With Winter Tundra taken care of, as they had collected all of the gems that were in the homeworld, had seen where all of the portals to the other realms were located, and made sure to collect the Orbs that had been scattered around the land that they walked around, Spyro, Spike, and Ember came to a stop near the walkway that they had first walked down to get down into this area. The reason for this was because it was time for them to pick a realm out of the four portals that were resting all over the homeworld, as they would leave the Speedway for last, before the big fight with Ripto, and right now it looked like all four of the realms were interesting, just by what the siblings could imagine based on the names that were on the portals. Spike was sure that he could open the Guidebook and learn about the various realms, before they made their decision on the matter, but, at the same time, that hadn't stopped them from making a decision when none of them knew anything about the realms of a homeworld, so he did nothing as they came to a stop, as he was interested in hearing what his siblings had to say before a decision was made.
"So, which realm do you guys think we should tackle first?" Spyro inquired, because while he could continue to be the leader of their group and tell them which of the four realms they should take on first, which was what happened in the last two homeworlds they had visited, he wanted to hear what Spike and Ember had to say before they came to a decision on the matter, even though they'll take them all on at some point, "Personally, I'm thinking of heading to Mystic Marsh and seeing what's going on in that realm."
"I have to say that Cloud Temples interests me to some degree," Spike replied, showing that he was happy that Spyro was asking their opinions, even though he knew that they were likely going to start with the portal that happened to be the closest to where they first arrived when they came to this homeworld, which was Mystic Marsh, the realm that his brother had mentioned, "for some reason I have the feeling there's some magic involved in that realm."
"Honestly, I don't have a preference as to which realm we take on first," Ember added, because she wanted to go back to Autumn Plains and stop the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, but when she considered the realms that they had access to right now, and what each of them brought to mind when she thought about their names, she guessed she could give them something to think about, "though maybe we could check out Metropolis at some point, as I have the feeling that its somewhere that Moneybags would hang out and try to con people out of their gems. However, I do think that we should follow your lead, Spyro, as it worked well in the past and I don't see much of a reason to change from what we've been doing so far."
"Very well then, we're off to Mystic Marsh." Spyro said, as he was still surprised by the fact that his siblings placed so much faith in his leadership skills and trusted the decisions that he made while they were exploring the homeworlds of Avalar, but at this point he was getting used to it and wasted no time in heading over to where the portal was located, as it was time for them to help out another realm that Ripto might have messed with.
Since the portal to the realm in question was close by it didn't take the siblings all that long to reach it and walk into it, though it only took them a few seconds to appear in the starting area for the realm they had picked out, where they found themselves standing on what appeared to be a sealed off well of some kind, though out in the area in front of them they found a few pineapple shaped buildings, without the spiked part, which came complete with a few bridges, an entire upper area, and a much nicer landscape than what they were expecting. There was someone standing near the area that they appeared in, who seemed to be floating above the ground a little and was wearing a purple robe, and even had a pair of pigtails for his brown hair, though Spike noticed a bit of magic around the being in question, meaning he had to be a wizard or magic user of some kind, before they glanced at the rest of the realm that they could see. The next thing the three of them discovered was that there just so happened to be a Powerup Gate nearby, with a mark that indicated that they needed to take down a large number of foes to power it up, meaning that it would be some time before they found out which ability it gave them. That, of course, was when they found some snail creatures that had a shell covering them, even though it looked like some of them had tusks and metal armor while some of them elephant trunks where the head of the snail would be, making them wonder what sort of foes they would be dealing with now, even though that also meant there were one or two more types of enemies they couldn't see at the moment.
The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, because so far this realm wasn't even remotely close to what they were expecting when they considered the name 'Mystic Marsh', as they were more expecting something that was close to what the Beast Makers homeworld was like, or one of the realms that happened to be scattered around the swamp area that Bruno and the rest of his clan called home, before they pushed that thought out of their minds as they walked over to where the resident of this realm was floating, waiting for assistance.
"Spyro, Spike, Ember, boy am I glad to see you." the magical being said, though even as he said that he gestured to the nearby fountain, which seemed to be broken in some manner by what they could see at the moment since no water seemed to be flowing at all, before they turned back towards the person they were talking to, "Things haven't been the same since our magical fountain shut off, as it kept the Snail Elephants, Snail Rhinos and the other creatures of our realm calm and soothed their violent nature, making them incredibly peaceful and more willing to exist alongside us Water Wizards and the various visitors to our realm... it would be nice if you could find out what evil force is stopping the fountain from working and restore it to what it used to be."
"Sure, we can help you restore order to this realm." Spike replied, but it was nice to know that the residents that they were helping out were the Water Wizards and that they had an idea of what they needed to do to, which no doubt meant exploring the rest of the realm and taking out all of the enemies that were in their way, until they figured out what was causing the fountain to turn off and let the water flow once more.
The first thing the siblings did was back up and break the pair of straw baskets that were behind them, since there always seemed to be something near the starting area of each realm, before heading over to one of the trees to pick up the gems that were laying near it, which was when a white furred monkey appeared from the tree, hanging from a branch thanks to its tail, and they found that it had some black stripes on its fur. When they got close the Striped Monkey pulled out a fruit and hurled it at them, to which the siblings moved out of the way and dodged it, since they knew that it was hostile and took it out with a quick burst of fire, or at least Ember did while Spyro and Spike collected the gems that were near the tree. From there they returned to the path that lead away from where they had first arrived and headed toward the location of the first bridge, where Spyro charged into the Snail Rhino that was in the way and knocked the creature out of the way, allowing Ember to walk onto the bridge and smashed the second foe, same as the first, that was trying to block people from using the bridge. Of course as she did that both she and her brothers watched as the Snail Elephant that was in the area in front of them pulled himself out of his shell, revealing that the name meant that it was one animal and had the characteristics of two animals, as standing before them was a large purple elephant, showing that they could be either a snail or an elephant, depending on the situation they were in.
As it turned out a quick burst of fire was more than enough to take the Snail Elephant out and open the way for them to explore the area that he had been guarding, where Spyro and Ember found a few glass vases by a stone wall and made sure to break them, though while they did that Spike used his Arcane Missiles and blasted the Striped Monkey out of the nearby tree, allowing him to collect the cluster of gems that were around it.
With that area cleared they headed back to where the Powerup Gate was located and found that the building it was near was also close to where the fountain was located, and it just so happened to have a Snail rhino hanging out behind the building, so Ember dealt with it as Spyro smashed the three metallic vases that were nearby, so he could get the gems, before they headed over to the fountain. Spike had to admit that it was a rather nice looking fountain, as it seemed like something that the Artisans would have made if they had been commissioned to make something like a magic fountain that could sooth a realm's creatures, and while he studied it both Spyro and Ember collected the gems that were around it, since there happened to be a couple resting on the fountain. Once he was done looking at it the three of them moved away from the fountain and found something interesting, a second Powerup Gate that was incredibly close to where the first one was located, meaning that it had to be the Spring Jump Gate this time around, as there was no way, in Spike's mind, that any of the other abilities would have two gates so close to each other. While he thought about that Ember dealt with the lone Snail Rhino that was near the second gate and Spyro knocked a Striped Monkey out of the tree that was near them, allowing Spike to deal with the pair of straw baskets that were near the Powerup Gate, before they headed into an area that had a Snail Elephant, a Snail Rhino, and a Striped Monkey that was in the middle of throwing fruit at the pair of creatures that were hanging near the tree. Since those three enemies were so distracted it was rather easy for Spike to blast the Striped Monkey out of the tree, allowing Spyro and Ember to safely take out the remaining two foes, where Spyro just flamed the large Snail Elephant and Ember hardened her tail so she could whack her target, the Snail Rhino, in the face, taking them both out in a matter of seconds.
Once those enemies were taken care of the siblings quickly collected all of the gems that were in the immediate area, those that were by the building they had walked by and the ones that were near the tree, before they headed over to one of the other structures and walked around it, smashing a few metallic vases in the process and collecting the fallen gems that had been inside them. As soon as those vases were broken, and Ember picked up a gem that was resting near the odd river that seemed to cut through part of this realm, they doubled back to the area that the second Powerup Gate was in and took out the pair of enemies, a Snail Elephant and a Snail Rhino, that happened to be near the bridge that was resting near the gateway, allowing them to smash one more metallic vase and pick up a few gems before they headed over the new bridge. Since there was a Snail Rhino on the bridge Ember simply charged through it, allowing them to access the area that was close to the stone wall and found three more enemies hanging out nearby, so Spyro dealt with the Snail Elephant while Spike simply charged through the other Snail Rhinos. With those enemies taken out the siblings quickly collected all of the gems that were in the area that they were in, and smashed a few straw baskets as well, though in the process they found a whirlwind that would take them up to the tops of the buildings that happened to be all over the realm, as a number of them had wooden walkways that connected the roofs, but while Spyro and Ember did that Spike noticed that there was a sad looking duck in the water and knew that they would return once the fountain was turned back on.
When the three of them reached the top of the building that the whirlwind was connected to they found a few gems resting in front of where they came to a stop, and Spike also spotted the Professor standing in an area that happened to be behind them, no doubt testing the technology that Hunter was testing for him, for some additional results, but for now he and his siblings had work to do and knew they would come back here once the fountain was fixed. From there they glided over to the next roof and walked around it, collecting the couple of gems that were waiting for them, before doing the same thing to the structure that was leading them to where they could fix the fountain, though as they touched down on the next roof they had to charge into the Snail Rhino that was blocking the way. With that foe defeated they quickly picked up the gems that it was guarding, while noticing a section of roof that was nearby that could be charged along for a few seconds, before they followed the path that was in front of them, where Ember knocked out the Snail Rhino that was in their way, allowing Spike to blast the pair of Striped Monkeys out of the top of the tree that seemed to be growing on top of the structure, a very small tree given the sizes of the others in this realm. From there they continued to follow the bridge and took out one more Snail Rhino, thanks to Spyro charging into it, and one more Striped Monkey, again by Spike blasting it, before they reached the end of the walkway and found themselves near the cliff that was overlooking where the starting area was located.
From there they jumped over to the tops of the trees that were in front of them, finding that they formed platforms for the siblings to walk on, and then jumped over to the cliff in question, where Spike found an odd pot that seemed like it was missing something as well, which he would keep in mind for later, as Spyro and Ember were in the middle of dealing the pair of Snail Rhinos, smashing the metallic vases, and breaking the straw baskets that were near the pot's location. As soon as the area was cleared out they discovered that the only way to move forward, by following the path that they had used to reach this point, was to dive into the water of the river that was flowing into the lower area, into the small river that Spike had noticed earlier, and that was what the three of them did, they dived into the water and headed down the tunnel that they discovered. They found a few gems, a couple of glass vases, and four grey platypuses that were blocking the way, in the sense that each of them puffed out and inflated themselves into spiked balls, so all the siblings did was wait for the four Puffing Platypuses to deflate and then took them out, allowing them to collect the gems in peace before they headed towards the top of the tunnel. It didn't take the siblings long to leave the water and jump up to a new small area to explore, where they found a few gems and a circular hole that seemed to contain a second tunnel, one that had two more Puffing Platypuses, as Spike called them, and a few gems, so they simply repeated what they did to the first area the creatures were in and moved on towards the other side of the tunnel.
That tunnel, as it turned out, brought them to a walkway that was split into two parts, but the major thing the siblings found out was that there was a sleeping Water Wizard near the top of the fountain, so what they did was smash the straw basket that was behind them, while making sure to get the gems that were there, before they jumped over the small gap that was in front of them, where they let Ember smack the miniature Snail Elephant that was beyond that while Spike made sure to blast the Striped Monkey out of the tree that was along the way, before they came to a stop in front of the sleeping Water Wizard, who woke up as soon as they approached him.
"Wha...? I must have dozed off there for a moment." the Water Wizard said, though that was when he finally noticed that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were standing in front of him, to which he turned around for a moment and gazed through the inactive exit portal that was right behind him, allowing him to notice that the fountain had been turned off, before he glanced to the side and rubbed the back of his head for a few seconds, "Golly, it looks like I let the fountain switch off while I was sleeping. Here, I'll let you three have this Orb if you don't mention my little nap to Hydrar."
Spyro and Ember were not impressed with the Water Wizard, as they had been under the impression that Ripto had been behind the problems that this realm had been facing since the fountain had been turned off, and that was likely who the residents of Mystic Marsh were going to blame for this, when in reality it was just one of the other residents who just fell asleep on the job, but they said nothing as Spike collected the Orb and added it to their collection, as while he might be a little annoyed he certainly wasn't showing it. With that done they turned to the right and found a third Powerup Gate off to the side, one that no doubt allowed them to get up to the area that was above the area the gate was in, where it looked like someone was standing there, waiting for someone to assist them in whatever was happening at the moment, though as that happened Spike also noticed an empty bird's nest near the portal they had activated by acquiring the first Orb from this realm. From there they passed through the Spring Jump Gate and launched themselves into the air, where each of them went to a different location, as Spyro landed near the male being that was standing next to a vehicle while Ember glided over to the wooden walkway and smashed all the straw baskets she found over there, leaving Spike to knock a vase out of the air by breaking the balloon, allowing him and Ember to collect all of the gems that were in the area before they headed over to where their brother was waiting for them to rejoin him.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, its so good to see some friendly faces." the explorer, as that was what Spike determined that the person had to be since he wasn't dressed like everyone else in the realms they had visited so far, said, his tone telling them that something had happened recently and that he needed someone to help them out, though that only made them interested in what he needed help with, "Listen, a bunch of rotten thieves have stolen the spark plugs for my vehicle and now I'm stuck here, so I need someone to find the four spark plugs and retrieve them... though if you guys help me out I'll give you guys an Orb."
"Then we'll chase them down and recover what's been stolen from you." Spyro said, to which Spike and Ember gave him a nod, to show that they agreed with what their brother was saying, which seemed to appease the explorer as he went back to working on his vehicle, no doubt to make sure it was ready for when they returned with his missing spark plugs, even though they had to find the thieves first.
As it turned out there just so happened to be a kangaroo-like thief standing behind the rock that was right behind the area that the siblings were standing in, even if that meant he was on a lower level than they were, and when they glided down to chase him he ran off towards the tunnel they had used to get up to where the sleeping Water Wizard was located, to which Ember followed after it as Spyro and Spike watched. The plan was rather simple, two of them were going to watch and see what sort of path the Kangaroo Thief took, as they knew it was a loop around a specific area and wasn't all that special when they thought about it, so once they determined what sort of path their target was following they could easily position themselves along the way and stop their target in his tracks. As it turned out the path the Kangaroo Thief took brought him out of the wooden area that was near the explorer, meaning that it definitely wasn't a tunnel either of them had explored, and sure enough Ember was hot on his tail, to which Spyro moved to block the other entrance, the one he had jumped into as Ember started to chase him, while Spike got his magic ready. The reason for that was to prevent the Kangaroo Thief from jumping into the pink colored water that was nearby or from rushing towards the fountain, and with a roof to prevent him from leaping over their heads, so it was a modified barrier spell that he was planning on using one their target was trapped between them.
In a matter of moments the siblings had the Kangaroo Thief cornered and Spike had the barrier up, allowing either of his siblings to use their flames to take the thief down, allowing him to safely collect the first of the four spark plugs and put it inside his satchel, where it would be safe while they explored the area and tried to find the rest of the set, to help the explorer out, even though none of them were bothering to question how he had gotten to where he was in the first place, since there were no roads in this realm.
From there the siblings headed over to the area that Spike had found the empty bird's nest in, where he now found that he was partly incorrect, as the parent bird was there while no eggs were present, but what they were focused on at the moment happened to be the piece of ground that was raised enough so they could glide over to a cave, which they proceeded to do so since that could be where one of the thieves was located. What they found inside the small cave-like tunnel, as that was what it really was, happened to be a few gems in the water that rested in the middle of the area, a pair of gems laying off to the side, on a walkway, a cauldron that seemed important in some manner, and the second Kangaroo Thief that they were looking for. It was in the next few moments that the siblings discovered that his loop was even tighter than the first one's was, as he glided through the air and landed in the starting area for this realm, then used the Spring Jump Gate that was near the first Water Wizard to launch himself back up to the raised ground so he could get into the tunnel again, before restarting the entire process all over again. Spike decided to use his barrier in a different manner this time, using part of it to block the opening the thief ran through first, as well as block him from using the water to swim behind them and escape, thus allowing both Spyro and Ember to approach their target and knock him out once he had no where to run off to. The plan, as it turned out, was a success, as the Kangaroo Thief ran straight into the area that they had laid their trap in, thanks to Ember chasing him once they were ready, and in a matter of seconds they had taken him down and recovered the second spark plug, before Ember informed the pair that the third thief was close to the starting area, as he was just hanging out near the tree that was over the first bridge they walked over.
Sure enough the third thief was right where Ember said he was, though to Spike's amazement, and disappointment, the Kangaroo Thief just ran in a perfect circle around the open area he was in, while making no attempts to run over the bridge and head to another part of the realm, so it was really easy for the siblings to just corner him and flame him, which let them claim the third spark plug and move on to find the last one. As it turned out the fourth and final Kangaroo Thief was waiting near the second Spring Jump Gate, near one of the buildings that happened to have a small tunnel at the top, so the siblings used the gate to get up to where their target was standing and glided after it as it jumped to the structure that had the curved ramp that wrapped around a good portion of the building, where they picked up some of the few remaining gems in the process. From there they chased the thief over the connected roofs of the central buildings and then watched as he jumped down after a while, so he could run back to the Spring Jump Gate and get back up to where he started his loop, though instead of following him both Spyro and Ember turned towards Spike, as they were sure that he already had an idea on how they could stop this Kangaroo Thief in his tracks and take back the spark plug that he was carrying at the moment. True to their thoughts Spike did have an idea, though it was one that involved using the small area that their target started in, as he was going to seal one side of the tunnel after the thief ran through it, while giving his siblings time to chase after it, allowing him to use his barrier to seal that side and then wait for the thief to run right into the trap, because once that happened, and he paused in his confusion, that would allow either Spyro or Ember to get up there and flame him.
With that done they were allowed to claim the fourth and final spark plug, to which Spike dismissed the barriers and then followed Spyro and Ember back to where the explorer was waiting for them to return, who had a smile on his face as his missing spark plugs were returned to him, because it meant he could finish whatever he was doing and leave this realm at some point in time, how the siblings were unsure, but continued to not question it.
"You have my thanks, little dragon friends, because with these spark plugs back I'm back in business." the explorer said, where he pocketed the spark plugs for a moment and then withdrew an Orb from the pack that was happened to be laying in his vehicle, something that he handed over to Spike, no doubt because of the fact that he had seen the Water Wizard hand one over to him earlier, "I found this Orb in the ground earlier, where I cleaned it off and determined that it could be a museum quality piece, but you guys deserve this for helping me out... though I'm sure I can find something even more interesting to replace it."
Spyro and Ember said nothing to that as Spike collected the Orb and added it to the Guidebook, meaning that there was only one more Orb for them to collect in this realm, especially since the Professor was here, but once that was done the siblings headed out and moved over the connected roof, only to come to a stop when they grew close to where their friend was waiting, as there was something Spyro wanted to ask before they moved forward.
"So, Spike, I know Ripto isn't behind the disaster this realm was facing, but would he have a reason to mess with the residents of Mystic Marsh?" Spyro asked, because most of the realms in Summer Forest and Autumn Plains had been that way, as in the forces they dealt with were minions of Ripto, in a sense, and a good number of them were important to how Avalar operated, so he was curious as to what his brother had to say this time around.
"Well, this realm isn't one of the 'major' ones, like Aquaria Towers being the source of a good deal of water or how Hurricos is where a good portion of Avalar's power comes from," Spike replied, though he couldn't fault his brother for even asking the question, as he had been thinking about the same time while they were exploring this realm, and he had pulled out the Guidebook the moment they came to a stop, to see what Elora had to say about this place, "According to Elora this realm is a place of meditation, where people can come and forget their modern problems by meditating near the fountain or in another part of the realm, basically by experiencing the same calming nature of the fountain, before leaving once they completed their meditation."
"Okay, so if Ripto was behind the disaster it would have been because he hates meditation?" Ember inquired, as while that seemed like a rather stupid reason for their foe to do something like this, even though he wasn't behind what they had seen in this realm, she was still amazed that Spike was able to come up with a potential reason that would have told them why he had done it, and her brother even nodded his head to confirm her statement, before she took a moment to consider something else, "What are the chances that Moneybags could have paid off the sleeping Water Wizard to fall asleep and turn the fountain off, to distract us from what he's done?"
"About as good as the chances of him outfitting a bunch of barn animals, like pigs, cows, and sheep, with weapons so they can attack a realm, sort of like what Toasty did a year ago." Spike answered, showing that he really didn't believe that Moneybags was behind the disaster of this realm, indicating that it might be the fact that Ember didn't like the bear and that she might be willing to pass some of the blame onto him, even if it wasn't his fault, before he put the Guidebook away and glanced down at the area in front of them, "Come on, its time we visited the Professor and help him out."
Spyro and Ember nodded their heads in agreement once more and jumped over the edge of the bridge that they had been standing on, where Spike followed after them as they glided through the air and came to a stop when they reached the area that was below them, before they approached the Professor, who was standing in the middle of one of the tall buildings the Water Wizards put around this realm.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you guys are here, because I need your assistance." the Professor said, where the siblings waited for a few seconds, as they were curious as to what type of help he needed from them, before he shifted his clipboard and revealed that his pencil was missing, meaning that he might not have any other pencils on him right now, before he focused on what he wanted to tell them, "I'm perfectly useless without one of my trusty pencils, and I seem to have lost the one that I had on me when I teleported to this realm, so I'd like you guys to find it and return it to me... but you'll need this egg. Maybe you can trade it for my pencil?"
The siblings raised their eyebrows for a moment as Spike carefully collected the egg, which looked like a bird's egg to be exact, and an idea formed in his head as he put it away in his pack, though from there he and his siblings jumped back to the river that was near them and discovered something they had missed when they first came through this area the first time around. There were a few Puffing Platypuses that were lingering in the river, guarding a number of gems and a few glass vases, so Spike remained on the path that would take them up to where the bird's nest was located and let his siblings swim through the water, colliding with their foes and knocking them out while collecting all of the gems that were in the river, which was followed by their dragonflies indicating that they had collected all the gems in this realm. Once that was done Spyro and Ember followed Spike as he lead the way back to where the first Spring Jump Gate was located, one that allowed them to get up to where the bird's nest was located, which was where Spike lifted the egg with his magic and put it inside the nest. The bird that happened to be flying above the tree, seeing them return the missing egg, dropped a seed of some kind and returned to the nest, where Spike picked up the seed and considered the other unique locations they had passed by earlier, before he recalled the location of the empty pot they had seen and quickly made his way over to where it was located.
Spyro and Ember decided that it was for the best that Spike take the lead this time around, as he seemed to have a good idea as to where they had to go, and it only took them a few moments to return to where the empty pot was sitting, where Spike planted the seed and stepped back, which was followed by an interesting looking flytrap plant bursting out of the soil, to give them a rubber duck. Spike then took the item and headed back to where the sad duck he had spotted some time ago, back when they first started their adventure in this realm, was located, meaning that he glided down to the area in question and walked over to the area in question, leaving his siblings to follow after him as he made his way through the realm once more. When they reached the sad dusk Spike gave her and her kid the rubber duck, where they became happy over what they had been given and handed over a turnip, causing Spyro and Ember to raise their eyebrows for a moment, but that didn't stop Spike from accepting it as he headed back to the first Spring Jump Gate, which let him jump up to the area that one of the Kangaroo Thieves had been positioned, or, to be more accurate, the cooking pot that was located in that tunnel. Interestingly enough the cooking pot shuddered for a few moments when the turnip was put into the stew that someone had been making, before the fountain turned off anyway, though that was followed by it spitting out a golden coin, one that Spike instantly knew where it needed to go and found that his siblings even knew where it had to go.
As such the siblings returned to the fountain and Spike tossed the coin into the water, where the Professor's trusty pencil was sent their way not even a few seconds later, to which he collected it with a smile on his face and then headed back to where the Professor was waiting for them, as it was time for him and his siblings to finish off the rest of this realm so they could head to another one once they returned to Winter Tundra.
"You guys found my pencil!" the Professor said, where he happily accepted the pencil the moment Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to him and gave him his pencil, though as he did that he also handed over an Orb that happened to be resting behind him, but it was clear that he was focused on something else at the moment, "Now I can start calculating the age of the universe again, even if I have to start at the beginning... and I should make a note of the flaw in the device I used to get here, to make sure it doesn't happen to Hunter. You guys can have this Orb, mostly for safekeeping... Elora is of the opinion that I might misplace it at some point, even if I lost my pencil due to a flaw in my device."
Spike wasn't sure that someone could calculate the age of the universe with just a clipboard and a pencil, even if the Professor was incredibly smart, but he decided to say nothing as he put the Orb inside the Guidebook, and once that was done the three of them bid the Professor farewell and made their way towards the exit portal, as it was time to leave this realm and pick one of the other three, to save them before facing Ripto.