//------------------------------// // Rage: Farm Problems // Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// It didn't take Spyro, Spike, or Ember long to return to Winter Tundra, or more accurately the cave that the portal to Cloud Temples had been located in, and headed for the main castle that held the inactive Super Portal and the remaining two portals that would take them to Robotica Farms and Metropolis, before they even considered facing off against Ripto and liberated the rest of Avalar from their foe's grasp. After seeing what was going on in Mystic March and Cloud Temples, as in discovering that Ripto wasn't behind whatever was happening to the residents of those realms, the siblings had the feeling that the same would be true for the remaining two realms, that neither of them had been touched by Ripto, meaning that the problems the residents were facing were either of their own design, like the Water Wizard that fell asleep at the fountain and turned it off, or outside their control. Of course there was also the Speedway that Moneybags had opened for them, after Ember beat the stuffing out of him for selling Ripto the bombs he used to take the Super Portal's Power Crystal from Elora and the others, but that would be the last thing they took care of, since they were more interested in helping the residents of the remaining two realms out. Once all of the remaining realms were assisted, and the Speedway was cleared out, they would turn their attention to the final battle and approach Ripto at long last, to put an end to his rampage and restore order to Avalar, and once that was done they could focus their attention on other things, like the war that was on all of their minds. The siblings pushed that thought out of their minds for a moment as they returned to the courtyard that the Super Portal was resting in, directly in the middle of it by Spike's estimates, which was where they paused for a moment as they looked at the stairs that would take them to where Ripto was waiting for them, who was no doubt practicing with his new scepter, in anticipation for their arrival. "So, which of the realms should we visit next?" Ember asked, as while she had an idea of which realm they would be heading to next, since there were only two to pick from at the moment, there was always the chance that Spyro might surprise her and Spike with whatever he was about to say, hence the reason she asked before they actually picked out the portal they would be heading through. "Robotica Farms," Spyro replied, knowing that he had, at some point during this adventure, been picked as the leader of their group, in the sense that Spike and Ember listened to his opinion on where they should go, and that even extended to what they should do occasionally, but he was happy to see that his siblings liked his opinions as he turned towards the portal in question, "we can check out Metropolis and Canyon Speedway once we're done with this realm, and then, once we've helped all of the realms in this homeworld, we can take the fight to Ripto and put an end to this." Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement as they followed Spyro as he headed to their left, as the portal to Robotica Farms was to the left of the Super Portal, before the three of them headed through the portal and traveled to their next destination, so they could meet the residents of the realm they were now heading to and figure out what sort of problem they were dealing with, and, more importantly, what they could do to help them out. What they discovered, upon their arrival in the starting area for this realm, was that the realm looked like what the name suggested, it was a massive farm area, with a number of farm buildings and vehicles, though the interesting part was that the fences, buildings, and even the windmills that were on the farm house were made almost entirely out of metal, even though Spike was of the opinion that everything in this realm was made out of metal. There were even electric fences, ones that likely designed to keep any bugs out of the farm area, but based on the fact that Spyro, Spike, and Ember could see something that looked like a metallic bug, floating in the middle of the path that would take them to where the exit portal was located, meant that the fences were useless in some regard. The other interesting fact was that there was a massive light off in the distance, which seemed to be a rather important feature in this realm, though at the moment it didn't seem to be turned on and that might be the cause of this realm's problems, meaning there had to be a switch or something that they needed to flip to fix what whatever the problem was. The residents of this realm, as they soon discovered by looking at the flag that was in front of them, were tall beings, who stood at the same height that Hunter did, that were made out of metal and appeared to be robotic farmers, as even their clothing seemed to be made out of colored metal, though the one in front of them had a bug sprayer that must have been useful against small creatures, and, oddly enough, the Robot Farmer that was in front of them seemed to be having problems with his hips, as they were vibrating. "Howdy, Spyro, Spike, Ember. As you can see, we're having a bit of an infestation at the moment... do you guys think you can find the time to help us take care of them?" the Robot Farmer inquired, which was interesting to the siblings, as he had welcomed them to the realm and then immediately asked them for any help that they could provide him and the other Robot Farmers that were working all over the rest of the realm, though instead of saying anything they simply nodded their heads to show that they would help him out, "Great, then make your way over to the giant bug lamp and turn it on so we can zap any more invading pests." With that said the siblings glanced at the area that was in front of them and focused on the pair enemies that were in front of them, as there happened to be one that was floating in the air just in front of the first structure, a large metallic bee shaped robot, colored in the shape of an actual bee, while the other one, that was on the other side of the structure, was a large grasshopper shaped robot, with a green coloration, that was kicking metallic barrels in their direction as they emerged from a hole in the ground, but smashed against the front of the area they were standing on. "So the realm is Robotica Farms and the residents are Robot Farmers, which means that our enemies are going to be robots as well... so Robot Grasshopper and Robot Bee?" Spyro commented, as that was what he could determine just by looking at the pair of enemies that were in front of them at the moment, mostly because he wanted to have a chance to name some of the foes they had to take out, just like Spike and Ember had done in the past, before he glanced at Spike, who was making a note of what they were calling their new enemies. "That sounds about right." Spike replied, where he nodded his head as he finished writing those names into his notes, before he put everything away in his satchel and then focused on the area that was in front of them, because while he knew they could call these enemies by 'Robo' instead of 'Robot' he liked the sound of the latter and was sure that the rest of the dragons back home would agree with him. As Spyro stepped down into the area in front of them, or the side area that the Robot Grasshopper couldn't hit them in if they were careful, the Robot Bee focused on him and tried to blast him with its stinger, which was more like a missile when he saw what was happening, but before it could even reach him he rolled out of the way and then leapt into the air so he could burn his target with his flames, knocking it into the side of the structure that was in front of them. While he was doing that Ember picked up some nearby gems as Spike found that there was a rock that looked like it was covered in honey, but then discovered that it was a simple metal object that was shaped like a honeycomb, so he ignored it, since none of them really needed projectiles at the moment, as he and Ember headed over to where Spyro was standing. Once they were back together they focused on the Robot Grasshopper that was on the other side of the structure that they had to pass through, to get to the rest of the realm, meaning they had to be patient and wait for an opening to take the robot out, which quickly came as Ember rushed at her target, hardened her tail, and jumped over the barrel so she could smack the Robot Grasshopper in the face, breaking it in seconds. With that foe taken out, and the way was open, Spyro and Spike joined her as she explored the area that was in front of them, where they collected all the gems that were on the ground around them and noticed that this area had some normal sheep wandering around, along with a few enemies to take out as they progressed through the realm. What happened was that Ember rushed onto the walkway that the next Robot Grasshopper was standing on, kicking more of the barrels down towards where the first one of its type had been standing, even though they exploded before even hitting that area, and smashed the robot into the ground, though while she did that Spike spotted another Robot Bee and loosed an Arcane Missile at it, blasting the robot into a wall and wiping it out. While they did that Spyro found a new foe for them to focus on, a metallic beetle that looked like it was just as dangerous as the other foes in this realm, and when he charged it the beetle actually flipped over on its back and struggled to get back up so it could fight him, where he had an idea and jumped into the air, so he could spin around and used the Headbash to smash the Robot Beetle into a pile of pieces. Once the Robot Beetle had been wiped out, in addition to what his siblings had done, Spyro picked up a few gems that were lingering nearby and then stopped when he found a large fan that looked like it might allow them to lift themselves up to the area that was above them, a shortcut once the machinery was turned on, since it was currently off at the moment, before he shook his head and headed back to where his siblings were located. Ember was in the middle of smashing a few straw baskets and picking up the rest of the gems that were around them, while Spike took in the fact that the Robot Farmers were growing large metallic vegetables, where the ones he was staring at were carrots, making him wonder if there were more metallic food items in this part of the realm or if there were multiple areas that contained all of the other stuff farmers grew. Once they were sure this section of the realm had been cleared out they headed over to the lone structure that the Robot Grasshopper had been standing in front of and found that the blades that were attached to its fan were spinning, and had likely been spinning the entire time and this was when they noticed since the area had been cleared out, which was why they carefully waited near the opening before heading through, as none of them wanted to hurt their dragonflies by getting hit by one of the blades. It only took a few seconds for an opening to appear and for Spyro to take it, where he found a Robot Beetle waiting in the area in front of where the end of the path was located and rushed towards his foe, as he moved to the left and avoided the spinning attack that was coming his way, before charging into the robot once the attack was done, allowing him to Headbash the robot and break it. After he smashed the Robot Beetle into the ground his siblings emerged from the passage and they spread out as they searched the area that they were in, where Ember took care of a few straw baskets while Spike spotted some metallic vases and charged into them, breaking them apart so he could pick up the gems they contained. Spyro also found a few gems on the earthen step that let them walk down into the area that held a large metallic see-saw, one that would allow them to get up onto the next area that would take them to the large lamp that seemed to be their end destination, but they would have to move fast since one side of the see-saw was in their area and the other was near the top of the ledge in question, as it would lower when they walked over it, so he quickly smashed three more metallic vases before rejoining his siblings. What the siblings ended up doing was charging up the see-saw one by one, making sure to be quick about it so the device didn't suddenly shift on any of them, though thanks to their skills they were able to do that rather easily and were able to explore a brand new area with ease, where they started picking up gems as they spotted another see-saw that would allow them to progress even further in this realm. While they did that Spyro spotted a Robot Bee floating near the next see-saw, so as Spike and Ember moved behind the see-saw, to smash the couple of straw baskets that were beyond it, and collected the gems that they freed, so he jumped into the air and flamed the bee as his siblings found a path that lead them to another lower area that contained a few metallic vases and a number of gems to pick up, including more metallic carrots. Once that area was cleared out they regrouped with Spyro and took turns charging up the see-saw that would take them to the next part of this realm, where Spyro spotted two more Robot Bees patrolling the area in front of the structure that they needed to pass through, so he stepped to the side and let Spike walk forward, which was when Spike engaged his magic and blasted the pair out of the air with some Arcane Missiles. The moment that was done Ember stepped forward and walked by the spinning fan that was attached to the structure that was in front of them, and made sure to jump over the barrels that were coming their way, before reaching the Robot Grasshopper that was on the slim walkway that connected two parts of this realm together and used her hardened tail to smash hit to pieces, allowing her to reach the end of the walkway and head into the next part of the realm as her siblings caught up with her. On the other side of the walkway they found a Robot Beetle and a Robot Bee waiting for them, so while Spyro rushed forward and collided with the Robot Beetle, to force it one its back, Spike gathered his magic and blasted the Robot Bee out of the air, allowing his brother to finish off his foe in a matter of seconds, before they could look around the area they were in and start picking up the gems that were near them. Interestingly enough there was a circular metallic chest to their left, one that Ember was sure had a missile that would blow it to pieces, so they smashed the straw baskets behind it, to collect the gems, and then headed out to see what the rest of this realm had in store for them, even though Spike was interested in the electrified water that was between where they were currently standing and an area that seemed to have a few scarecrows that were being bothered by a number of bees, or what they assumed were bees. There was also a lone Robot Farmer, where the siblings noticed that he looked like he was in need of assistance, so what they did was smash the straw baskets that were around the farmer and then headed out to where some more baskets were located, near another turned off fan by the looks of it, before the siblings turned around and headed over to the next building that was near the area they had been looking at a few moments ago. The next building looked like it had been a barn at one point in time, but from what they had seen the entire structure had been cut in half and separated into two sections, connected by a lift that served as an elevator, though in front of the barn rested a Robot Grasshopper that was kicking barrels at nothing, so Spyro broke some metallic vases to the side and Spike blasted a nearby Robot Bee out of the air as Ember smashed the Robot Grasshopper with her hardened tail. As soon as that happened the siblings regrouped on the lift, which just so happened to lower itself down into the area that was right behind where the Robot Grasshopper had been standing, though the only thing that they found, when they road the lift up to the top of the barn, was a missile that, when Ember lit the fuse, raced off into the distance and collided with the circular metallic chest, so they backtracked a little and collected the gems that had been inside the chest, before heading back to where the Robot Bee had been floating earlier. With that taken care of Spyro, Spike, and Ember continued along the path that would take them to the inactive exit portal for this realm and smashed a few straw baskets that were near the electrified water, before they spotted a Robot Beetle that was patrolling the area in front of them and happened to have a Robot Grasshopper kicking some barrels at one of the walls. While Ember smashed the Robot Grasshopper, and Spyro dealt with the Robot Beetle, Spike picked up the gems that were near them and then walked forward, where he found two more Robot Bees hanging out in the area that they would be moving through, so he lashed out with his Arcane Missiles and blasted them out of the air, as he didn't want the small missiles the bees used to be used against him and his siblings. The next thing the three of them noticed was that there were two see-saws in this area, one that seemed to go nowhere and another that was connected to a small passage that went through one of the fan structures, and there was even a vent resting on the side of the cliff to their right, something that looked like they didn't need to mess with it at all. Spyro headed up the first see-saw and found a Robot Beetle hanging out in the area that wasn't important, so what he did was charge it and the Headbash it, smashing the robot to pieces to he could collect the gems that were up there, where he glided down into the area that Spike and Ember were currently heading to, one that had a few metallic vases and another Robot Beetle. It didn't take Spyro long to smash the next Robot Beetle, nor did it take his siblings long to break the metallic vases that were nearby, though once those had been taken care of they headed over to the area the beetle had been guarding and found nothing but a couple of gems, which they collected before heading back to where the second see-saw was located. This time around they had to purposely lower the see-saw so one of them could charge towards the other edge and then jump into the air, where they would have to glide over to the passage that was just below the structure and then use Spyro's Hover technique to get up to where the short passage was located, and they would have to plan their jumps so they didn't get hit by the fan blades. It didn't take Spyro long to actually make the jump and touch down inside the short passage, where he waited for Spike and Ember to do the same thing and made sure to give them some room for when they did what he just did, where he smiled as both of them completed the jump that he just went through, allowing them to focus on the next thing they needed to do, glide over to a Robot Grasshopper. What was interesting was that the foe in question didn't even seem interested in them, as the barrels it was kicking at the moment went over an edge and didn't seem to be hurting anything, so Ember quickly hardened her tail and smashed the robot into a pile of pieces, just like what happened to the others they had seen so far. Once that was taken care of they headed down into a slightly lowered area that was ahead of them and found a few gems, which they collected in a matter of seconds, before they found a few stone steps that just so happened to bring them up to where the large lamp was located, where they ignored the Robot Farmer for a few seconds and scouted out the area that was around the object they had been told to turn on, where all they found were a couple of gems and picked them up, before heading back to the Robot Farmer. When the siblings headed down to where the Robot Farmer was standing, and picked up the gems that happened to be in the area near him, they watched as the lamp turned on all of a sudden, without them actually touching anything this time around, so once that happened, and they were sure it didn't turn back off all of a sudden, Spyro, Spike, and Ember turned towards the Robot Farmer that was standing near them. "Way to go you guys! Them varmints won't be coming near our crops now." the Robot Farmer exclaimed, or at least that was what the siblings felt he was trying to do, since it seemed like robots had a really hard time with expressions, but they said nothing as he reached into the sack that was resting near them and pulled out an Orb, before turning back to face them, "Here, you guys can have this as a reward for helping us out." Spike accepted the Orb in question, since that was what they had come to collect, but at the same time it didn't really feel like they had earned this one, not like all of the other Orbs that they had picked up along the way, and stored it inside the Guidebook, before stashing the book away as the exit portal was activated before their eyes, which was the signal for them to find the other Orbs that were in this realm and finish helping the residents out, hence the reason they walked away from the exit portal and the Robot Farmer that was standing near it. "Okay, just out of curiosity, there's something I have to ask about." Ember remarked, where they came to a stop near the area the last Robot Grasshopper had been standing in, though as they came to a stop she stared at an area that was near them and found another Robot Farmer that was near the Powerup Gate for this realm and some large metallic pumpkins that seemed to be following a set path, before she focused on her brothers again, "Why would Ripto want to mess with this realm, if he had been involved in attacking it? I mean, the Robot Farmers seem to be producing nothing that the rest of Avalar would care about, so why would he want to bother this place?" "Because there is much more to this realm than what we can see," Spike replied, as he had pulled out the Guidebook the moment Ember asked her question, since he was expecting it to happen at some point, and he was definitely eager to see what he could learn about Robotica Farms, before they finished helping them out and headed for the last realm of this homeworld, and he could see that his siblings were interested in what he had to say, "According to what Elora wrote in the Guidebook, the Robot Farmers grow more than what we've seen so far and have many patches of farmland that they tend to, though while we have seen only metallic vegetables there are patches that grow actual wheat, vegetables, and anything else the residents of Avalar might eat. Of course the other realms do grow and produce some of their own food stores as well, so everything doesn't solely depend on what the Robot Farmers produce and if someone is bothering them, but that would be the reason that Ripto would attack this realm, to cut off most of the food supplies and force the residents of Avalar to submit to get their food back." "Its surprising that there are so many realms that could force Avalar into submission," Spyro commented, because he did understand the significance of the realms they had been to so far, especially after everything they had seen so far since they started this adventure, but it was like he said, there were a number of realm that, if one were to be taken out by someone, that would force this land to stop resisting and simply give in. "But that seems to be the reason behind why Ripto would attack this realm, to cut off the amount of food the rest of this land has access to." Spike stated, to which he closed the Guidebook and slipped it back into his satchel, where Spyro and Ember could see that he was disappointed in what he learned, though he sighed for a moment, "I was hoping to learn more about this realm than what Elora had written, but I guess that means that there isn't much more to discover about this realm, other than the fact that these guys are farmers and that they tend to their fields all the time." "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll discover more about this realm once we've defeated Ripto and you visit Cloud Temples to see what is in their archives." Ember remarked, because while she and Spyro knew that Spike was disappointed in what he had found out so far, and how limited that information was, they also understood what their brother could do when they finally brought an end to their foe's rampage and restored order to this land, as she was sure that Elora and the others would answer all of Spike's questions and then some, before they returned to their home. Spike nodded his head as a happy smile appeared on his face, showing his siblings that the idea of seeing what the archives of Cloud Temple had for him was more than enough to overcome his disappointment, after what he discovered from reading the Guidebook's section on Robotica Farms, to which they got up from where they sitting and headed out to where the other Robot Farmer was standing, who seemed surprised to see them after a moment, though there was one of the Question Mark Jars in this area, something they would chase later. "I used to drive my tractor all around the farm, both this section and all the other sections by using this track, but one of the others, a fool in my books, has decided to block the path with pumpkins." the Robot Farmer declared, informing the three of them what the problem was and what they could do to fix it, as Spike noticed that the Powerup Gate was one of the Supercharge Gates, meaning they would have to charge through the area, smash through all of the pumpkins, and get back to where this robot was standing, "Do you guys think you can help me out? All I know is that the track and be cleared by using a bit of Supercharging, to smash the pumpkins and open the way." Instead of heading down the track one at a time, like they did the last time they found one of these areas, Spyro was the first one to walk through the Supercharge Gate and went down the track that was in front of them, choosing to break all of the pumpkins that were in the way, while Spike and Ember followed after him, breaking the vast number of straw baskets and smashing the metallic vases that their brother left behind. The reason for this was because Spyro had his focus on the number of pumpkins that needed to be smashed apart, along with keeping an eye out for the various jumps and turns that were in front of him, allowing his siblings to see what they needed to do ahead of time and respond before they reached the area in question. It was a good strategy that allowed the siblings to break every pumpkin that happened to be in their way, smash all of the straw baskets that were on the track, break all of the metallic vases that were between where all of the pumpkins were located, and pick up all of the gems that were along the way, both the ones that had been resting on the track and the ones that had been freed from the containers they had been in. Of course they didn't do this is one go, they had to go through the track two or three times to actually collect everything that was on the sections of track that the Supercharge Gate was connected to, before Spike verified that all of the items had been picked up and that they had no reason to run down the track anymore, regardless of how fun it might be. Once they were done with that they headed over to where the Robot Farmer was standing, as it was time to tell him the good news, get the Orb he was holding onto, and then see where the Question Mark Jar would take them, before they helped the robot near the scarecrows and collected the last Orb that was in this realm, so they could leave and head over to Metropolis, to see what sort of problems they were facing. "A fine piece of steering that was, dragons." the Robot Farmer declared, sounding happy about what they had done for him, in clearing out the track and making it what he used to use in the past, before he reached into his pack and pulled out an Orb, something that he presented to the siblings as their reward, "Here, you guys can have this thing-a-ma-jig that I found resting in the corner of the barn we keep the cows in, far away from the pens that the cows were wandering around in, and I'll get back to driving my tractor." Spike accepted the Orb and quickly stashed it inside the Guidebook, so it could rest with the rest of their collection, before he and his siblings turned around and found that the Question Mark Jar was close to where the exit portal rested, as it was on the small lower ledge they had walked on earlier, to which they headed over to it and flamed it, only to be a little surprised when it headed over to where the other Robot Farmer was waiting for them, to which they glided over to that area and approached the robot in question. "Oh, I'm glad you guys came by to help me out," the Robot Farmer said, where he turned to face them once they came to a stop near him, even though Spyro hit the Question Mark Jar to send it away so they could focus on the robot that they were talking to, before he gestured to the area the scarecrows were in, "Those bugs are making a joke of my expensive robot scarecrows, which are supposed to scare off the bugs and protect the crops... I'm beginning to think I was robbed when I bought them from that bear. Anyway, can you guys take care of them and make sure they don't come back? They don't respond to what's inside my bug sprayer, or any of the other things I've tried so far, so chasing them away seems to be the only thing that might work." "Bear? Of course he'd do something like this." Ember remarked, to which she shook her head for a moment, as she was not expecting to hear that Moneybags had sold something to the residents of this realm, even though that really didn't come as a surprise to her considering that he had a hand in half of the realms that were in Avalar, before she sighed and focused on the matter at claw, "Sure, we'll take care of them... and Spike will likely ask the Alchemist of Fracture Hills if he can make something to help you guys out." Before the Robot Farmer could say anything to that the siblings glided over the electric water and landed in the area that the scarecrows were in, where they found four pinkish colored robot bugs hovering near one of the scarecrows, as if they hadn't noticed the fact that they had company, but before the bugs could fly off Spike threw up a barrier around the scarecrow in question and trapped the metallic bugs. Once that was done he then opened a small opening for Spyro to slip through, before the bugs were able to notice and make use of the opening, to which he and Ember watched as their brother flamed the metallic pests, breaking them in the process, but the moment the last one had fallen, and Spike took away the barrier, Ember headed over to the bugs and smashed them with her hardened tail, just to make sure none of them got back up. The moment that was done they explored the rest of the area, finding some gems on the two walkways that connected the area together and found three metallic vases that were near the wall that held some of the electric fences, but after a few moments they found that was it, there was nothing else for them to collect over here, so the three of them headed back to the Robot Farmer to give him the good news. With all three Orbs in this realm collected, along with the majority of the gems, all they would have to do is chase the Question Mark Jar and claim the gems that were inside it, then they could leave this realm and focus on the last realm that needed assistance, before heading to face the foe they were supposed to be defeating. "My fields are safe from those flying vermin, at long last!" the Robot Farmer declared, to which he pulled out an Orb and handed it over to Spike, who was smiling as they accepted it, before he turned to head over to where the scarecrows were located, indicating that he was planning on returning to what he had been doing before the metallic bugs showed up and started messing with him, "I found that doodad in the ground yesterday, though I have no idea why it was there in the first place... but you're more than welcome to have that as a reward." It didn't take Spike long to store the Orb inside the Guidebook and put the book back in his satchel, though once that was done he and his siblings headed back to where the starting area was located, as that would allow them to locate the next area the Question Mark Jar had headed to, before it came to a stop and they smashed it for the gems that the jar held inside it. The area that the teleporting jar moved to happened to be near the second see-saw that they encountered in this realm, which gave them a chance to see that all of the large fans had been turned on, meaning that once they smashed the jar and collected its gems they could use one of the devices to return to the exit portal, before they located the jar in question and smacked it, causing it to teleport again. After that it headed to the front of the first structure they had to pass through to enter the rest of this realm, though when they located it again, and smacked it again, the jar shattered and let the siblings collect the gems that had been inside it, before they checked with Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, to be sure that all of the gems in this realm had been collected. A few seconds went by before the dragonflies indicated that all of the gems had been collected and that they were free to leave Robotica Farms, to which they quickly headed over to where the fans were located and used one of them to get back up to where the exit portal was located. With this realm taken care of Spyro, Spike, and Ember headed through the exit portal and began the short trek back to Winter Tundra, as it was time for them to tackle whatever was happening in Metropolis, challenge Canyon Speedway, and then, at long last, face Ripto and bring peace back to Avalar, before stopping the war that Zephyr and Breeze Harbor were currently engaged in.