It took the group another half an hour to reach their destination, Midday Gardens as they discovered thanks to what Spike had discovered for them, but at the very least they were able to rest and recover from the battle that they had been in after leaving Sunrise Spring, not to mention all of the realms that they had assisted since they arrived in the Forgotten Realms, which was going to happen all over again once the hot air balloon came to a stop. Spike spent some time getting some information on the homeworld that they were heading towards, while Spyro and Ember simply sat down and rested for the rest of the journey, allowing Elora to smile as she looked out at the area they were heading through and focused on the next island that they were getting closer and closer to, which they could see off in the distance. Based on what they knew Sheila had turned around and headed back to Sunrise Spring, to rest from the battle as well and then, once that was done, head out to help out another realm that they may or may not visit at some point in the future, though time would tell, especially since she had dropped something interesting, there were three more allies they might find in the near future. At the same time the group knew that Bianca was only trying to scare them off, based on what they had seen and what Spike had been able to figure out on his own, including what they discovered during the fight with the odd creature, but that only made him interested in meeting the young sorceress again.
Eventually the four of them stopped what they were doing as they drew even closer to their destination and stared out at the homeworld in question, where it seemed that there was a steadily rising brown mountain and a dense forest all over the land, making them curious as to what the realms of this land would be, before they discovered a clearing that seemed to be the area they would be exploring as they looked for the missing eggs. From what the group could tell there were a few interesting structures that were scattered around the homeworld they were heading towards, where one seemed to be a square shaped keep with an opening in the top, which had to be where the hot air balloon was heading, another was a temple of some kind, and a few different looking structures that had to be the portals to the other realms, which Spike would name as they moved through the land. All of them were interested in what the new realms would have in terms of enemies and challenges that would give them the stolen eggs, just like what they had done for the various realms they had assisted so far, as well as the fact that they were curious as to who their new ally would be, since they had to be against what the Sorceress was doing to the lands of the Forgotten Realms. Elora took a moment to make sure that her armor was at the ready, just like how Spike packed up his stuff and Ember tapped her bracers against each other for a moment, while Spyro simply stood there and shifted his scarf for a moment, knowing that things were going to get harder from this point forward, to an extent anyway.
After a few more moments the hot air balloon came to a stop above the hole in the keep's ceiling and stalled, which was when it lowered through the opening and descended towards the ground, where the group jumped out the moment it reached the floor and looked at the tile pattern that was below them, before raising their eyebrows for a second as they glanced out through the opening that served as the doorway for the keep, as the rest of the realm was rather beautiful from what they could see at the moment.
Before doing anything else the group took a moment to look at the area that was around them, where they quickly found four paintings on the walls of the keep, two to their right and two to their left, to which the four of them looked at them for a moment, because it might help them determine the races that they would be helping out in the various realms that were attached to this homeworld. The first one that they looked at was a small Panda that seemed to be about their height, with blue and white fur instead of black and white fur, and she seemed to be wearing a nice pink shirt, before moving onto the next paining that revealed a creature that walked on two legs and had a tail that seemed to have a light attached to it, a Firefly as Spike told the others, and it was wearing a blue uniform of some kind and some large glasses over its eyes, maybe protecting its eyes from some sort of light. Once they were done looking at those two they turned towards the other pair and discovered that one of them was a white furred Polar Bear that was wearing winter gear, while the other was a creature that stood on two legs, had nothing that looked like it belonged to an animal, and happened to be holding a cup of coffee with an interesting uniform on, before noticing that its ears were slightly pointed and that they were known as Purple Villagers, based on the color of their skin apparently. Based on what they discovered in Sunrise Spring, about how the residents helped them with the hot air balloon, it was possible that the residents of the new realms would do something like that as well, meaning there was another reason to be helping them out, before they smashed the three straw baskets that were in front of them and collected the gems that had been inside them.
Once that was done, and they knew that there weren't anything else for them to collect inside the keep, Spyro turned towards the opening and headed through it as his siblings and Elora followed after him, only for Spike to stop them as soon as they headed outside the keep, allowing them to see the rainbow trail appear in the air once more as Bianca came down into the area that was in front of them, and she didn't seem happy when she appeared in front of them, though they knew it was a facade to scare them.
"Okay, I have to admit that the lot of you have managed to survive much longer than what I originally thought, but this is where things will get harder," Bianca stated, where she actually seemed like she was surprised that the four of them had been able to get this far in their adventure, especially since they overcame the creature that she sent to ambush and scare them into leaving the Forgotten Realms, just like she tried to do in Sunrise Spring, but it was clear that her heart wasn't in this and that she was only following what her mentor told her to do, "none of you have the slightest idea what sort of dangers lie ahead of you, dangers that will leave you speechless when you see them."
"Technically, we do know what's ahead of us," Spike remarked, where he pulled out the Guidebook for a moment, as he had been reading it during the journey to Midday Gardens and had a good idea of what might be expecting in the new realms that they would be exploring in the near future, which was the moment that Bianca recognized the book, as she took a moment to notice her own Guidebook was missing, before he returned it to his satchel before she even tried to take it back, as they needed the book right now, "but thanks for the warning, even though we'll gladly face whatever you have to throw at us as we recover the eggs that you stole from the Dragon Realms."
"Well, I'll make my suggestion anyway," Bianca replied, her tone revealing that she wasn't happy with the fact that her missing Guidebook was in the claws of her enemies, even if it was in safe claws since Spike wasn't going to let any harm come to it, before she focused on the reason why she had come to the group in the first place, "just grab your cat friend, and whatever eggs you've found already, and head back home while you still can. I'm telling you this for your own good, because if you continue down the path you're heading down my mentor will step in and send an even stronger creature after all five of you."
The group stood there for a moment as Bianca teleported out of the area, by using her rainbow colored magic once more, though they knew that she was referring to the four of them and Hunter when she gave them that warning, but this meeting did confirm one thing in their minds and that was the fact that Bianca really didn't want to hurt them, she just wanted them to leave with the eggs they had recovered so far, along with the fact that she was trying to get them to leave before her mentor stepped in.
"Well, regardless of her warning, we've got a little over thirty eggs," Elora said, though at the same time she smiled for a moment, as she was rather happy with what she and the siblings were able to do since this adventure started, just like she knew that her friends were pleased with the progress they had made so far, especially since that was the first of four homeworlds that they had to visit, before she glanced at the others, "So, shall we start exploring this land and see what there is to see, as well as locating the gems and eggs that are here?"
"That's the plan." Spyro replied, as the first thing they were going to do was search the area that was around the keep that they had landed in, picking up the gems and any eggs that were near them, before heading out to see who their next ally is and what they needed to do to help them out, even if the very first thing they would have to do for whoever was in this homeworld was take care of Moneybags, since he was sure that the bear was somewhere in this land.
The first thing that the four of them did was smash the pair of metallic vases that were right outside the keep, before locating a circular metallic chest that was to their right, tucked away behind the edge of the keep's wall, so while Spyro took a moment to smash it Elora stared at the river that seemed to cut through the majority of the area between them and the steps that would lead to the next structure. It seemed so strange to have a river just end like that, especially since she spotted a wooden bridge, made out of planks and branches, over to the left of the keep's opening, but as she did that the others smashed some straw baskets and a couple of metallic vases, showing that she might be overthinking what she was seeing at the moment. Instead of wasting another moment she jumped into the water and found that there were a couple of gems scattered on the bottom of the ground, accompanied by a few glass vases that she tossed out of the water so one of the others could break them, before grabbing the dragon egg that she discovered and hauled it onto the surface, where she found that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were standing nearby. As such she delivered the egg to Spike, who made sure that it was just fine, like all of the other eggs they had recovered so far, before sending it off to the Dragon Realms, giving Spyro and Ember a few seconds to smash the glass vases and collect the gems that were inside it, before they headed for the cave that was near the end of the river, allowing them to smash three more metallic vases in the process.
What they discovered was that one of the portals to the couple of realms that were in this land happened to be inside the cave, not that they were surprised by such a thing in the first place, but the pillars were rather interesting in the fact that they had what appeared to be ice crystals in them, and the top of the portal was a dome, though they did have to deal with some slippery ice that rested on the ground that was between the entrance, the portal, and a side passage. Before any of them walked out into the chamber Spike noted that the name of the realm was Icy Peak, meaning it was going to be a cold environment, something for them to think about as they moved forward, as the four of them stepped onto the ice and proceeded to skate around the area that they were in, allowing them to pick up the gems that were scattered around the chamber they were in. Once all of the gems were pick up, which was rather easy to do since there weren't that many of them to begin with, Spyro lead the way over to the other passage and found that it was rather short, because there was an egg at the end of it, to which he stepped to the side and let Spike study it for a moment, before using his Teleportation Breath to send it back home, which was the moment that they headed outside the cave. From there they walked over to the area that the stairs to the next section of the gardens was in and ignored them for the moment, as the four of them were interested in the other portal that was near the bridge they had seen earlier, where Spike smashed the couple of straw baskets that were in their way, of which there were four in total, before joining the others as they headed up the stone ledges that lead up to the portal.
One thing the four of them discovered was that there were a few gems near the area they were heading towards, but the portal in question seemed to have been carved into the stone wall that was behind it and have a few small domes that were likely made of brass, but the portal itself wasn't active and there was no one from the realm for them to talk to, as Hunter was the only one standing up there and he was holding a green rock with black bumps on it.
"Hey guys, I had a feeling that I would see you here." Hunter said, though he made sure to wait for the group to smash the metallic vase that was on the steps and pick up the gems that were along the path they were following, before he took a moment to point at the red bullseye that was just above the part of the structure that held the portal itself, "I was told that if we hit that bullseye a portal to one of the other realms will open, allowing us to rescue more of the stolen eggs, so I decided to wait for you guys to arrive before I struck it, just so you could see what it looked like before I did anything, since I'd rather not interfere with Spike's notes on how part of a realm or homeworld looks before you guys start to mess with the various walls and structures."
The group nodded their heads for a moment and watched as Hunter hurled the stone at the bullseye, where the item in question shattered as soon as the stone came into contact with it and, just as they were told, the portal activated before their eyes and revealed that the realm it lead to was called Enchanted Towers, making Spike wonder if it might be a realm of magic, which would be interesting. Hunter seemed very pleased with himself, and the group felt that he should be since he was actually making an effort to help them recover the stolen eggs, before they bid him farewell for the moment, as all of them knew that they would see him at some point in the near future, and departed from the area, even though they did pick up a loose gem that was near their friend as they did that. Of course as they did that Hunter headed elsewhere, no doubt to find an area where he could relax a little or possibly test out his skateboarding skills, but the group pushed that out of their minds for now, since Hunter was likely to find an egg or two while he was doing that, before they climbed up the stairs that lead to the next level of the area, giving them a better view of the level that they were heading to. In that moment they discovered that the temple was definitely square shaped and seemed to be resting in the middle of a stone ring that had high walls, cutting off the area that was the center of the homeworld from the rest of the island, but that was common when they thought about it, as the Dragon Realms had areas like this. From there they headed to the right and started to pick up the gems that were on the ground, along with smashing a few straw baskets as well, before locating two things of interest, one being a large circular metallic chest that required a Superflame Gate for them to break it, while the other was an egg thief that was right behind the temple.
This time around Ember didn't growl or attempt to run down the egg thief, as Spike summoned some magic walls that blocked their foe in and let Spyro charge into him, allowing Ember to focus on smashing the metallic chest that was near them and let Elora collect the gems that were resting inside it, before Spike sent the egg off and they climbed up the steps to the center of the temple... where they found Moneybags standing next to another cage, this one resting in front of a portal that reminded them of what was in Molten Crater, where a blue penguin was standing with an army hat on his head and a belt around his waist, and something else on his back.
"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora, its good to see you again." Moneybags remarked, even though the group knew that he had to be exaggerating about that, because every time they had encountered each other had ended in him being hurt in some manner, all because he wouldn't accept the fact that trying to stall their progress through an area was a bad thing, especially when there were dragon eggs involved, before he gestured over to the penguin, "The Sorceress caught this naughty bird letting off rockets in her fireworks factory, not to mention blowing up a number of crates that were being made ready for a festival and putting several of her employees in the hospital, a very serious crime if you ask me... but, if you were willing to pay his rather large and outstanding fines, I might be willing to look the other way and release him into your custody."
"I have done nothing wrong! The Sorceress was creating weapons to level an entire realm, so I destroyed them before any of them were completed!" the bird stated, his tone implying that he couldn't believe that the bear was even saying this about him, where the group determined that he had to be telling the truth, because he really didn't seem to be the type that would lie about something like this, before he glanced at the group for a few seconds and took in the fact that three of them were dragons, which caused him to pause.
"The Sorceress has issued her decree, and you're a criminal to the known realms, just like Sheila and the others that have been captured so far," Moneybags replied, showing that he didn't care about what the bird said, or for the bird at all, and that he was only interested in claiming the gems that the siblings and Elora had recovered since they started exploring the Forgotten Realms, which they weren't giving him, before he seemed to think about something else, "just think, none of this would have happened if you just accepted her rule over these lands and helped her out with her plans... I'm sure she would have rewarded you graciously for your efforts, maybe she would have given you a realm to rule over in her name, and you squandered the chance without thinking about it."
"Moneybags... let him go." Spyro said, though while he knew that Ember would be angry at the bear, Elora would be annoyed with him, and Spike would be thinking about how to unlock the cage with his magic, he focused on the bear and nothing else for a few moments, where Moneybags turned and glanced at him, the look in his eyes showing that he was getting ready to say something about the fee.
As soon as he heard that Moneybags growled and turned towards Spyro, where he felt the power of his gaze fall upon him in a matter of seconds, forcing him to shake for a moment, as the power behind the gaze was powerful and not what he was even expecting from the leader of the group, and the look in his eyes told Moneybags that he was serious, that he wanted him to free the bird from his cell... though after a few moments of sweating, by staring at the powerful gaze that was in front of him, Moneybags faltered for a moment and hung his head in defeat, before extending a hand as he undid the cage and freed the bird from his cell, who flew over and landed in front of Spyro.
"Sgt. James Byrd, 90068, awaiting orders, sir." the penguin, Sgt. Byrd as he called himself, said, where he even took a moment to salute Spyro the instant he stopped talking, showing that he instantly knew that Spyro was the leader of the group and that he was the one he should be reporting to, informing the group that he was definitely part of a military and that his training had come out while he was talking.
"At ease, soldier... though you might want to find your commanding officer for your orders." Spyro replied, which was the moment that Ember raised her eyebrow for a moment, because she was a little surprised by the fact that Spyro even knew what to say in this situation, before determining that he must have either picked it up due to listening to the Peace Keepers that were training her, which was the most likely, or it was his nature as a natural born leader that was shining at the moment, something that even Spike and Elora noticed as well.
"What are those on your back?" Elora asked, because the item that was on Byrd's back looked like a jet pack of some kind, or at the very least some sort of missile system that she wasn't familiar with, and she could see that the siblings were interested in what she was talking about at the moment, even if Ember was keeping an eye on Moneybags, just to make sure he didn't run away from the area they were in.
"These are the latest military hardware, DBX9 Rocket Launchers, state of the art." Sgt. Byrd answered, where he took a moment to turn around so the group could see what them a little better, which was when they shifted for a few seconds and gave them an understanding as to how the missiles moved, though he was mostly doing this since it was clear that his new allies were interested in his weapons.
"So why didn't you use them to destroy the cage and escape?" Ember inquired, because that was the part that was bothering her at the moment, that if the rocket launchers were as great as Sgt. Byrd claimed they were, since he claimed that they were 'state of the art', why didn't he use the missiles to blast his way out of the cage and fly off before someone tried to stop him, something that the others considered as well.
"Because these were my last two missiles and I wanted to conserve them," Sgt. Byrd replied, showing the group that he had been keeping his rockets around for a specific reason and that was the reason behind why he didn't use them to blow up the cage he had been trapped in, though it was in that moment that his gaze turned serious as he quickly turned and stared at Moneybags for a moment, "FOR THIS!"
It was in that moment that the group discovered what he was doing, just as Moneybags wrapped his arms around the sack he carried around with him, before Sgt. Byrd blasted him with both of the missiles that he had and they watched as the bear was struck right in the chest, sending him flying off into the distance, reminding them of what happened back in Sunrise Spring when Sheila struck him.
"Now I feel better." Sgt. Byrd said, his tone revealing that he didn't like the bear at all, which was understandable given what they had seen since they arrived in this homeworld and what they had learned from what Moneybags had said after walking up to where the cage had been located, a cage that no longer existed since it disappeared earlier, which was when he calmed down and glanced at them for a moment, "If you don't mind me asking, where did you dragons come from? We were told that all of you perished a thousand years ago, or left us, or whatever you choose to believe since there are quite a few rumors on why you guys left these lands."
"Actually, based on what we've learned, none of your rumors are true, rather the truth of the matter is that all of the dragons that called these lands home were banished by the Sorceress," Spike replied, referring to the information he had read about in the past, when he first discovered a reference to the Forgotten Realms in one of the tomes or scrolls that were in Dark Hollow's library, and combined what he knew with what the residents of the lands had told them so far, all to discover the truth and deliver it to those that talked to them, just to show them how terrible the Sorceress was, even if she seemed to be doing a fine job of that on her own.
"Well, that's interesting to know." Sgt. Byrd said, because while there were a decent amount of rumors as to why the dragons disappeared from the lands a thousand years ago, be it of their own desire to leave, or because they died, or for some other reason, it was rather interesting to see that the rumor about the Sorceress being the reason behind the mess they were in was the one that was the correct one, before he focused on the portal that was behind him, "Anyway, I need to head back to my home realm and get back to work, as I have the feeling that I'll be busy blowing up Rhynocs for the foreseeable future, since the Sorceress doesn't like armies rising to resist her."
The siblings and Elora bid Sgt. Byrd farewell for now, even though they would be entering his realm first to see what they could do to assist him in cleaning up the mess the Sorceress was making at the moment, and let him fly through the portal that was resting behind him, before Ember sighed for a second and glanced at the area that Moneybags had been standing in earlier, almost as if she disliked the fact that she lost another chance to hit the bear.
"Spyro, did you use Conqueror's Spirit on him?" Elora asked, referring to how Spyro had stared down Moneybags and was able to get him to silently accept what the dragons were telling him to do, since that reminded her of what happened during the war between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor, hence the reason why she was even asking if he had used the ability on Moneybags, something that interested Spike and Ember as well.
"No, I didn't use it at all... it would have been a waste of its power." Spyro replied, because while he had gone through all of that training to use his ability, just like how Ember had trained to use Warrior's Armor and Spike had done the same to understand Sage's Vision, he wasn't about to go out of his way and waste it on someone like Moneybags, who just so happened to be working for the Sorceress, so the less they revealed to the bear the less their true foe would know when it came time for them to face her, before he shook his head, "Anyway, its time that we finished exploring the rest of Midday Gardens, not to mention picking up all of the gems and eggs that are scattered around this land."
With Moneybags dealt with, and Sgt. Byrd freed from his cage, the group quickly picked up the gems that were around the steps that lead up to the portal that lead to the realm that their new ally called home, before leaving the area and took a moment to look at the backside of the temple, where they discovered four metallic vases that Ember smashed so their dragonflies could pick up the gems that fell to the ground. Once that was done they finished picking up the rest of the gems that were around the temple and then headed over to the next area that was to the left of the structure, if one was looking at it from the front, where they found another wooden bridge, a small river that was below it, and a structure that appeared to be a tree house, like what was in the Beast Makers homeworld, minus the swamp nature. Standing near the base of the structure was Hunter, though it didn't take them long to determine that there was a portal inside the opening of the tree house, to a realm called Spooky Swamp, making the siblings and Elora wonder what could cause the residents to name their realm that way, even if Spike could be able to figure out something if he pulled out the Guidebook, and they found a ladder that reminded them of what they found in Avalar a year ago. Ember slipped into the water for a moment and smashed a few glass vases that were in the small river, which they discovered was cut off from the area that the main source of water was in, along with a number of gems before she joined the group on the bridge, which was the moment that they approached Hunter, just to see what he had to tell them.
What they discovered was that all Hunter had to say was a reminder of how they could climb up ladders, something the siblings really didn't need since they had made sure to practice their skills, nor did Elora since she was used to jumping over certain things that got in her way, so in the end there was nothing new for them to learn, so Ember smashed one of the bullseye chests that was nearby and picked up the gems, before they headed for the steps that were near them, which lead up to the highest level of the gardens. As soon as they climbed up the next couple of stone steps and smashed a few straw baskets that were off on their left, letting the dragonflies pick up the gems that were dropped, before heading into the other part of the plains that were up there and started to explore what was in front of them so they could clear out the rest of the homeworld. While Elora picked up some metallic vases and smashed them, to get the gems inside them, Spike found the portal to Bamboo Terrace, a structure that looked like something out of an area that monks would meditate in, though that was the moment that they found the Powerup Gate that housed the Superflame ability, which would have let one of them smash the chest near Sgt. Byrd's portal to pieces, but, thanks to Ember, they didn't need to use it at all and could focus on something else. There were a couple of gems near the portal to Bamboo Terrace, which the group picked up, along with a pair of metallic vases that met the same fate as the previous vases and baskets they had found, before heading over to the path that was circling back to the keep that they started in and found the river that lead to that area, along with a few straw baskets near a tree.
The next thing that they discovered was that there was a structure that looked like it belonged to a barnyard, which made sense considering that it was the portal to Country Speedway, an area they all knew that Hunter would be in once they were there and started looking for him as they cleared out the challenges that would be there, before Ember broke a few metallic vases that were near it to collect the gems that were inside them. From there the siblings continued to pick up the gems that were on the ground that was around them, heading towards the ledge that would drop back down into the beginning part of this homeworld, before Elora found a small cave and jumped up into the opening, completely ignoring the metal ladder that Spyro, Spike, or Ember would have used to get up there, where she smiled as she saw what was inside the short cave. There was an egg in the middle of the cave, one that she picked up as she collected the pair of gems that were near it, which was the moment that she jumped out of the cave and walked over to where the siblings were now standing, where she placed the egg down and let Spike go over it for a moment, before sending it off to the Dragon Realms like all of the others they had found so far. Once that was done they approached the sign that was nearby, one that came from Zoe and was just like the one in Sunrise Spring, asking them to come back later, before Zoe actually flew down into the area and informed them that there might be an egg in one of the four planters that were in the area near the Powerup Gate that they had ignored.
Instead of smashing them, like anyone else would in this situation, Spike focused his mind for a few seconds and then peered into the next couple of moments that would happen, using his own special power, before his eyes returned to their normal appearance and he tapped the planter that was near the Powerup Gate, where Elora pulled out the egg that was hidden inside it and let him send it back to Nestor and the others... but once that was done, and they were sure there were no other gems or eggs for them to collect, they started to walk over to the portal to Sgt. Byrd's realm, as it was time to help him out with his problems, before turning towards the other realms.