he's broken."
"We'll visit the other realms, fix whatever is going wrong, and gather the Talismans," Spyro remarked, because while he and his siblings hadn't actually told Elora that they would help her and the others take out Ripto and his two minions, since she and the others had run off without telling them anything, they were already committed to restoring the peace that had been broken, both to the realms and to Avalar as a whole.
Hunter looked like he wanted to object to that, like he was going to pretend that he was some sort of hero that could have saved the land a long time ago, but simply looking at the four people in front of him caused him to sigh as he ran off to see what had happened since he and Elora headed to Glimmer, causing Elora to excuse herself as well, leaving the siblings to do whatever they wanted as they explored Summer Forest. As such Spyro, Spike, and Ember walked forward and jumped off the platform they had appeared on earlier, where they spread out and looked around the area that they were in, finding a couple of gems that were scattered on the ground and on the steps leading into the building, including a few sheep wandering around the area and eating the grass, though there weren't any straw baskets, which made things easy on them. Once the area was cleared out they walked up the stairs and entered the first building they had seen, where they found that there was a large gap between the two halves of the walkway, as there was a walkway near the entrance that lead to Glimmer's portal and another walkway that would take them to the main part of this realm, with a thin shattered walkway resting between them, one that had once bridged the two sides together. As they walked into the large building they also picked up a few gems that were by the entrance, including smashing a straw basket as well, before they walked on the ruined bridge and gathered the couple of green gems that were on it, allowing them to glide down into the lower section of the building, where they found a small river, some frogs, and a number of gems that laid on the ground, as well on the steps leading back up to where they had been a few moments ago.
Once they had all the gems, and were back up near the entrance, they found that Hunter had stopped for a moment or two while Elora went ahead, but it appeared that he was more interested in informing them that Ripto had smashed the bridge at some point and that they would need to do more than jumping to get across the gap, to which the siblings glided over to the other side, showing Hunter that they knew what they were doing. As soon as the siblings landed the first thing they did was pick up the games that were in front of them and then walked through the building's second entrance, which allowed them to leave the building and see what else Summer Forest had for them, especially since there was a rather large and impressive circular castle in front of them, even though they would have to walk around it to find the entrance that would allow them to explore the interior. There were two things the siblings noticed right away, the first being that the banners that were resting on the side of the castle, of which there happened to be two of them, bared Ripto's likeness, as if he was saying that Summer Forest belonged to him now, and the other was that Moneybags was standing near the edge of the water, on a platform to be exact, either because he had been ejected from the castle by Ripto or this was where he had stopped when he noticed that the castle had been taken over. The first thing they did was split up and search the area for any gems that might be laying around, since they had every intention to return them to their rightful owners when this adventure was over, before discovering metallic vases were a thing and that they also contained gems, meaning all they had to do was charge through them and claim the gems inside them.
As the siblings did that they were able to determine where the first couple of realms were located, as there was one portal on a floating piece of ground in the middle of the lake that Moneybags was near and the other was on a platform that had a river of sorts wrapped around it, and spilled into the small lake, but eventually all the gems, baskets, and vases were taken care of, though as they approached Moneybags, to see what he wanted, Spike spotted some faint traces of magic on one of the hills near the castle, but said nothing as they came to a stop in front of the bear.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I wasn't expecting to see the three of you again, so soon after our last encounter," Moneybags remarked, his tone indicating that he wasn't about to forget what Ember had done to him in Glimmer and the fact that he couldn't get any of the gems they were carrying at the moment, though at the same time he considered something as the siblings stared at him, "Say, did you know that the only way inside Summer Forest's castle is to swim underwater and use the passage that leads inside? I could be persuaded to teach you the basics of such a technique, so you can go on your merry way and chase after Ripto, but I'm afraid that it'll cost you quite a bit of gems."
"Moneybags, we know that's a lie right off the bat, since there's no way Ripto could have gotten either of his minions into the castle if the only way in is underwater," Spike replied, showing his siblings that this had the potential to be another scam, just like the bridge Moneybags had been guarding earlier, even though he did know that such a skill would be very useful in the future, so he was slightly torn over this situation, before he headed over to one of the hills that rested near the edge of the castle, where he focused on the magic and tapped a stone, which expanded to reveal a passage that likely went into the structure that was in front of them, "of course using this passage isn't much better, since they're still taller than it, but there's another way to enter the castle, one that I'm sure you were aware of. So tell me, why should we trust that you'll teach us how to swim, when we clearly have another way to enter the building?"
"First a violent dragon who doesn't make idle threats, and then a dragon that can find hidden magical passageways that only Elora and a few others know about," Moneybags moaned, almost as if he now understood that it was going to be rather hard to convince the siblings to part with any of the gems they had been collecting so far, before he sighed and stared at them for a few moments, as there was one thing they did need to know, "Fine, you three win again. Yes, there's a secret passage that goes into the castle, I won't deny that now. However, you will need the ability to swim underwater in the future, as there are a few realms in Avalar that have areas that require such a skill, and there's even an entire realm that's underwater, so it would be best if you just handed over the gems so all of us could move on with our lives."
"And how do we know it's not the only useful skill you might have to offer us?" Spyro asked, because if the bear knew that some of the realms had underwater areas, and one was like that in it's entirety, than there was the possibility that there might be one or two more skills he might be able to offer them, so they could tackle everything and anything Ripto and his minions could throw at them in the future.
"Well, there is the wall climbing skill, but it's too soon for you to worry about that." Moneybags said, revealing that there was one other skill that they might be able to use in their fight against Ripto, especially since it sounded like a skill that would allow them to get up to the other Powerup Gate in Glimmer, the one they had left behind due to not having the skill to get up there, before he noticed that they were staring at him, "What?"
"Tell you what, Moneybags, we'll give you three hundred and fifty gems for the pair of skills." Ember stated, because it seemed like a pretty fair deal to her, they get a pair of skills that would allow them to help the denizens of the other realms and take out Ripto's minions, without having to visit a realm multiple times to get the job done, and Moneybags got a decent amount of gems for siding with them.
"You must think I'm an idiot if I accept that deal, because that's nowhere near enough to cover..." Moneybags started to say, though Ember glared at him for a moment and shifted into the stance she used to knock him onto the ground back in Glimmer, something she was more than willing to do if he kept fighting them, and he paused for a moment, as he was actually considering what he was being offered, before he let out a sigh, "Oh alright, three hundred and fifty gems will suffice for now... just hand them over so I can impart my knowledge onto you and get out of here."
Spike counted out the gems in question, finding that they had roughly four hundred before the trade, and made sure Moneybags had the amount that he agreed to accept, even if he hated himself for being intimidated by a dragon, though once the bear had his payment, stored inside his sack to be exact, he turned towards the siblings and told them what they needed to know to perform the two techniques. He explained how all creatures knew how to paddle when they got into the water, whether it was on their own or because someone forced them into that state, before informing them that they could pull themselves under the water and swim around by doing what they did on the surface, so padding underwater would allow them to swim at a normal speed. Of course if they were to charge underwater, something that Moneybags didn't seem entirely sure about, they might be able to move at incredible speeds and zip around the area that they were swimming in, just like what would happen if they did that on dry land, which interested the siblings and made them want to try it out, if only to make sure he wasn't lying to them. The other thing he taught them was the other skill, one that he couldn't actually demonstrate, was the climbing technique, where he revealed that if they saw a surface, like the one they were forced to ignore back in Glimmer, they could jump towards it and use their claws to grab onto the metal bars that made up the ladders, allowing them to ascend or descend as they wished, and that they could also jump to the side and latch onto another surface like that, if there was a second one there to be exact.
Once he was done informing them of what they needed to do, however, the siblings jumped into the water and found that they could paddle without any problems, another sign that the Water Safety spell was working, before Spike pulled himself under the water and found that he was able to breath with no problems, a positive side effect of the spell, and was followed by his siblings, to which they started testing out what they had been told, all while Moneybags sighed and walked away before they bothered him again. Spike was very happy with himself, as not only did they prove that Moneybags was trying to scam them again, by revealing the hidden entrance that would allow them to enter the castle without having to follow what the bear was saying, but they also got another skill at the same time, allowing them to head back to Glimmer and finish helping the Gemcutters. Of course the first thing they did was continue practicing the new skill, that way they would be ready for whatever the water realm had for them, and while they did that all three of them smashed the green vases that were underwater and collected all the gems that were at the bottom of the lake, before heading to the surface and got out near where Moneybags had been waiting for them when they first left the building. Spyro and Ember found that they weren't dripping wet at the moment, yet one more benefit from the spell Spike had cast on them some time ago, just like his satchel, and it's contents, weren't wrecked by the water and Spyro's scarf wasn't wet either, something that made them incredibly happy that Spike was so skilled with magic and the various types he could use.
With the skills under their belt, so to speak, the siblings started to head back to Glimmer, so they could finish helping the Gemcutters out, though before they could get too far they found Hunter waving at them from a set of platforms that reminded Spyro of the stones he used to perfect the hover technique, to which they shifted their course and headed over to where Hunter was standing, while picking up the gems he was standing near in the process.
"Hey guys, you look pretty agile, and I want to put it to the test." Hunter stated, showing the siblings that the gliding they had done a few minutes ago, inside the building with the ruined bridge, must have interested him to some degree, otherwise he would be off doing something else while they helped the people of Avalar through whatever problems they happened to be facing at the moment.
Spyro chuckled for a second as he accepted Hunter's challenge, as the first thing he wanted them to do was jump up onto the platform that was behind him, which was rather simple and straightforward, as he and his siblings could do this with their eyes closed and it didn't take them more than a second or two to get up to where Hunter moved to, as if he was following a path, one that Spyro was sure matched what he practiced on a earlier that year. The next thing Hunter wanted them to do was to glide over to the next structure that followed the path he wanted to test them on, to which the siblings followed after him and glided over to where he moved to, though at the same time they picked up all the gems that were along the way, just to make sure they got everything. That seemed to impress Hunter, even though he had already seen them do that earlier, and caused him to issue a challenge to all three of them, to get to the next structure he jumped to, as if he felt that none of them had anything left to offer, and jumped over to his next destination without delay, showing that his own skills were quite impressive, before he turned around and grinned at them, like he had won. It was in that instant that Spyro, Spike, and Ember glided over to where he was standing and used the hover technique to reach Hunter, much to his surprise, though that only made Spyro smile, as it was nice to see that creating the skill had been worthwhile, as he had the feeling they would be using it a lot more in Avalar.
Hunter had one final jump for them to do, one that required him to run across the tall structure they were on so he could leap over to his destination, and this time the smile stayed on his face, once more showing that he felt good, but that was followed by the siblings taking turns and gliding over to where he was standing, in combination with charging over the edge and using the hover technique to reach him.
"Wow, you guys are impressive. What's that third move called?" Hunter asked, as he was familiar with the jumping and gliding techniques, as they were the ones mentioned in the Professor's book, the one that told them about dragons and what they were capable of, and this was the first time he had seen whatever the move that followed the glide, so he was a little interested in it.
"That, Hunter, was the Hover technique, something I created and perfected earlier this year." Spyro remarked, though he was incredibly happy with himself, in both that his siblings were able to match his mastery of the technique and the fact that it caught their new friend off guard, meaning that anyone that knew anything about dragons, at least in Avalar, would be surprised when they saw it in action as well.
"Well, you passed the test with flying colors and then shattered it!" Hunter relied, to which he reached into the small sack he was carrying and pulled out an Orb, one of the items the siblings knew they had to collect, even if Elora hadn't told them that piece of information earlier, something that he held out for them to take and even had a smile on his face at the same time, "The Professor told me to hand over any Orbs that I find in the various realms, and I did spot this one up here while you guys were messing with Moneybags earlier, nice job on that by the way, so I was planning on handing it over, once I got a taste of your skills anyway."
The siblings felt that Hunter's reason was odd, that he was acting like it was more of a reward than simply being one of their allies and helping them out in their adventure, but none of them were going to complain about it as Spike made sure the Orb appeared in the guidebook, giving them three total at the moment, though once that was done he put it away and they glided down to the entrance of the first building, so they could return to Glimmer and finish helping the residents of that land out, now that they got the climbing ability. It didn't take them long to reach the portal in question and return to Glimmer, where the siblings reappeared in the same area they had appeared in when they were called to Avalar, not that they were expecting to walk out of the portal that took them to Summer Forest, as that portal was the same as the exit portals from the Dragon Realms, so it made sense that the realms here would have starting areas and exit portals as well. The good news was that all of the enemies they had taken out were still gone, which meant the Powerup Gates might still be active and would allow them to help the other Gemcutter with whatever his problem was, to which they started walking towards their destination, taking in the sights once more as they did so, as Glimmer was a nice realm to look at, and they even spotted a few Gemcutters working on one of the large gems they had walked by earlier.
It took them about five minutes to get back to where the metallic ladder was located, to which Spyro stepped forward and wrapped his front claws around one of the rode that rested between him and the upper level, before he did what they had been told and pulled himself up, where he actually climbed up the odd metallic ladder and reached the top in no time, something that caused both Spike and Ember to practice it as well, since they might as well get a little practice with the skill in, before they discovered a place where this was necessary to move forward. As his siblings were doing that he checked with the Gemcutter that had gotten up here, how he had no idea and even asked about that, who informed him that he had been in Ripto's way earlier, but, instead of outright hurting him and putting him in the hospital, the villain had one of his minions put him up here, meaning it was a good thing his scepter had been broken after their arrival. The Gemcutter also revealed that, since he was up here, he was trying to restore the gem lamps that were hanging from the ceiling, as they went out at the same time as the ones outside, and that this Superfly Powerup was supposed to be the only way for him to turn them back on, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to use it. Spike, who was listening to all this, suggested that there might be some sort of tool or set of tools the Gemcutters used to fix the gem lamps and that Ripto's arrival had something to do with them not being able to use those particular tools to the fullest, something that caused both Spyro and Ember to silent for a moment, as they were sure Spike was right.
A few moments later, once he and Ember were done with the ladder, Ember took off through the Powerup Gate and flew around the cavern they were in, where she breathed fire on the lamps in question, activating them like Spyro did with the ones that were outside, while at the same time Spike flew to the other side of the cavern and smashed the few straw baskets he spotted over there, allowing him to pick up a few more gems in the process, something that was repeated by their brother near the Powerup Gate, before all the lights shined on the central gem, showing that Ember was done.
"Wow, you guys work quick." the Gemcutter stated, as he was amazed by how well the siblings had worked together, even if one of them did the work and restored the lamps to their former glory, before he dug an Orb out of the sack that was near him, a sack that seemed to be filled with a couple of balls, "Here, I found this Orb stashed away with the stash of baseballs that we use from time to time, and I want you guys to have it for helping me out."
Spike made sure the Orb was placed in the guidebook with the others they had found so far, though he really liked the book and the spell that went into making it work this way, before noticing that the pages seemed to indicate that they had all the Orbs from this realm, or at least the major ones he guessed, and their dragonflies confirmed that there were no more lingering gems anywhere in Glimmer, to which the siblings glided back down to the bridge and headed for the portal so they could return to Summer Forest. The first thing the siblings did, upon returning to the area that Ripto was in control of at the moment, was head to the left and check out the small pool they had seen, where they dived into the water and found a number of green vases resting on the sides, as well as a few gems, before finding an underwater path for them to follow. They picked up the gems that were resting on the ground of the underwater path and quickly found a way up to the surface, which seemed to be a hidden area with a set of stone steps carved into a mountain, with gems resting on the steps, so the siblings ascended towards the top of the hidden area and found an opening that looked out over the area that Moneybags and Hunter had been in earlier, as well as an Orb resting near the edge, which Spike happily collected the moment they spotted it. Once that was done they glided down to where Moneybags had been standing earlier and landed on the platform, though before they did anything Spike separated from them and headed over to where the passageway he had revealed rested, one that he closed after tapping the stone again, as he was sure that Elora and Hunter were on the other side already, before he and his siblings jumped into the water and headed for the underwater entrance that Moneybags wanted them to use so badly.
It took them a minute, tops, to reach the other side and jump out of the water, where they found themselves in a small chamber that had some stairs that likely lead to the main part of the castle, along with some metallic vases that they smashed so they could free the gems inside them, only for the siblings to head up the stairs so they could explore the castle and see what this place had to throw in their way. In front of them rested a wooden gate, the thick type that would require a supercharge to take down, but fortunately for them there was a red button to their left and, when it was charged into or had them activate it in some way, the gate was waited before their eyes, as well as dropping another one that was across the small chamber that was behind the first wooden gate. As the siblings entered the small chamber Spyro broke the straw baskets and claimed the gems that were inside it, before Ember whacked the next button with her tail so she could raise the second wooden gate, one that revealed a decent sized area that had a large tree growing in the middle of it, along with two portals that went to two more realms that were connected to Avalar, a metallic ladder leading to the top of the room, and another set of wooden gates that had a button tied to them. The first thing they did was explore the area they were in, as in Spyro and Ember searched the area around the portals and gates for any loose gems, while Spike used the ladder to reach the thin walkway that wrapped around the upper part of the chamber, where he found a number of red gems and an Orb, which he happily collected before rejoining his siblings.
Instead of bashing the button and revealing the second path they could take, as they were sure there was a second direction they could head in, the siblings headed into the opened passageway that was through the wooden gate on the left of the button, where they found a set of stairs, with some gems resting on them, that happened to bring them to the second floor of the castle, which was where they found Elora staring at a portal that wasn't powered at all.
"Is this portal broken?" Spyro asked, because if it was one of the portals that lead to one of the realms they needed to visit, to recover the Talisman it's residents had so they could take down Ripto and his minions, than they were in a whole heap of trouble, as there was no way Spike would be able to get the portals of a foreign land fixed, even if he had the same knowledge that Nora did.
"No, it just powered down because our Orbs are scattered all over Avalar," Elora replied, showing the siblings that this sort of thing was common, when they relied on the various Orbs to get things done, before noticing that the magic of the portal shimmered to life before her very eyes, which put a smile on her face as she turned towards them, "but it seems that you've already collected enough to restore it to it's former glory, meaning that you can visit Ocean Speedway, as while there is no Talisman in there you can race around the area and explore it to your heart's content. Anyway, it's about time I checked out the dungeon, as I'm positive that Ripto and his minions are hiding down there, and I want to see if the way is open or if he sealed it behind him."
The siblings wished Elora luck in verifying where Ripto was hiding, though as she walked off they made sure to pick up all the gems that were around them, which wasn't a whole lot as they soon discovered, before noticing another button that went to the gate in the area they were in, but, when it was whacked, it raised the gate in front of them and, at the same time, lowered a second one, giving them a small chance to see an Orb at the end of the hallway. As it turned out the easy solution was right in front of them, as Spike had Spyro hit the button again, to return the gates to the positions that they were originally in, and then jumped onto the ledge that was nearby, one that allowed him to glide over to another ledge that was further down the hallway, even if it required him to use the hover skill to make it. From there he smashed the two metallic vases and then grabbed the Orb he and his siblings had seen, in the same manner as the other Orbs, only to jump back over to where Spyro and Ember were waiting, to which they headed down the stairs they had walked up a few moments ago and returned to the button in the chamber that the tree was in. From there Ember whacked the button and revealed the path to a circular wall, though they smashed a pair of metallic vases along the way and then broke apart all the straw baskets on the left side of the area that the second path had brought them to, but once that was done they came to a stop as they found a familiar face standing in front of the circular wall.
It appeared that Moneybags had another idea on how to get gems from them, they knew that without being talking to him and hearing what he had to say, but they seriously hoped that it was something worth stopping for, otherwise they were going to ignore him and move on with the rest of their exploration, as there was one more area they wanted to check out before tackling one of the other realms that was connected to this homeworld.
"Well hello again my friends. Do you see this wall that's right behind me?" Moneybags asked, though this time his tone sounded like something he would use on someone that wasn't observant enough to understand their surroundings and was easy to sucker into buying whatever he was selling, but, to humor him, the siblings just nodded their heads so he could move on and get to what he was trying to offer them, "Well, I bet all three of you are dying to see what's on the other side of the wall, but, since I am the only one that knows how to lower it, I could be persuaded to do so... if you pay me a small fee to remember what I need to do to lower it in the first place."
"There's a portal to one of the other realms behind the wall, isn't there?" Spike asked, because that seemed like the reasonable conclusion to come to, as the Speedway that Elora talked about sounded like the Flight Realms the three of them were familiar with, and since normal realms and flight type realms were the only ones in their home it was possible that the same could be true for Avalar.
"You are correct, so now you see why you should pay up." Moneybags stated, showing the siblings that he was more than willing to keep them from the realm that was on the other side of the wall, even though they needed to help whoever called that realm home at some point in time, before he held a hand out and shook the sack he was carrying, suggesting that they give him the gems he was asking for.
The siblings sighed for a moment, something that seemed to make Moneybags think they were giving up, though that was the wrong thought for him to have, as Ember approached him and jumped into the air, where she spun around and whacked him with her tail once more, this time in the opposite direction of the first time she did this, and knocked the bear to the ground, though this time around she grabbed the sack that was so important to him and hauled it over to her brothers, only to dump it out and let their dragonflies reclaim what they had given him earlier.
"Listen well, Moneybags," Ember said, where she waited until the bear was in a sitting position, rubbing the side of his face that had been whacked this time, before tossing the empty sack over to him, where he quickly grabbed it and opened it, only to find that there was nothing inside it, showing him that she and her brothers had taken back the gems that they had paid him earlier, leaving him with nothing at the moment, "We're here to stop Ripto and restore order to Avalar, and if you keep getting in our way like this, where you block off realms and try to sell us access to them, eventually we're going to stop seeing you as a minor annoyance and start seeing you as an accomplice to his crimes... and trust me on this, you don't want us to see you in that light."
"Noted." Moneybags mumbled, where he picked himself up, grabbed his now empty sack, and walked away from the area that they were in, though as he did that he waved his empty hand at the wall and it lowered into the ground, which revealed the last portal in the castle, before departing from the area entirely, leaving the siblings to their own devices and to help Elora out.
The siblings found that there was a small meadow behind the wall, with the portal in the middle of the area, but all they did was collect the gems that were laying on the ground and made sure the sheep were fine, before they headed down the last tunnel and found a large wooden door that seemed locked, where they broke some straw baskets and picked up the gems that were inside them, but once they did that, and they were sure Summer Forest was cleared at last, they headed back to the front of the castle, to head to a new realm and help the residents of that realm out.