Spyro, Spike, and Ember were able to quickly return to the castle of Autumn Plains and started to make their way down the passage so they could locate the final portal that they needed to head through, in terms of the realms that were available to them at the moment, as once they finished assisting the realm they were heading towards they would tackle the pair of Speedways that were in this homeworld, before facing their true foe. All three of them were eager for the battle that was ahead of them, since they would be facing Gulp so they could get to Ripto and put an end to his rampage, thus restoring a measure of peace to Avalar and the various realms that were scattered around the homeworlds they had been to so far, even if there was one more they hadn't visited yet, the Winter Tundra to be exact. Even though they didn't say it all three of them were curious as to whether or not they would even be heading to the other land that was part of Avalar, as it all depended on what Ripto did, because if he remained in the castle dungeons with Gulp they could put an end to his plans, never heading to Winter Tundra, and if he fled they could follow him to the homeworld in question, so all they had to do was claim the final Talisman and then see what happened next.
"So, am I the only one that wasn't that impressed by those Fauns?" Ember asked, because she was still annoyed by the fact that the Faun that had given them the Talisman, who had been positioned near the top of the volcano, had just been standing there when they arrived in the area and hadn't done anything to seal what the Earthshapers had done to their volcano, though she got the feeling that the male Fauns just cared about partying and nothing else.
"No, I think all of us were a little annoyed with them, in one form or another." Spyro remarked, though even as he said that he and his siblings continued to walk down the passage that was in front of them and eventually reached the rather large opening that was their destination, as there was a bridge that connected to the area the portal they were looking for was located in, "especially the one that could have sealed the volcano's lid, saving us the trouble of having to do that since he could have made himself the hero of his realm."
"I think its safe to say that Elora came from the Fauns that call Fracture Hills home, and not the Fauns that we found in Magma Cone," Spike added, even though the truth was that Elora was different from all of the Fauns they had come across so far, as she was nothing like the rest of them, but for the most part he was happy to assist her in putting an end to Ripto's rampage and restore the peace to the realms that she and the others were looking over, "though we'll have to ask her about that later, since I'm sure she would rather have us focusing on helping the residents of the realms and recovering the Talismans that we need to undo the seal on the dungeon's doors."
Spyro and Ember let out a light chuckle for a moment as they headed across the bridge that was in front of them, as they knew that Spike was hoping to gain some information on the guards that were supposed to be protecting Alavar, of which both Elora and Hunter were members of from the looks of things, and both of them were curious as well, though not as curious as their brother was. Once they finished thinking about that they approached the portal to Shady Oasis and headed through it, was it was time to head to the final realm and seen what sort of enemies and obstacles they would have to deal with this time around, especially since they had no idea what they would need to do to gain the Orbs that were hidden around the realm. It didn't take them long to arrive in the area that was the starting area for this realm, which appeared to be a chamber that was inside a large building, though as they looked around their immediate area they found that the style of the walls reminded them of Scorch, meaning that they might have discovered another paired realm, just like how Zephyr and Breeze Harbor had been paired in some manner. The interesting thing was that there were a few square cut gemstones that happened to be inside the walls around them, blue colored gems to be exact, meaning they had either been imported from Glimmer or were found in the sands outside the building, since it was possible the residents could have found them out in the desert, but that was something to ask at a later date, when they weren't trying to restore order to this realm.
It didn't take them all that long to locate who they assumed was one of the residents of this realm, as they found a small brown skinned hippo, standing at about their height, trying to get what appeared to be some berries from the bush that was in the middle of the small area in front of them, though thanks to his small stature he was unable to get what he was after, much to his annoyance. The first thing the siblings did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting around them, to add them to the collection that they were gathering, once more with the intention of returning them to Elora and the others, though as they did that Ember spotted a metallic gate that was blocking the way to the next part of the large building they were in, making her wonder how they were going to get through it. One thing all three of them discovered was that the hippo that was standing by the planted bush was wearing a purple stripped shirt, no pants for some reason, and he was wearing a red fez on his head, though he also had a pair of small wings on his back, making them curious as to why a hippo would even have wings in the first place.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad you guys are here." the hippo said, speaking to them the moment they entered the area that he was standing in, mostly so they could smash the pair of straw baskets that were in the area near him right now, though since he wanted to speak with them the siblings came to a stop and waited for him to tell him what was going on and what they could do to assist him, as well as the rest of the hippos, "I've been trying to get a berry out of this magic berry bush, but I'm just not strong enough or tall enough to get it myself, so I need someone like you guys to do something to make the berry fall off the bush."
"Okay... but why?" Spike asked, because while he was all for helping the hippo out, since it was the right thing to do in this situation, this was one of the rare few times that he was going to question the residents of the realms that they would be heading through, to assist them in some manner, and he could tell that his siblings were curious as well, even though both Spyro and Ember were interested in hearing what the hippo had to say.
"Well, eating a berry will make me larger than my current size, and I'll be unable to take damage, so I can smash down the gates that our blocking our way," the hippo replied, though the look on his face told the siblings that he was expecting them to assist him and that he was going to block their way until one of them knocked a berry off the bush, despite the fact that he was giving them a rather dumb reason for wanting their assistance.
Spyro sighed as he charged the bush and forced one of the berries to fall from it, where the hippo happily snatched it off the ground and devoured it in seconds, which was the moment that he and his siblings witnessed him growing until he was the size of the metal door that was blocking the way, though that was when the enlarged hippo charged at the door and smashed it to pieces as he headed off to another part of the building.
"Magical berries... that enlarge the one that eats them and makes them immune to damage." Spyro said, as he was a little surprised by this turn of events and the fact that what the hippo had told them was true, though at the same time Ember smashed the straw baskets and collected the gems that had been inside her targets, as well as the pair of gems that were on the ground, while Spike whacked the bush a few more times, "Spike, what are you doing?"
"I'm taking a few of them to see if we can replicate the effects in the future, or to see if they only work for the hippos of this realm," Spike replied, to which he pulled out a small container and slipped the berries, which appeared to look like cherries in his opinion, and sealed the container, that way none of his writing materials and journals would be ruined by what he was collecting at the moment, before putting it away as he stared at the opening the hippo had created, "though to be honest, this guy has a rather weak reason for wanting our assistance, as its nothing like what happened in the other realms we've been to so far... but we'll have to roll with it, since he's likely the one that is carrying the Talisman for Shady Oasis, and getting him to the exit portal will give us what we need."
Spyro and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they were in agreement with what Spike had said about the reason the hippo wanted their assistance, but in the end the three of them headed over to the opening that the hippo had left behind and started their adventure in this realm, to find their new friend and help him make his way to the end of this building, just so they could get the Talisman. What was interesting was that the hippo, before losing the power that the berry had given him, smashed through a creature that was blocking his way, a feminine creature that looked like a genie of some kind, though Spike would have to wait until they found another one to verify that, as the poor creature was crushed by the hippo before he could determine what sort of foe they were dealing with, even though it did release a Spirit Particle for the Powerup Gate that was located in this realm. The hippo then ran by what appeared to be a thief, as in the blue robed figures that the siblings had chased down during their first adventure, to retrieve the eggs that they had stolen, though this one was dressed in a set of attire that matched what the guards of Scorch had been wearing, which did confirm the thought that this realm and Scorch were paired with each other, though the thief was carrying a sword in his right hand and looked ready to use it. Ember was the one who decided to face the Armed Thief, where she let her scales shimmer for a few seconds as she jumped up to where her foe was standing, though that was when Spyro and Spike had the chance to watch as the thief's blade shattered when it struck Ember, who grinned as she leapt into the air and spun forward so her tail could crush her foe into the ground, which was successful in taking him out.
With that done the siblings spread out and collected the couple of gems that were laying on the floor, even making sure to break the three straw baskets that were in the area, before locating where the hippo had run off to, who was in the process of beckoning for them to follow him, so they finished picking up all of the scattered gems and followed after him, even though Spyro flamed another Armed Thief that was in their way, allowing the three of them to move forward as they headed to the next part of the building they were in. Of course that meant they were leaving behind a circular metallic chest that they could break, since Ember could do so with the skill she had just used, though there was a missile they could use to get the job done quicker, so they turned their attention to whatever was in front of them, though as they followed the hippo Spyro spotted an area that looked like it had acid water to their right. The reason he was interested in that area was because of the gems that were laying all over the area, including a few straw baskets, so he left his siblings to stand with the hippo and glided down to the floating platform, that had three levels on it, that was down in front of him and started to pick up all of the gems that were down there, just so they wouldn't have to backtrack to this part of the realm later on. It didn't take Spyro long to clear the area of gems and catch up with his siblings, picking up the gems that were on the hidden staircase that allowed him to return to Spike and Ember, to which they followed the hippo as he approached the area that the second metallic door was located in, where they found a rounder thief that was carrying a shield with his sword, showing that he was ready for a fight.
Interestingly enough the Shield Thieves, as Ember wanted to call them and Spike was more than happy to agree with her on the name, was actually rather easy to take out, because all they had to do was wait for his back to be turned and then flame him from behind, as that was what Spyro discovered when he approached this foe, though both he and Spike knew that Ember would have charged at their foe and would have used her harden ability to fight the thief's sword and shield. Since that appeared to be the only enemy in the area Spike wandered off and collected all of the gems that were in this part of the building, leaving Spyro to smash the metallic vases near the door as Ember climbed up the couple of small platforms, which allowed her to hit the next bush that the magic berries were growing on, thus allowing the hippo to eat one and expand into the larger form they had seen earlier. The instant that was done the hippo rushed forward and quickly smashed the metal door that was blocking their way, this time missing the Genie on the other side as he did that, where Spike stepped forward and used his barrier spell to block the incoming ball of energy she threw at him, before he blasted her with an Arcane Missile, allowing them to progress into the next chamber of the building, where they watched as the shrunken hippo ran off to wait near the location of the next bush. There appeared to be two Armed Thieves and a single Shield Thief in this part of the building, so while Ember charged at the Shield Thief, with her scales shimmering, that left the Armed Thieves to Spyro and Spike, who dodged the incoming sword swings to the best of their abilities and then lashed out when they had an opening, flaming their foes into the ground.
Ember, of course, made short work of her own foe, allowing Spyro to collect the gems that were on the level they were standing on as Spike used the platforms that were in this area to get up to the location of the next berry bush, though he did have to blast one of the Armed Thieves they had fought so far, where his spell knocked the thief to the ground and let him release another berry for the hippo, who proceeded to smash the metal door in front of him to pieces and continued on through the rest of the area.
Once the way was open the siblings glided over the small green acid river that was in front of them and landed on the area that would lead them to the next berry bush, though the first thing they did was let Spyro flame the Armed Thief that was to their left, to which they smashed the nearby metallic vases and picked up all of the gems that were around them, before heading for the passage the hippo had headed down. That meant fighting one of the Shield Thieves again, but both Spyro and Spike stood back as Ember rushed at the obstacle, blocking the incoming attacks with her hardened scales for a few seconds, only to disarm her foe and charge into his chest a moment later, allowing her to take him down and open the way for them to move forward. There happened to be another Armed Thief standing behind the foe Ember had just taken out, so she made sure to strike him down as well, letting Spike deal with the Genie that was blocking the passage that the hippo had run down, as a simple Arcane Missile was enough to blast his foe out of the air and open the way for them to move forward again, and that was what they did when they were sure all of the enemies in the area around them had been taken care of. From there they followed the hippo through a passage that had two square shaped structures in it, as in one on each side of the passage and a hallway that connected the two together, though they made sure to collect all of the gems that were around them, and smash some metallic vases, before Spyro and Ember dealt with a pair of Armed Thieves that tried to block the way, allowing Spike to focus on blasting the next Genie into the wall, as once those there foes were taken care of they continued to follow the hippo to his next destination.
At the end of the area that the second structure was in they found a glass vase and smashed it, before gliding over a bit of the acid green water, which did seem to be in several locations throughout this building, where Spyro took care of an Armed Thief that was nearby as Spike and Ember picked up the gems that were on the platforms in the area they were in, though it wasn't long before that was done and they proceeded to move onto the next area of the building. As they moved towards the next chamber a Genie decided to get in their way, who was quickly removed by one of Spike's Arcane Missiles, allowing them to enter the area that the hippo was standing in at the moment, though it was in that moment that they found out that the next berry bush was actually out of reach, if they were talking about using platforms to get up to where the item in question was resting. What the siblings did, instead of backtracking to the acid area that was behind them, as there just so happened to be a few rocks that were spat out of the water while they were walking through the area, ones that none of them were willing to touch since the rocks might harm them in some manner, due to them having been inside a river of acid, was split up and look around the area they were in. Spyro and Ember focused on the Armed Thief and the pair of Shield Thieves that were blocking the metal door that the hippo would be smashing through at some point, while Spike took out a few metallic vases and collected the gems, before focusing on the berry bush as his siblings took care of the enemies that were bothering them. What Spike ended up doing was using a bit of his magic to pick up one of the few metallic shards and sent it flying at the bush, cutting one of the berries free in the process, putting a smile on the hippo's face as he gobbled up the berry and returned to his enlarged state, allowing him to bash his way through the metal door and head to the area that was at the end of the walkway they had just opened up.
The area they were walking towards happened to be above the area that the circular metallic chest was resting in, and it also had a rather large berry bush, one that the siblings had to guess was what the hippo had been trying to reach the entire time, and there was also an inactive exit portal to their left, meaning they had already reached the end of the main objective in this realm, which meant the hippo with the red shirt, to their right, had to be someone that had one of the Orbs they were looking for.
"Thanks for helping me reach the Great Berry Bush, because now my friends and I can eat all the berries that we could ever want at long last!" the hippo said, though at the same time he reached into his pack, as if he was looking for whatever was in there, before finally pulling something out and held it out for the siblings to take, making them wonder if it was the Talisman that they had come to collect from this realm, "Here, you guys can take this thing, as a gift from all of us, for your deeds in helping me reach this point."
The item that he was offering them was a golden lamp, just like the type that were often used in the stories of the great and powerful genies, or at least that was what Spike had read in the scrolls and tome of the Dark Hollow library, but he was quick to determine that this was the Talisman that he and his siblings were here for, as the moment he added it to the Guidebook the inactive exit portal sprung to life, allowing them to return to the castle is they so desired, especially now that they had all the Talismans to open the way to the dungeon. What they did was head over to the other hippo that was standing nearby, as they were sure that he had one of the Orbs they were after and knew that by helping him they could restore order to Shady Oasis, not that it really seemed like anything was going on at the moment, which was rather odd when they thought about the other realms they had helped out so far.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you guys decided to stick around, instead of leaving after you got the Talisman," the red shirted hippo said, informing the siblings that some of the hippos in this area seemed to know what the item in question was and that some of them definitely didn't know what it was, though it didn't appear that he was annoyed by that fact, as it actually looked like he was relieved that it was in safe hands, or claws in this case, "Listen, three thieves came by earlier and made off with our three magical brass lamps, though there's no telling what they'll do to the lamps if they're allowed to carry them outside Shady Oasis."
"So you want us to get them back? We can do that." Spyro stated, showing the hippo that he and his siblings would be able to get the lamps back from the thieves that had made off with the lamps in the first place, as it would be like old times where they chased the thieves for the dragon eggs, and when the hippo nodded the three of them left the area, though not before grabbing the nearby gems that were around the large berry bush, along with hitting the Question Mark Jar that was there as well, just to move it to a new position.
They backtracked a little and found that one of the thieves they were looking for had appeared in the pair of sections, with the square structures, that were linked with a hallway, though the thief in question ran the moment it noticed them walking towards it, but it didn't take the siblings long to determine that there was some sort of pattern to his movements and corner him by having someone be in front of him and someone behind him, allowing them to box him in and then flame him for the lamp he was carrying.
"You know, there's something about this realm that's bothering me," Spike commented, because while he was happy to see that they were able to help the residents of this realm out, in getting the hippo to the berry bush that had been his destination, there was one thing that he kept thinking about and it was time he told his siblings about it, "have you guys noticed that most of the people in this realm are thieves?"
"Yes, if you're referring to just our enemies," Spyro replied, though at the same time he turned and looked at Spike for a second, who was in the process of pulling out the Guidebook so he could see what Elora wrote about this realm, which was when he and Ember sat down and waited for their brother to finish whatever he was doing, "though I hope you aren't going to tell us that the hippos are thieves as well."
"Well, according to Elora, that's the truth of the matter," Spike stated, where he stared at the page for this realm for a few more seconds as he continued to read the words that their friend had written before their arrival, as the more he read about the various realms the more interested her was in learning about them and their residents, "in fact Shady Oasis is a shared realm between two factions of thieves, as in the hippos that we're currently assisting and the thieves that we've been taking out to reach the exit portal, not to mention the Great Berry Bush. It appears that they are supposed to take turns, meaning that one clan controls the realm for a specific amount of time before it switches back to the other clan, and that likely means the thieves that we've been taking out likely tried to use this opportunity, with Ripto causing chaos in all of the other realms, to become the sole inhabitants of this realm. Who knows, if we had been called in to deal with Ripto, say a week ago or a few months from now, we could have been assisting the other clan of thieves in taking out the hippos that we're currently assisting... Avalar is truly an interesting place, and this really makes me want to learn everything there is to know about this land, its homeworlds, and the realms that everyone lives in."
"And suddenly everything makes more sense, all thanks to Elora and her Guidebook." Ember remarked, though she had to admit that the Guidebook was really coming in handy during this adventure, be it as a source of information for her brother to read from or as a storage container for the various Orbs and Talismans that they had to collect, so they didn't have to carry all of them in a separate bag or something, showing that she was glad Elora had given it to them when they arrived in Glimmer, before she stood up once more, "Come on, we've got some more thieves to chase down, a jar to break open, and some Orbs to collect, and then we can finally put an end to the trouble that's plaguing Avalar."
What they did was head back to where the Great Berry Bush was located and then jumped over the edge of the area that it was on, where they glided around to the lower level and spotted the second thief that was carrying one of the lamps they had been asked to retrieve, along with the Question Mark Jar resting near it, but what they did was glide over to the area that the Powerup Gate was located in, as there was a hippo standing to the left of it.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, its good to see you guys," the hippo said, though he seemed sad about something and they had the feeling that they would be learning about whatever seemed to be bothering him, where he glanced at the area that was behind them, which was an acid filled area or something like that, incredibly dangerous for them if they tackled it with no protection, hence the Invincibility Gate near them, "my brothers have been trapped in solid rock, but since you guys don't have any sort of move that smashes rock you'll have to come back when you discover something that will help us out and free my brothers from their prisons."
"Yeah, about that, I think I can help you out," Spike replied, where he pulled out the metallic shard he had used earlier and focused his magic on it, where Spyro and Ember watched as it shifted before their eyes and dissolved into thin air, as in it left nothing behind, though at the same time the hippo tilted his head for a few seconds, showing that he had no idea what Spike had done, causing the dragon to sigh for a moment, "What I did was change a piece of metal into air, meaning that all I have to do is focus on the rocks that your brothers are trapped in and then repeat what I just did, turn the rocks into air and free your brothers."
The hippo seemed uncertain, as he had no idea if this was going to work at all, before sighing as he let Spike do his thing, which was when he focused his mind and reached out to the area that the other hippos were in, finding that they were coming their way through a river that was connected to the area on the other side of the Powerup Gate, though he could feel the magic that had trapped the hippos in question and prepared himself. The moment the first rock emerged from the tunnel they were heading down Spike cast his spell, where Spyro, Ember, and the hippo watched as the first of the trapped hippos was freed from their prison, as the rock dissolved before their eyes and left nothing behind, just like what happened to the metal shard a few moments ago, but Spike was far from done. He kept the spell going as the rest of the rocks fell into the area in front of him, freeing the hippos from the prisons they had been trapped in, much to their joy as they jumped over to where their brother was standing, seemingly avoiding the dangerous part of the area like it was nothing to them. Spyro and Ember continued to be impressed by Spike's magical abilities, as neither of them had any idea that he had started learning any of the spells that were in the Transmogrification school of magic, the art of changing one thing into something else, but this just told them that it was a good thing that Cosmos and the other Magic Crafters had taught Spike so much, as his magic was coming in handy this time around.
It took a few moments, but in the end Spike was able to free all eight of the hippos from their stone prisons and made sure they were all free to do whatever they wanted, to which he powered down his magic and shook himself for a second, as it always felt good when he used his magic to help others, even if the hippo that had asked them for assistance was a little surprised by what had just happened.
"Thanks for freeing my brothers... I guess I should tell Elora that you guys are awesome," the hippo said, where he took a moment to reach into his pocket and withdrew an Orb, which he handed over to Spike, before beckoning for his now freed brothers to follow him as he started to leave the area that they had been standing in, leaving the siblings alone as they wandered off to one of the other sections of the building.
"I'm so glad you took all those lessons from Cosmos and the others," Spyro commented, as all of the spells and tricks that Spike was spending his time learning had really come in handy during this adventure, and they weren't done with it yet since there was still Gulp they had to take out, at the very least, "because you have saved us from having to backtrack so many times, and yes, Ember, I'm happy you got us those lessons from our friend, so we could swim and climb ladders, since it saved us some time as well."
Spike and Ember nodded their heads as Spike placed the Orb inside the Guidebook, though as that happened Spyro used the Invincible Gate that was near them and walked out onto the water that was nearby, where he discovered that it was actually some sort of goo that would cause stuff to sink if they rested on it for too long, thus trapping whatever had fallen on it, so he quickly smashed the pair of metallic vases and got off the goo once he had the gems. Ember used that time to break four straw baskets that were off to the side and picked up the gems, before she and Spike joined Spyro at a new type of chest that had a bullseye on top of it, though what Ember did was harden her tail and struck it repeatedly until it shattered, releasing the gems that were inside it. From there the siblings focused on the thief that was nearby, the one that had the lamp they were looking for, and chased after it, but due to the small area that it was running around in it was rather easy to contain it on the small path it was using and then flame it, recovering the lamp that it had stolen and, at the same time, let the siblings torch the Question Mark Jar, sending it to another location in this realm. The next thing they did was smash a few more metallic vases and collect the gems that were inside them, before igniting the missile that flew around the area they were in and smashed open the circular metallic chest that they had walked by earlier, to which they glided down to where the chest had been located and picked up the gems they had freed.
With that down the siblings walked over to the area that Spyro had first cleared out when they were following the hippo through the realm, the area that had the platform with three levels and was surrounded by more of the acid water, so they just repeated what they did with the last two thieves and made sure to move him into an area where escape was impossible, allowing one of them to flame him into submission for the final lamp. Once the lamp was in their possession, as it was the last of the three they needed, the siblings quickly flamed the jar they were chasing and watched as it moved to the area that the second berry bush they had struck was located in, which meant that all they had to glide over to the area in question and did so without delay. From there the Question Mark Jar seemed to vanish, though Spike, having seen what the last ones had done, headed for the starting area of Shady Oasis and found it resting near the first berry bush he and his siblings had seen, where they smashed it open and picked up the gems that had been inside it, finding that they now had every gem in this realm, which made them happy since they were reversing the damage that Ripto and all of his minions were causing to the lands of Avalar. With that done the siblings retraced their steps and headed back to where the Great Berry Bush was resting, as it was time to give the hippo the three magic lamps that he had asked them to collect so they could get the Orb he had, because they knew he had an Orb on him, and it only took them a few minutes to reach the area that the exit portal was located in, to which they focused on the hippo they were there to see.
"Wow, you guys actually managed to recover our magic lamps!" the hippo said, taking the lamps from the siblings for a moment, though that was when he reached into his pack for a moment and looked for something, which was followed by him withdrawing an Orb that he held out for them to take, which Spike accepted instantly, "You guys can have that, as a fairy left it here a few days ago and I've kind of tired of carrying it around... it won't even hold a proper shine, not like our lamps do anyway!"
Spyro, Spike, and Ember said nothing to that, leaving the hippo to clean him lamps again as Spike added the Orb to the Guidebook, though once that was done they checked with their dragonflies and found that the realm had no more gems for them to collect, so they headed through the exit portal and headed back to the castle, as it was time to tackle the Speedways and then take down Gulp, and possibly Ripto at the same time.