//------------------------------//
// Year: Buzzing Butterflies 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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With Seashell Shore assisted, and their Rhynoc problem had been taken care of, the siblings and Elora returned to Sunrise Spring and found that the Seal that had gone through the exit portal earlier was waiting for them for some strange reason, where he informed them that he was going to be standing by the hot air balloon with the couple of residents from the other realms they had assisted so far. That informed the group that all of their hard work was actually paying off, that Sheila and the others would be bringing down the hot air balloon for them, so they wouldn't have to worry about figuring out how to get the vehicle down to the floor, but instead of following the Seal over to the castle in question, and moving forward to the next homeworld, they headed to another area. Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora were interested in what was on the other side of the tower's portal, hence the reason that they jumped over to the steps that would lead up there and started walking once they landed, only to find that the door that had been on it earlier, when Spyro had investigated the area, was gone and that there was definitely a portal waiting for them to use it. Interestingly enough they discovered that the name of the area they would be heading towards was Mushroom Speedway, meaning that the homeworlds of the Forgotten Realms had a Flight Realm as well, just like the Dragon Realms and Avalar did.

As such the four of them went through the portal and made their way to the small island that it would lead them to, as they were sure that was what they would discover once they arrived at their destination, especially since that was what the rest of the Flight Realms the siblings had been in were like, small islands that were near the actual homeworld, but they knew that time would reveal if they were right or not.

When they arrived at their destination they discovered that the island in question was smaller than what they were expecting it to be, there was a collapsed tree trunk to their left, and there were a number of large mushrooms scattered around the area that they were now in, be it near them or off in the distance, meaning that the name of the Speedway was living up to its name. It basically looked like they were ants in a grassy area of some kind, since they were smaller than the dandelion that was in front of them, which was rather interesting when they thought about it and glanced around to look at the rest of the area, finding that all of them were smaller than everything that was in this realm, meaning that all of it had grown to their current sizes, either because that was normal or because someone modified the realm. As they stood there, however, Sparx, Talon, and Cinder flew off and went to look around the area in question, as the difference between this Flight Realm and all of the others was that none of the siblings were already flying around the realm and that they were actually standing on the ground, meaning that there had to be some sort of decision that needed to be made before they started looking for the items that needed to be tapped for the flight challenge. It wasn't hard for Spike to determine that their dragonflies had flown off to find someone to talk to, since they were at the point where they could actually make sounds and actually talk, meaning that they could converse with their dragonflies like Bruno and the other Leaders had been able to do so, leading to the siblings to simply stand there as they waited for their partners to come back, before any of them even considered taking on the course they had discovered.

It didn't take the three dragonflies long to return to where the group was standing, even though the siblings did spot some decent sized butterflies flying around the realm, but once they arrived the group turned and focused on them, as all of them were interested in what they were going to be doing here and knew that the dragonflies would be able to reveal what was going on.

"According to the butterflies, there are two flying challenges in this Speedway," Sparx said, where the group heard the buzzing that was common when dragonflies talked to someone, be they dragon or something else, but, at the same time, they could also make out the words that were being said at the moment, even though they remained silent as they waited for Sparx to finish what he had to say, "one called 'Time Attack', which seems to be what you guys usually do when you first visit a Flight Realm, and 'Race the Butterflies', where one of you will have to race a couple of Butterflies and get first place to get the prize."

"So, there are two eggs, for sure, in this Flight Realm," Spike commented, because it sounded like what they had found when they did the Speedways of Avalar a year ago, even if it was just a decent number of gems and a single Orb, and he could see that his siblings seemed to be agreeing with him at the moment, "though there could be another one lurking in part of this realm... Spyro, what do you think we should do?"

"Take it one step at a time, and that means starting with the Time Attack," Spyro remarked, though his decision was based on the fact that he was thinking it was the same as the previous Flight Realms they had taken on, where they would have to take down four sets of targets and collect the gems that came from them, potentially even getting an egg for their efforts as well, "then one of us can race the Butterflies for the other egg."

"Well, while you guys do that, I'm going to go find Hunter," Elora said, where she stepped away from the siblings for a moment and tapped one of the buttons on her bracelet, causing her wings to unfold in a matter of seconds, before she considered what she was going to do, as the Professor claimed that they were supposed to work in the Speedways, or the 'Flight Realms', as the siblings called them, but that function was untested as well, "I know for a fact that he loves these Speedways, so he's likely here somewhere, either working on his equipment or getting ready to try the challenges on his own, so while you three tackle the challenges I'll go see what Hunter's doing."

Spyro, Spike, and Ember looked at her for a moment, mostly because they could see that she was eager to test part of the wings out and that they were ready to assist her if something bad happened, before Elora rushed forward and jumped into the air, like she had seen when the siblings took to the air in the Flight Realms of the Dragon Realms, just to practice their moves, all while hoping that things worked out for her. A few moments later she found herself flying through the air like the siblings had done in the past, where a smile graced her face as she noticed what was going on, and she did a few flips in the air to make sure things were working like they were supposed to, before she headed off to find Hunter, since she knew that he had to be here somewhere. As she flew around the island, getting excited by what she was able to do with the armor's wings, Elora noticed what the targets the siblings had to take down where, as there were eight rings in a curved line behind where they appeared, along with eight dandelions that seemed to form a curved path around to the back of the hollowed trunk, which was where she spotted some decent sized green colored spiders, eight of them to be exact, and then located some Butterflies flying around a mushroom that was in the water. It was clear that those weren't the ones that were taking part in the race, as they didn't seem to care about the siblings all that much, but while all three of them started with the rings they separated from each other once that was done, with Spyro following the dandelions, Spike turning to head for the spiders, and Ember focused on the Butterflies that were near the mushroom, showing Elora just how skilled they were while they flew around the island.

In fact, after watching them for a minute or two, Elora landed on top of part of the hollowed tree trunk and watched as the siblings landed near the starting area for this island, where the Butterflies delivered an egg to them, but instead of sending it off to the Dragon Realms, like they usually did, Spike and Ember stood off to the side with the new egg as Spyro challenged the Butterflies to a race for the other one, even though Spike also counted the gems that they recovered from taking out the targets of the challenge they just completed. Not even a few seconds later an entire race track, formed from a number of green rings and red dots, where the dots seemed to indicate the path a racer had to follow, appeared all over the island, meaning that Spyro would have to fly over the entire area and race the couple of Butterflies, who flew over to where the starting line was located so he could join them. Elora watched as he followed them towards the starting line and noticed that the five Butterflies were spaced out to indicate who was in first place and who was in the other places, while Spyro was, of course, in last place to start with, and it wasn't long before the race officially started and the six racers took off rather quickly as they followed the course that was in front of them. What she discovered was that there were also a couple of blue stars shaped rings, with five points to be exact, that actually served as boosts that allowed someone to go faster for a short period of time, not enough to really give Spyro an edge, but, despite that fact, it was clear that he was able to remain near the closest Butterfly that was in front of him and it wasn't long before he actually overcame the first one and started to follow after the next one.

Elora found that Spyro's speed and grace while flying was something that Spike and Ember hadn't been exaggerating about when they told her about it, as he was able to overtake the next couple of Butterflies by the time he reached the third and final lap, meaning that it was between him and the leader, and it wasn't long before he was able to overcome the last Butterfly that he had to pass and managed to fly through the final ring while being in first place, where he gained a second egg as his reward... though once that was done Elora continued flying before finding Hunter at the base of one of the large mushrooms, one that was hollowed at the base.

"There you are, Hunter, I've been looking for you." Elora said, though at the same time she noticed the vehicle that was behind her friend, which happened to be his plane that had been modified since the last time Spyro and his siblings had seen it, as this time it was orange colored and its wingspan was longer than it had been a year ago, but even as she saw it she wasn't going to ask how he had gotten it to the Forgotten Realms, as she had the feeling that the Professor might have helped him do this in some manner.

"Oh, hey Elora, I see you're breaking in your wings... as odd as that sounds." Hunter remarked, revealing that he was still caught off guard by the fact that his friend even had such a thing, even if it was supposed to help her traverse all of the realms and homeworlds that she and the siblings explored, before he finished what he was doing and closed the lid on his plane's engine area so he could turn and look at her again, "I figured that, while you, Spyro, Spike, and Ember were busy with the other realms, that I would take a small break and take my new and improved plane out for a test drive... and, if the sensor that the Professor installed is to be believed, there are a couple of flying saucers coming in with weapons ready to blast the race course to pieces."

"So you're going to take the plane out and fight the saucers that are coming?" Elora inquired, though she wasn't really surprised by what she was hearing, as Hunter had a soft spot for Speedways and didn't like it when people were trying to tear one apart, or at least attempt to damage one in some manner, despite the fact that it seemed like he was mostly doing it as an excuse to test his machine out, instead of looking for the missing eggs.

"And they might have an egg, based on the readings." Hunter stated, informing Elora that there was another reason behind what he was doing, but before he could really say anything his plane made a noise and he had to excuse himself for a moment, to which he climbed into the vehicle and started pressing buttons so he could start moving and take to the skies at long last, where Elora flew away and landed on top of the hollowed trunk.

Once she had done that, and made sure that the siblings remained still for a moment, Hunter took to the air as a few saucers flew into the area, seven of them to be exact, and this time around Hunter wasn't the only one that had a weapon to use against his foes, as the saucers loosed balls of energy that would likely stall his plane and cause him to crash if he was unlucky, though the siblings and Elora weren't worried, as they knew that such a thing wouldn't happen. Hunter flew through the air and started firing at the saucers that were invading the island, rolling out of the way when he got close to one of his foes or when he had to dodge the incoming attacks from his enemies, and it wasn't long before the first one exploded before their eyes, showing them that Hunter was ready for combat. He even added a few tricks in, which Elora knew was to make sure the plane worked as it was supposed to, and the first one he did was right after blasting the next opponent he was tracking down, as the moment that foe was blown up he did a quick turn of some kind, like he was doing a backflip, and came up behind the other foe that had been following him, so he blew it up from behind before heading out to find the other enemies he needed to take out. While that was going on Elora quickly flew over to where the siblings were waiting, where Spyro had to admit that Hunter was doing a good job at dealing with the saucers that were trying to take him down, and it wasn't long before another saucer was blown out of the sky, leaving three more for him to blast out of the sky as he outmaneuvered them in seconds.

As such it wasn't long before the remaining enemies were blown out of the sky and he freed an egg from the saucers, one that Elora grabbed onto as soon as she noticed it, even if that required her flying out to do that, before she returned it to the siblings as Hunter flew off to make sure his plane was just fine, only for Spike to determine all three eggs were just fine and sent them to the Dragon Realms. Once that was done the siblings took to the air and headed for the edge of the realm they were in, where they did wait for a second as Elora followed after them, though she knew that once they made it to the area that they were heading for they would disappear from the island and would reappear in Sunrise Spring, which the siblings had told her about during their rest after saving Avalar and stopping the war. She was also sure that Hunter would find his own way back, once he was done fiddling with his plane, but for now her focus was on following the siblings, returning to the homeworld that was pretty much cleared out at this point, save for a section of Molten Crater and the odd sign that Zoe had left earlier, and then seeing where the hot air balloon would take them to the next homeworld, which would allow them to repeat the same thing in a brand new environment. The siblings were also ready to see what the next homeworld had to throw at them, especially the realms that they would find once they got there, something that Spike could look up thanks to the Guidebook he had picked up earlier, though they were sure that the realms were under attack by the Sorceress, just like the ones they had just finished assisting.

It didn't take them long to return to Sunrise Spring, where they landed in front of the tower that contained the portal to the Speedway, so what they did was turn around and glide down to the castle's entrance, though as they did that, and Elora made sure to put her wings away so they could all fit in the large basket, Sheila and the others quickly pulled the hot air balloon down and let go of the ropes, allowing the basket to touch the ground.

"Hey guys, this balloon will take you to a homeworld that is closer to the Sorceress' base of operations, though it will take about an hour to get there," Sheila said, informing the group as to what they were going to be doing for the next hour or so, which was just fine with them since it would give them a chance to rest from everything they had done so far since they started their quest to find and recover all of the stolen dragon eggs, "and you can use it to come back here whenever you want to, just in case you left something important behind."

"Well, that's good to know. Thanks for the tip." Spyro replied, because it was nice to know that they could always use the hot air balloon to return to this homeworld, since there was still that portion of Molten Crater and Zoe's sign that they needed to look into at some point in the future, before he turned towards the others for a moment and beckoned with his head for a moment, giving the sign that they were waiting for.

It took Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora a few moments to climb into the basket and get themselves comfortable, even if they were rather surprised by the fact that the entire thing was large enough for four people to sit in, as if someone in the Forgotten Realms had known they were coming ahead of time and had created one that had enough room for all of them, but once they were inside the basket, and were ready to go, they discovered that it responded to magic and Spike made sure it knew that they were heading to the next homeworld, which was when they headed through the ceiling and started the journey to the next land they were going to explore.





As it turned out there wasn't much for the group to look at as they traveled from Sunrise Spring and headed to whatever the next homeworld was, a place called Midday Gardens according to the Guidebook, so they spent the majority of their time just resting and recovering from what they had done in the couple of realms they had helped out so far, that way they could tackle all of the new realms at one hundred percent. Spyro wasn't all that surprised that the trek from the first homeworld to the second was nearly the same amount of time as what he and his siblings had to do in the Dragon Realms  when they wanted to travel from their home to the next homeworld, and the reason behind that was because the ancient dragons had used to live here, so it made sense that they would try to have everything be sort of similar to what they were used to, with some slight alterations. Ember, on the other claw, said nothing as she recovered from using the Warrior's Armor so many times, because even though she could use it for a long period of time without rest, thanks to the intense training she went through, it was nice to have a moment to regain her power in some manner, and the other reason she was keeping quiet was so she didn't interrupt what Spike was doing. Elora looked out at the area around them and found that it didn't take them all that long to leave Sunrise Spring behind, though what was interesting was that there were a number of stone platforms and steps that could be used to allow someone to follow after them if they had enough skill to do something like that, and she was sure that some of them were molten rocks that were cooling off.

In fact there were more molten rocks appearing in the area in front of them, following the same path that the hot air balloon was following, to which the siblings stopped what they were doing and glanced at the area that happened to be in front of them, and it wasn't long before they discovered a brand new molten area that reminded them of Molten Crater, as the area in front of them had a ring of tall mountains that stopped the lava from pouring out into the rest of the sea that was near Sunrise Spring. That was before they found a number of somewhat tall molten rocks, which were about a quarter of the height of the mountains, scattered all over the area that was below them, causing the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they looked at the area the hot air balloon happened to be moving through, though they were all curious if another realm was in the process of being made, just like Molten Crater. That was before they found what seemed to be the middle of the area, as there was a tall mountain, taller than the various mountains that formed the ring, that was spewing lava out into the rest of the area, while an odd circular ring rested in the area that was right in front of it, one that seemed to be made out of lava resistant stone and metal, and on the other side of the ring, lined up with the large mountain, was an odd structure that looked like something from Sunrise Spring, or Sunny Villa to be exact. Spike had the thought that someone was in the middle of studying the lava filled area for some reason, maybe to keep track of what it was doing and how it changed as the weeks and months went by, but right now it didn't seem like anyone was in this area, most likely due to what the Sorceress was doing to the Forgotten Realms.

Of course that was before they spotted something interesting, there was a huge green colored spherical shaped beast standing near the edge of the circular ring, with decent sized legs, small arms, a powerful looking tail, and a yellow pattern on the front of its chest, chin, arms, and legs, that came complete with small spikes on its back, but when they saw Sheila standing down there, near the other edge of the ring, Spike manipulated the hot air balloon and made it land near their new friend, so they could get out and see what was going on, while making sure it would retreat to a safe distance in case this was a boss encounter.

"Hey guys, I'm glad I could catch up with you." Sheila stated, where the group could tell that she was a little winded from having to run and jump over the molten rocks that had allowed her to reach this area in the first place, just to catch up to them in the first place, even though Spike knew they must have been traveling for about thirty minutes, since this area seemed to be resting between Sunrise Spring and Midday Gardens, "I forgot to mention something before you guys left with the hot air balloon, and that was the fact that the Sorceress was planning on ambushing you at some point, as she loves to use that tactic against those that oppose her, especially against the more troublesome individuals, because that's how she captured me and three others that you'll likely meet in the other homeworlds. Anyway, once I recalled that bit of information, I left Sunrise Spring and came here, since this seemed to be the best place to place an ambush between my home and the next homeworld, and I'm glad that I managed to catch up with you guys, since she totally had something ready to attack you guys. No worries, though, as this wussy green toad won't be a match for two of us, much less all five of us at the same time... and there's a chance that this toad has one of the eggs you're looking for."

"Well, that explains why she thought an ambush would work on us," Spyro remarked, because using the eggs to lure them into an ambush or a trap was a rather smart idea, even though this one totally failed and there was no way it would work on them this time around, to which the four of them faced the toad that was in front of them as Sheila joined them, showing their foe that the five of them were ready for whatever attacks it had up its sleeves, "come on, let's show the Sorceress that we're not to be underestimated."

As the others nodded their heads Ember rushed forward and charged right into the center of the creature's chest, an action that knocked it backwards and sent it closer to the edge of the arena that they were fighting on, almost like she had hit a balloon of some kind, but as the creature stared at her, with a look in its eyes that indicated that it was going to attack her, a couple of Arcane Missiles flew through the air and struck the creature again. Not a few seconds later the creature fell into the lava that was behind it and Sheila found an opening that she could exploit, as she got near the edge of the ring and jumped into the air, where she spun around and stomped on their foe's head for a moment, something that allowed her to bounce back to the arena as the creature was pushed under the lava for a few seconds. That was followed by their foe bursting out of the lava and touching down on the arena floor, where it spun around and started to move after one of them, where it seemed to be heading for Elora, who grinned for a moment as she jumped backwards as Ember, having activated her Warrior's Armor over her entire body, swapped places with her and stood her ground, allowing her to stall the creature in its tracks, surprising it in the process. While it was stunned, and Ember caused it to stop spinning after a few more seconds, Elora jumped up and kicked the creature in the face with the side of her leg, knocking it backwards like the others had done, allowing Spyro to repeat the process by charging into their foe's chest and pushed it even further back than it had been a few moments ago, before Elora rushed forward and kicked it in the face again so it would fly off into the lava again, which was Sheila's cue to hit it again.

This time around, when the creature rolled after one of them, Spike stood his ground and summoned a barrier that quickly stopped it in its tracks, where he determined that their foe was designed to scare them away from the Forgotten Realms, just like Bianca had done earlier, and wondered if this was something that Bianca had made, but pushed the idea to the side as Spyro pushed their foe backwards with a charge to the chest. What was surprising was that the creature, as it jumped to the side, summoned a ring of fire around it and it seemed to chuckle for a moment, as if it felt that none of them would be able to do anything about it, before they proved it wrong a few seconds later thanks to Ember, as she rushed forward with her Warrior's Armor up and passed through the flames without being hurt. The charge pushed their foe even further back, forcing it closer and closer to the edge of the ring they were fighting on, and when it jumped it tried the ring of flames again, only for Spike to weave his magic into the area and opened a ring for someone to jump through, bypassing their foe's technique entirely, which was the moment that Elora passed through it and punched the creature in the face, somehow doing enough to push it back like she had charged into it. That made Spike wonder if their foe had been designed to mimic a balloon in some manner, based on how a single hit, regardless of what the attack happened to be, had the power to knock their foe backwards, but he knew that now wasn't the time for him to be thinking about that as Spyro waited for the third ring of fire to die down before hitting the creature into the lava, allowing Sheila to jump into the air once more and smash it into the lava for a few more seconds.

The creature growled as it burst out of the lava again and started to roll around the area once more, where they found that it was targeting Ember once more and was intending on running her over again, though it hadn't learned its lesson from the first time it tried this and was stopped by rolling right into Ember's Warrior's Armor, something that allowed her to knock it backwards all over again. It was in that moment that they discovered that the creature was going to try the fire ring trick again, where it chuckled at them once more, clearly thinking that it had the upper hand in this battle, despite the fact that they were taking it down, and instead of trying anything Spyro just waited for the ring to die down before striking at their foe with a quick charge. From there the creature jumped to the side again, where the group realized that it was in the middle of attempting to make sure it wouldn't be knocked back into the lava, and created a brand new ring of flames to protect itself once more, and this time Spike simply loosed an Arcane Orb into their foe's chest and watched as it was pushed even closer to the lava once more. At that point the creature tried the ring of fire again, showing that it wasn't very bright and that it wasn't learning from what they were doing to it, but as Spike weaved his magic into the area, and created an opening for Elora to jump through so she could kick the creature in the face with the side of her leg, he did notice that some bits of Transmogrification magic lingering on their foe, meaning Bianca or the Sorceress had been behind what they were seeing at the moment.

It didn't take Sheila long to smash into their foe's head and bury it in the lava some more, just like she had done so far, though not a few moments later it burst out of the lava again and started to roll around the area once more, clearly trying to run one of them over, before eventually coming to a stop as it faced them and jumped to the side as it summoned a ring of fire. That was when it added another attack to the routine, as not a few seconds after the ring of fire was created it seemed to suck the fire into its mouth and then loosed a few fireballs at them, where Ember stood still and let the attacks hit her Warrior's Armor, shrugging them off like they were nothing, before she rushed forward and struck their foe in the chest once more, pushing it back towards the lava once more. The creature jumped to the side again and tried the same tactic on them, where this time around Spike summoned a barrier around them to prevent the fireballs from reaching him, his siblings, Elora, or Sheila, and once that was done he blasted the creature in the chest with an Arcane Orb, getting it rather close to where the lava was located, but this time around, instead of letting it jump to the side, Elora rushed forward as it landed and kicked its face again, knocking it into the lava once more. Sheila made sure to smash the creature into the depths of the lava once more, inflicting even more damage on it, despite the fact that it didn't appear that they were even slowing it down, something that caused Spike to wonder if it was time to test out the reversal spell that he had found in the tome he had been reading before this adventure started. Not a few moments later the creature burst out of the lava and tried what it had just done once more, summoning a ring of fire and then sucked up the fire to loose a group of small fireballs at them, where this time around Spike loosed a burst of Arcane Missiles to cancel out the incoming attack, which allowed Spyro, Ember, and Elora to rush forward, hitting the creature with two charges and a kick to the face, knocking it right back into the lava that was around them.

This time the group remained still as they watched what happened next, as the creature struggled in the lava for a few seconds, just like it had done before Sheila struck it, before it eventually sunk beneath the lava and disappeared, where it took Spike a few seconds to determine that it was no longer kicking, meaning they had won the fight and had defeated the ambush that the Sorceress had set for them.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sheila stated, because the last ambush she had fought in had ended with some bad results, her being captured and caged in her own homeworld, before Ember dived into the lava, something that made her raise her eyebrow for a moment as she turned and looked at the others for a moment, "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think dragons are immune to lava."

"Well, Spike and Ember are unique among dragons, they're immune to lava." Elora remarked, though she didn't fault Sheila for thinking that way, as for a time she had been thinking the same thing when the siblings had been called to her own home, to deal with Ripto and his minions, before discovering that they were more unique than what she and the others had originally thought, especially since this was an unusual power for them to have.

Sheila stayed silent for a moment, as she wasn't sure what to make of the situation, though that was before Ember burst out of the lava and landed nearby with the egg the creature had been carrying, where Spike took a look at it, just to make sure that nothing was wrong with it, before sending the egg off to the Dragon Realms, which was the moment that they bid Sheila farewell, who waved farewell to them as the hot air balloon came down to them, before climbing up into the basket and took off so they could reach the next homeworld and continue their quest to recover all of the remaining stolen dragon eggs.