With Midday Gardens cleared out, as in all of the realms had been helped out and the siblings had cleaned up the sections that they had missed the first time around, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora spent some time traveling back to Evening Lake, though the moment they landed they would be able to depart from the whirligig and do visit the new realms so they could help them out as well. Spike had a few ideas as to which realm they might tackle first, based on what they did for the last two homeworlds, but the only way any of them would know which realm would be their next destination would be what Spyro said when they reached the area the whirligig was heading towards, since he was the leader of the group and generally had some good ideas on where they should go at any given moment. Spyro, of course, was silent as he looked out over the area that they were moving over, taking a moment to glance at the arena that Spike and Elora had fought that creature in, as the pair had done rather well in taking down the individual in question, before focusing on the realms they knew the names of and was debating which one they would head to first, especially since his brother was the only one that actually knew anything about the realms in Evening Lake, even though he was sure Spike would answer any questions he might have if he asked him something. Other than that Ember continued to rest, even though she really didn't need it this time around, since none of them had done much during their second visit to Midday Gardens, but none of the others were going to tell her otherwise as they focused on what they were doing during the flight back to the next homeworld, so Elora joined Spike in making sure the journal was correct.
When they reached the landing area of Evening Lake, where they were, once more, surprised by the fact that they didn't land inside the tower and the whirligig landed outside it, the group climbed off the device that had brought them here and stretched for a few moments, to get themselves ready for what they would be doing in the near future, before they looked at the area that was in front of them.
"So, which realm should we hit first?" Elora asked, because all of them seemed rather interesting, based on the names that were attached to each of the portals they had seen when they first explored this homeworld, and while she and Spike had some ideas on which one they would pick, if they were the leaders of the group, they knew that Spyro had the final say in the matter and waited for him to tell them what they were doing.
"I was thinking of Charmed Ridge this time around," Spyro replied, referring to the realm that had a portal that was near the Speedway portal they had seen earlier, something that sort of surprised the group for a moment since most of them were expecting him to pick Frozen Altars, due to it being the closest of the realms that were available right now, only for him to turn and look at them, "I figured that, instead of head for the first portal we found during our initial search of this land, we could try one of the other realms out and see what sort of trouble the residents are in, and there's also the fact that I didn't think any of you wanted to start a homeworld off with the first realm being an icy realm."
"That's an interesting way to think about it, and it does make sense," Spike said, as he honestly wasn't expecting the answer that Spyro had given them on the matter, but it was like he said, it did make sense when one thought about it, that he would want someplace other than an icy realm to be the first one they visited in a new homeworld, where it was pretty obvious that he wasn't taking the realms of their new friends into consideration, since they cleared those realms out first before doing anything else, before he glanced over to Ember for a moment, "Ember, what do you think about heading over to Charmed Ridge, instead of focusing on Frozen Altars?"
"Honestly, I don't care," Ember remarked, her tone revealing that she didn't care which realm they went to first, as it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things since they'll be visiting all of them at some point in time, since she was sure that they needed someone from each realm to help them get to the final homeworld, Midnight Mountain from what they had discovered, while at the same time showing that she was fine with whatever Spyro picked, even if she was more focused on the eggs they would be recovering.
"Sounds like Charmed Ridge is where we'll be going." Elora said, though she had to admit that she was curious as to why the realm was named that way, even though it might be somewhat magical in nature, before determining that they would find out all of that once they reached their destination, since they generally found out the reason behind the names once they visited the area in question.
Spyro nodded as he dived into the water that was nearby and started to swim towards the portal in question, where it wasn't long before Spike, Ember, and Elora followed after him, after making sure Elora had the Water Safety spell put back on her armor, and it only took a few moments for them to pass through the portal that was their destination and head to the realm that Spyro had picked out. It didn't take the four of them all that long to appear in the starting area for the realm that they would be helping out, where they found that they were positioned on a platform that rested in front of a gated area with high walls, though it appeared that Charmed Ridge consisted of a castle that didn't look like the castles they had seen in the past, due to it being smaller than the others, and there were a number of flowers and a large amount of grass in front of them, along with tall mountains that rested all around them. The group determined that they had to be really high up, due to the fact that it was rather easy to see the snow that was on top of the mountains, making them wonder if one of the was Bentley and Bartholomew's place, not that they had seen a magical kingdom off in the distance while they were helping the yetis out, but that was before their attention was turned to the area in front of them as they looked for the resident of this realm that would inform them of what was going on in this realm. It was in that moment that a Fairy, someone that looked like Zoe, only she was as tall as Bianca and Hunter were and had a purple dress on, flew over to where the four of them were standing, though Spike didn't bother with the whole color identification thing that he used back during their first adventure, since these were different Fairies and probably operated under different rules than what they were used to dealing with.
"Oh thank goodness you guys are here, because we're in trouble." the Fairy said, not that the group was expecting this realm to be peaceful and quiet, mostly since every realm in the Forgotten Realms seemed to be under attack by the forces that served the Sorceress and this one didn't seem to be any exception to that, hence the reason the Fairy beckoned to the area that was just beyond where they were standing for a few seconds, to direct their attention, "We urgently need your help because the evil Cat Wizards of Felinia have stormed our castle and have kidnapped our Princess, and, to make the situation even more urgent, if we don't rescue her soon they'll force her to marry Prince Azrael!"
"Felinia? According to the Guidebook, that's an island that rests about an hour away from Evening Lake and, unlike the four homeworlds that officially make up the Forgotten Realms, its not ruled by the Sorceress," Spike commented, as he had seen the passage in question when he was researching the lands that they would be visiting as they recovered all of the stolen dragon eggs, meaning there wouldn't be any in Felinia since their foe didn't rule it, thanks to the efforts of the wizards that came from the island, something he was even more curious about now, before he returned to the thought that sprung up while the Fairy was talking, "the other bit of information I gathered from the Guidebook is that everyone who lives on the island is peaceful and wouldn't resort to attacking another island or realm like this... something must have set them off for this to happen."
"You're right, the Cat Wizards used to be our good friends, but that changed almost a year ago," the Fairy spoke up, as it seemed like she was willing to share what she knew with them in the hopes that they would go out and beat up the Cat Wizards that were invading the realm, but, at the same time, the fact that she mentioned the time period that things between the two races changed was enough to really interest the group, "We got news from a well dressed bear that told us that the Cat Wizards were preparing for war and that they would attack us one day, to steal our Princess and force her to marry their Prince, and at first we didn't believe it, so we ignored him every time he came to us to sell us weapons to defend ourselves against the incoming assault... perhaps we should have listened..."
"No, you were right to turn Moneybags away," Elora replied, though at the same time she couldn't believe what she and the others were even hearing, because at first it had started to sound like what happened between Zephyr and Breeze Harbor a year ago, back when Ripto was running around, but now she knew that it was the same thing, only one of the races had decided not to take part of the war, which was why there was an angry look on her face, instead of just the siblings' faces this time around, "I can't believe that Moneybags would try to incite another cross realm war, all for the sake of taking the gems from both sides as he watches former friends try to kill each other."
The Fairy, confused as to what Elora was talking about, paused for a moment as Spike quickly explained the reality of the situation to her, or what they assumed the situation was since they only had one side of the story at the moment, but hearing that the bear in question was inciting a war for gems, without caring about the people he was putting in danger, made her angry, which was why the group made sure that she didn't fly off and try to do something drastic to stop what was happening to her realm. The main reason for that was because the group felt that there was more to this than they were seeing at the moment and that they wanted to assist the Fairies in restoring order to the realm, that way whatever the truth of the matter was would be revealed to them over the course of exploring the area the Fairies called home, which meant the castle and the side sections they would explore later. Spyro also made sure to tell the others that they weren't going to hit their foes with enough force to return them to their original gem forms, like they did for the other realms they had visited so far, rather they were going to hit their foes hard enough to knock them out, that way they could explain themselves to the Fairies once the realm had been saved and they found a way to stop the war. Ember, who was used to just knocking enemies down and leaving gems behind, nodded her head as she heard that, mostly due to the fact that out of the entire group she was the only one that had to tone down her attacks, but at the very least they would be able to knock their foes down.
Once their new acquaintance had a better understanding of what might be going on, and that the group would make sure to get to the bottom of the situation during their trek through the realm, the Fairy took off and left them to tackle the enemies that were invading her realm, no doubt so she could go talk to some of the other Fairies that called this realm home and tell them what she had learned from them. The first thing the group did was pick up the gems that were laying near them, on the platform that was right in front of the first area they would need to glide to, and the moment the area was clear the four of them jumped over to the ground that was in front of them, one that had some stone structures that connected to the end of the realm, an area that was blocked off, and a ladder that would let them get to a higher point so they could move forward. What they discovered weren't any of the Cat Wizards they had been informed about, rather the group spotted two new types of Rhynoc in the area, meaning they could have been forced to side with the Sorceress' forces, somehow, though one of them was wearing armor and had a spear that wasn't actually a spear, due to the metallic fist that was in place of the spear tip, while the other was dressed in lighter clothing and was carrying what appeared to be a crossbow, hence Spike determined that the armored ones would be Spear Rhynocs, despite their mess up when they made their weapons, and the others were Crossbow Rhynocs. Spyro, seeing the pair of Rhynocs, decided to amend his earlier order right then and there, stating that any Cat Wizards were to be treated as he said earlier, that the four of them should knock those foes out, but the Rhynocs were to be treated the same as every other time they encountered them in the previous realms, something that caused Ember to harden her body and smash her way through the Spear Rhynoc that was right in front of her, taking it down in seconds.
With that foe taken care of the siblings collected the gems that were in the area around them, while at the same time Elora approached the Crossbow Rhynoc and jumped to the side as it fired an arrow at her, which was the moment that she punched it in the face and knocked it to the ground, allowing her to claim the gem that ended up replacing it, before even looking at the ladder they would have to climb, which was rather short in comparison to some they had seen in the past and were definitely shorter than the ones back in Avalar. It didn't take them long to reach the top of the ladder and start to walk on the walkway that was above the area they had jumped into, one that required them to jump up a few ledges to get to the upper part of the area, where they discovered a blue furred cat, who stood on two legs, that was wearing an orange robe over most of their body, but the item that Spike was interested in was the purple stone in the necklace the first Cat Wizard happened to be wearing around his neck. The reason Spike was somewhat interested in it was due to the fact that he could sense the magic coming from it, be it a small amount of power, but it was more than enough to make him a little curious about the necklace and he stood still as Spyro charged forward, dodging the fireball that was thrown at him, which allowed him to collide with the Cat Wizard and knock him to the ground, only he did so in a way that dazed his foe for a few seconds, more than enough time for Spike to move. As soon as Spyro knocked his foe to the ground, and both Ember and Elora stood back, Spike stepped forward and pulled the necklace off from where it was resting, allowing him to sit off to the side and study it for a few moments as he tried to figure out what sort of magic it contained, while at the same time the Crossbow Rhynoc and Cat Wizard that were further along the path paused as they waited for the group to move and approach the area they were waiting in.
"Fascinating, its a mind control necklace," Spike commented, as it didn't take him long to determine what the spell on the necklace was, due to his own knowledge of spells and the various purposes that each of them possessed, before he glanced at the now peaceful looking Cat Wizard that was sleeping nearby as some new pieces were added to the puzzle of what happened to the two realms, "I think I understand what's going on here, Moneybags clearly sold something to the Cat Wizards, otherwise this attack never would have happened, and its likely that he and the Sorceress were working to bring down Felinia by inciting a war between them and the Fairies of this realm, but the Cat Wizards never would have agreed to work with the Sorceress... rather she had Moneybags sell them necklaces that likely boosted their power, only the enchantment allowed her to take control of them and force them to serve her."
"So she's taking away their free will... why am I not surprised?" Elora said, because at this point she had more than enough reason to dislike the Sorceress, and even more reason to dislike Moneybags for that matter, something that she knew the siblings would agree with, before she glanced at the Cat Wizard that was in front of them and focused on the necklace it happened to be wearing at the moment, "Well then, since we know the necklaces are bad, why don't we take them off when we face the Cat Wizards?"
Spyro nodded his head in agreement, because this was starting to get old in his mind, to which he moved forward and found that the Cat Wizard cast a spell on the Crossbow Rhynoc, enlarging its size so it was almost as tall as the first foe that had tried to ambush them earlier, though he rolled out of the way and dodged the incoming attack, which was aimed so that it would head off into the distance, before flaming the now large Crossbow Rhynoc to the ground. While he did that, and transformed the Rhynoc into a gem, Ember rushed forward and tackled the Cat Wizard that was near the Rhynoc to the ground, hard enough to knock it out without overdoing it, allowing her to take the necklace and add it to the stash that Spike was forming, using a second bag to contain all the necklaces they recovered from this realm. After that Elora jumped onto the moving section of a wall that was in front of them and used it to propel herself over the next foe that was blocking the way forward, another Cat Wizard to be exact, so she struck its neck and knocked it out, like she had seen the guards back in Avalar do while they were training, allowing Spike to take the necklace as they resumed their quest, while at the same time collecting all of the gems that were around them as they moved forward. Of course there happened to be another Fairy in front of them, where behind her rested a hole they could jump into, which some enemies were no doubt guarding on the other side, so the four of them prepared themselves for what they were about to do and then, once they were ready, they descended into the hole and found that there were a few enemies waiting for them, meaning it would take some time to clear the area out as they restored order to this realm.
There were three enemies for them to worry about as they descended into the area that was in front of them, one of the Crossbow Rhynocs, one of the Spear Rhynocs, and a Cat Wizard that was in charge of enlarging the Rhynocs, which would eliminate the ability to charge these foes to the ground, but that was fine for the group as they got closer to the bottom of the area. The first thing they did was rather simple, Spike quickly used his magic to create a barrier around the Cat Wizard, to prevent it from casting any helpful spells that would make their lives harder, allowing Ember to dive out of the air and smash into the Spear Rhynoc that was standing near the wall, taking it out before it even had a chance to use its weapon against any of them. That, in turn, allowed Elora to land behind the Crossbow Rhynoc without any problems, where she spun around and kicked out her foe's feet, causing it to fall backwards as Spyro dived right into its chest not a few seconds later, allowing them to take out the three enemies that were at the bottom of the hole in a matter of seconds, even though Spike lightly zapped the Cat Wizard he was holding until it was unconscious, allowing him to claim another necklace as they moved forward. With those enemies defeated the group gathered the gems that were near the ladder that would take them back up to the top of the hole, an odd choice if ever there was one, and smash a straw basket for the gem that was inside it, before Elora spotted another Cat Wizard that was near the edge of the area they were in, so she rushed at it, dodged the fireball that was aimed at her, and then punched it in the face to knock it out, all to claim another mind control necklace for Spike's collection.
After that the group paused for a moment as they stared out at the area that was in front of them, as there was a post that a Cat Wizard was standing on and another one that was in front of them that a second was on, where it seemed that they were in the middle of passing a large chess piece between themselves, so Spike stood still as he used his own magic to latch onto the object and stop it, allowing the others to move forward and collect the gems that were in front of them, only to teleport to them once they were clear... which was when they came to a stop as they spotted Moneybags standing in front of a ramp that likely could be turned into stairs, meaning they would have to deal with him again.
"Well, well, well, we meet again." Moneybags said, apparently not noticing the fact that none of them were happy to see him again and continued to act like everything was right in the world, even though he was, once more, the cause of misfortune for some of the races in the land that he was being employed in, despite the fact that this time he was actually being hired to do that, in a way, by the Sorceress, before he gestured off in the distance, "Today is your lucky day, as the friendly Cat Wizards and I have come to an agreement of sorts: if you pay me a small fee, a toll if you will, they will use their magic to raise these steps and allow you to move on with your quest."
"Yeah, how about no?" Spyro replied, though in that moment he swung his tail and struck Moneybags' legs with it, an attack that the bear didn't see coming until it was too late, which was the instant that Ember jumped on his back, pushed herself into the air, and then delivered a Headbash to his back, before Elora kicked him in the side of the head and forced him over to the stairs that he had been guarding.
"What was that for?!" Moneybags exclaimed, but even as he said that he had to cough for a few moments, which did show how effective their attacks were, while at the same time having to moan as he moved his back, as Ember never held back when they were dealing with the bear, which was the moment that he turned and faced the four of them again, even though one would have thought he would have learned his lesson by now, "All I did was ask for a simple toll and you beat me up like I was asking for the entire fortune you dragons possess..."
"Do these look familiar?" Spike asked, which was when he opened the second bag he was carrying, which had been in the off chance that the first Bag of Holding was broken by something, and revealed the mind controlling necklaces they had recovered so far, though that was when Moneybags froze for a few moments, revealing that he did recognize them and that he knew that he was in trouble, "You sold the Cat Wizards these necklaces, no doubt with the claim that these would allow them to better protect themselves, and took over their minds so they would aid the Sorceress in taking down the realms that opposed her, all while pocketing any gems you made from this war, even if one of the sides didn't want to buy any weapons this time."
"Well... um... I'm sorry?" Moneybags replied, though while he was clearly trying to make it seem that he was only doing as he was told, to stay on the Sorceress' good side, despite all of his current failures since their arrival, the group didn't even have to glance at each other, as they knew that the bear was lying and that he was only trying to save his skin from yet another beating, one that he deserved.
Instead of wasting too much time on Moneybags, even though they could have done so, Ember charged into his rear and sent him flying off the cliff, allowing the four of them to watch him for a few moments as he disappeared into the clouds that were around the castle, which was when they moved so they could see what the rest of the realm had to throw at them as they restored the peace that the bear had broken. The first thing they did was clear out the Crossbow Rhynoc that was to the side of where the bear had been standing, which was just Ember hardening her body to take the arrow and then use her tail to first knock her foe to the ground, only to deliver a powerful tail smack to the chest, allowing her to get a few gems for her efforts, before she joined the others near the stairs. Spike used his magic to move the stairs into the position that would allow them to move forward, to which the four of them moved up the steps and came to a stop on the walkway Moneybags had been guarding, where three more Spear Rhynocs happened to be waiting for them and charged the instant they came to a stop, which was just fine with the group as a bolt of magic slammed into the first one and took it out in seconds. The other two fell not a few moments later, where Ember tanked the hit from the first one and then quickly charged through her foe's defenses, knocking it to the ground, allowing Elora to jump onto the head of her foe's weapon, something that stopped it in its tracks, before she punched it in the face and knocked it out, allowing them to claim a few more gems as they moved forward. From there the four of them jumped over to a walkway that had three more enemies waiting for someone to try and take the area, one Spear Rhynoc and two Crossbow Rhynoc, where Spike threw some of his Arcane Missiles into the air and struck down the two crossbow enemies that happened to be hanging in the back of the pack, something that let Spyro rush forward and jump into the air, confusing the enemy that was in front of him, before he charged right into his target's chest and knocked it to the ground.
At that moment they found two options to pick from, continue forward or glide to a cave that was behind them and pick up the first egg of this realm, where it wasn't hard for them to determine what to do as Ember glided over to the egg and Elora joined her, as she would carry the egg back to Spike while Ember cleared out the area that was in front of them, as both of them were sure that some gems and some enemies might be in front of them. There were a few metallic vases in the cave behind the egg, along with a Superflame Gate that seemed rather pointless in the grand scheme of things, but Ember smashed the vases and let Talon pick up the gems she passed by, found that the end of the main part of the cave came to an opening that was near the ladder leading back to the starting area, and then turned towards the ladder that was near where the egg Elora was carrying had been resting. At the top of the ladder Ember found that there was an area that held two of the Cat Wizards, though as Elora joined her, while keeping the egg safe and sound, she called out to Spike, who looked at the area and, in a rare bit of magic, teleported over to the foes in question, since they were far away from the main part of the realm, and knocked them down before they even knew he was even standing behind them, allowing him to knock them out and take their necklaces for his collection, before returning to Spyro's side. Once that was done she took a look at the area that was in front of her and found that she could lash out at the two Cat Wizards they had walked by earlier, that Spike had held up with his magic, so she grinned as she glided into the area and landed behind her first foe, where she used her tail to trip him and knock him out, before using the fallen pillar that was nearby to glide over to where the second was located, all to repeat the process.
Once she was sure both of the Cat Wizards were knocked out the rest of the group came back to the area and Spike made sure to collect their necklaces as well, before Elora placed the egg they had seen in the cave and one that had been guarded by the last Cat Wizard that Ember had taken out, allowing him to send two more eggs back to the Dragon Realms, but before they left the area Ember also smashed a circular metallic chest and collected the gems that had been trapped inside the container.
After all of that was collected and cleared, and they were sure that all of the enemies had been taken out, the group returned to the area they had found the cave in and continued through the rest of the realm, where they found one of the Cat Wizards messing with the wall that was to their left, remaining the siblings of the Green Druids back in land that the Magic Crafters lived in. As that happened the group found another cave off to their right and decided to check it out once they passed through the area that was in front of them, to which the siblings slowly moved as the sections of the wall were moved by their targets, while Elora jumped over the edge to their right and glided over the lake that was near them so she could land where some gems were and then use a ladder to get back up to the other side of the moving sections. It didn't take them all that long to reach the area that Elora was in, and it only took them a minute or two to reach the highest point of the area, which was when Elora glided over to the Cat Wizard that was messing with the wall and punched him in the face to stop him from messing with the wall and take his necklace, while at the same time the siblings glided to the lower entrance of the cave, which was followed by them waiting for Elora to join them. They discovered a number of enemies that happened to be resting inside the tunnel that the cave brought them to, where Ember hardened her body and took out the pair of Spear Rhynoc that were right around the corner from where they were standing, allowing Spyro to move into the area behind them and knock down the Cat Wizard that was behind the pair of Rhynoc with a whack of his tail, only to discover another Cat Wizard that was empowering a Crossbow Rhynoc... only for Spike to surround the magic caster with a barrier to cancel the spell, allowing Elora to kick the Rhynoc so he could knock his target out.
Once all of those enemies were taken care of Spike collected the necklaces from the unconscious Cat Wizards they had fought in the tunnel, while at the same time the rest of the group collected the gems that were on the ground, before they found one of the portals to the side sections of this realm, something that they would keep in the back of their minds as they returned to where the wall with the now still sections was resting, all so the four of them could investigate the area that rested beyond it, as they had to be close to the exit portal for this realm.
The first thing the group discovered was that there was a straw basket on the area they were heading towards, so it was smashed apart as soon as they discovered it, before they turned towards the path that would take them to the end of the realm and found that there was a Cat Wizard using a boulder spell to prevent anyone from coming up the path that was in front of them. Fortunately, since it appeared that it was two small boulders, instead of one large boulder like Spike originally thought it was going to be, the group was able to quickly reach the raised sections of earth that their foe was standing on and Elora punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground and allowing Spike to claim the necklace that he was wearing, before they focused on the next part of the realm they were heading towards. It appeared that they had reached the edge of the castle, as the locked door was right in front of them, though there was a Fairy, this one wearing a green dress, floating near another Cat Wizard, though since their foe didn't notice them at all Spyro tripped him with his tail and them bashed him into the ground, allowing Spike to take the necklace before opening the gate that was in front of them, something that had been blocking the way until they reached it. As the gate opened they discovered a Crossbow Rhynoc waiting for someone to come near it, so Ember charged in with her hardened body and smashed her way through the enemy that was in their way, allowing the others to join her as she looked at the courtyard that was beyond the gate, where they found a number of glass vases and a couple of enemies blocking the way, as in some Spear Rhynocs, another Cat Wizard on the ground with a section one on the level above them, and possibly one more somewhere.
As such Spike dealt with the Cat Wizards, surrounding both of them with barriers to prevent them from empowering any of their foes with a larger size and some additional strength, while Ember smashed her way through one of the Spear Rhynocs with a hardened charge, Spyro dodged the other Spear Rhynoc and charged his target down, and Elora found a Crossbow Rhynoc in the other side of the courtyard, only for her to kick her target in the face and take it down, which was followed by them breaking the glass vases and collecting the gems they freed. What they discovered was another gate that was on the other side of the castle, from where the one Spike had opened earlier was located, a gate that likely connected to the starting area of the realm, before the group found that the Crossbow Rhynoc had been guarding the center of the entire castle, where a structure stood and happened to have a whirlwind in the middle of it, something that would allow them to move forward. The ground found that there was one more Cat Wizard on top of the structure, who seemed to be focused on the gate in front of him, so Spike knocked him out with a quick spell to the back and claimed the necklace he was wearing, before gliding over to the other Cat Wizard he had contained and knocked him out as well, allowing him to pick another necklace up and clear out the entire area. From there the gate opened and revealed a platform that rested between the starting area and the castle, where the exit portal was resting and, more importantly, it showed them where the Fairy Princess and the leader of the Cat Wizards were located.
With their targets located the group dropped down onto the gate and used it to cross over to where the Princess and the Prince were standing, where they found that Prince Azrael didn't wear a robe, like the rest of his people did, and wore an open vest over his chest and pants, while at the same time the Princess had a more elegant dress on, in comparison to what the other Fairies were wearing, and had a golden crown to show her status.
"Oh, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, its nice to see you... isn't Prince Azrael the dreamiest?" the Fairy Princess asked, her tone revealing that she did love the Prince of Felinia, who seemed rather happy to be near her, even if he was also slightly annoyed by something, despite the fact that the other Fairies might be worried that she was being forced into some sort of relationship with the Prince, before she placed an egg in front of them, "Anyway, we're going to elope and find a way to safely bring this conflict to an end."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about the conflict anymore," Spike replied, where he opened the pouch and poured out the necklaces that he had been collecting since they started helping out this realm and dealt with the problems that Moneybags inflicted upon them, where he could tell that both of the royal figures were interested in the pieces of jewelry that he revealed, "these, as I'm sure you no doubt know, are necklaces with a mind control enchantment on them, which allowed the Sorceress to force the Cat Wizards to do her bidding, no doubt forcing your hand to go through with this invasion, even if you didn't want to... right, Prince Azrael?"
"Yes... that cursed bear convinced us to purchase those necklaces so we could better protect ourselves, only it was a trap set by the Sorceress," Prince Azrael replied, though as he glanced at the necklaces the group could see that he hated the pieces of jewelry, due to the fact that they had enslaved his people and forced them to fight their Fairy friends, before he turned his gaze towards the group and stopped staring at the jewelry, "because war was imminent, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, I came here to rescue Princess Ami before my brainwashed subjects managed to get their claws on her and delivered her to the Sorceress. Our plan was simple, we were going to gather up the Fairies and flee to one of the other islands, so we could find a way to combat these mind controlling necklaces and free everyone that was under the Sorceress' control, even if it meant abandoning Charmed Ridge for a time... little did I know that all we needed to do was hold out for you to arrive."
Before the group could say anything the Cat Wizards that Spike had freed from the Sorceress' control, by removing the necklaces that Moneybags had sold to them, woke up in a daze, which made sense due to the fact that the group had knocked all of them out, to prevent harm from coming to them, but that didn't stop them from finding out where their Prince was located and apologized to the Fairies that they had been fighting, which was when Princess Ami told her own subjects the truth of the matter, something she would have done had it not been for the group's actions. Of course none of the Fairies were happy about the situation, as in the fact that the Sorceress was planning on taking control of their realm by using their own friends against them like this, and they were more than pleased to hear that the siblings and Elora had saved all of the Cat Wizards by removing the necklaces they had been tricked into purchasing, as well as the fact that they were happy to have turned away Moneybags when he tried to sell them some stuff earlier. The group, on the other claw, were more than happy to see that whatever bad blood might have arisen from this event had been quickly washed away once the truth had been revealed, leaving both the Fairies and the Cat Wizards happy with them, along with both of the royals that ruled over them, something that was confirmed when Prince Azrael insisted that he reward them with a tour of Felinia at some point, along with some seats at the upcoming wedding, once he and Princess Ami put both of their lands back together and cleaned up the mess Moneybags made.
The group accepted the rewards that the pair were giving them, even if it would be some time before they happened, before the Cat Wizards handed over the gems they found while they were under the Sorceress' control, figuring that the four of them deserved them more, to which the dragonflies added all of the gems to the pile they were gathering before they left the two races to their business, with Spike making sure to take the necklaces with them after sending the egg back home. The first thing they did was head back to the center of the castle and use the whirlwind to get back up to the highest point of the area, where they found a Question Mark Jar waiting for them, which hadn't been up there earlier, though that didn't stop Elora from hitting it and causing it to move to another part of the realm, to which the group followed after it, so they could get the gems that were inside it. Since the jars liked to backtrack from the area the exit portal was in, and headed back to the starting area, it wasn't hard for the group to determine a likely course it would take, so what they did was return to the first gate they had lowered and used the whirlwind that had formed on it to get to a higher position, which was when the four of them glided over to the slanted path the boulder throwing Cat Wizard had been guarding and landed on the ground, before finding that the jar was on the walkway near the moving wall. Once they discovered its location it only took them a few seconds to whack it, as in Ember struck the jar with her tail, and forced it to move once more, where Spike lead the rest of the group to where it was now hidden, since he could track the magical energies the jar used to teleport from place to place, only for them to glide over to the cave that contained one of the portals to the side sections of this realm.
After that the jar ended up moving into the shaded area that was by where Moneybags had been standing, which was an odd choice since it was still easy to find it, while the next location was rather obvious since it was in front of the ladder that would allow them to return to the starting area, and from there it brought them all the way back to the starting area for this realm, before moving to the actual platform that was the starting point, though that was when it shattered and gave them the gems it contained. Once that was done the group turned around and headed back to the area where the lake was located, as they figured that they would clear out that side area first and then hunt down the other one, as all of the realms they had visited so far had two side sections to them, be they areas the group could do or areas that their new friends could help them with, where the first one for this realm fell into the former category. It didn't take them that long to return to the portal in question, which was when they passed through it and quickly found themselves in an area that a number of waterfalls apparently emptied into, though there was a tall structure, a mountain based on what they were seeing, and no visible way for them to actually climb up it, or at least that was true for the siblings. Elora, on the other claw, had her Spring Jump Form, meaning that she could easily ascend to the top of the mountain and see if there were any eggs or gems in this area, something they knew they would find since it made no sense for there not to be an egg in one of these side sections... though that was when the group found someone standing in the area in front of them, not a Fairy or a Cat Wizard, just a normal person by the looks of things, even if he was wearing green clothing and had a large green hat resting on his head.
"Oh, hello there, are you here about the legend as well?" the kid asked, as that was the voice that came from the being that was in front of them, an innocent kid that had no idea what was happening to the rest of the realm, before he glanced at the top of the mountain, like the four of them didn't even exist or anything, which was odd when the group thought about it, but decided not to question it at all, "Supposedly there's a golden goose at the top of the mountain, and I want to be the first one to reach the top so I can grab it and take it home! I used the couple of gems I had to buy some magical seeds from a bear in a suit, something about them being able to sprout instantly, but so far I haven't been able to get out of this area, as the beans don't seem magical."
"That's cause Moneybags was lying, the beans aren't magical at all." Elora replied, because that was classic Moneybags right there, sell someone something they might need to reach an area in question, only for the item to either be totally useless or be just what they needed, but given his recent track record she knew it was more the former, that the beans were totally normal and did nothing, to which she sighed for a moment, "Kid, its your lucky day, as I'm going to help you get to the top of this mountain and see if the legend is true."
The kid dropped the sack he was hold as Elora shifted into her Spring Jump Form and moved out into the area in front of them to give the little boy an idea of what she was doing, as she jumped up to the ledge on their left with her own base power and smashed a straw basket that was up there, allowing Talon, who was following her, to pick up the gem that was dropped, before Elora jumped back down to the first area and then used her power to leap onto the ledge on the right of the entrance, which was higher than the first one. With that in mind Elora jumped back down and the kid hurried to climb up onto her back, as that seemed the best place for him to be, though once he was ready she started to ascend the ledges that were in front of her and only paused when the kid wanted her to do so, so he didn't get sick, or to smash any straw or metallic containers that were in her way, leaving the gems for Talon to pick up. Of course the kid did spot an egg and was more than willing to let Elora put him down for a few moments so she could get it, mostly due to the fact that he believed it was an egg from the golden goose, but she set it down in the center of the area and let the boy take his place so they could move forward, where she repeated what she had been doing so far and cleared out the area so they could reach the spot that, according to the legend, the golden goose was supposed to be resting in. What surprised Elora was there there was, in fact, a golden yellow colored goose resting at the top of the mountain, or the tower as that was the structure that they were standing on, so she let the boy down and picked up the egg that was nearby, along with letting Talon pick up the gems that were around them, before she smashed the clearly weak flooring that was in front of her and opened a way back down to the beginning of the area, allowing her to transport the egg, the boy, and the goose to safety, before having to go back for the first egg they found.
Of course she also found a bullseye chest at the bottom of the tower, something that was smashed when she first dropped down into the lower area of the structure, so in the end the dragonflies proclaimed that they had cleared this part of the realm out, as Ember had smashed some metallic vases as well, to which the group bid the kid farewell, even if he was more interested in the goose, and headed back to the main part of the realm... though it wasn't long before they found a passage in the castle that lead them to where one of Sgt. Byrd's portals was resting, with their friend standing inside his square shaped chamber.
"Oh, good day friends!" Sgt. Byrd said, his tone showing that he was happy to see them again, while at the same time he seemed a little tired for some reason, like he had been busy declaring war on the Sorceress' forces, be they in the same area the four of them were in or a different realm entirely, before he shifted a little, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm late for a, um... engagement with a Fairy friend, and she doesn't like it when I'm late."
"Well, let us enter the area for a few moments and see if there is anything we can do to convince her that you were tied up in saving some lives," Spike replied, because based on what they were seeing they knew that Sgt. Byrd had been rather busy dealing with enemies and most ladies, from what he had read about, did like heroes and their heroic deeds, so confirming that statement would allow his Fairy friend to know that he was telling the truth and that he wasn't trying to lie to her at all, especially since her realm had been under attack recently.
Sgt. Byrd, as it turned out, was more than willing to let them tag along for a moment and it didn't take them long to find the Fairy that he was supposed to be meeting, who was definitely cross with him about being late and that she didn't want to hear his line about national security, but she was willing to listen to the group as they explained that he had been busy cleaning up the Rhynocs and saving the lives of the residents of the other realms, once more showing the group that their deeds had reached far and wide at this point.
"While I believe you when you say that James has been busy, saving lives and all, we might have to call off our date for the time being anyway, since there are some Cat Witches in the temple." the Fairy commented, not that the group was all that surprised by that information, as they expected there to be enemies in an area like this, given what they had seen and experienced in all of the previous realms they had been to, which only made them interested in what the Cat Witches were even doing in this temple.
What happened next was that the siblings and Elora headed out into the temple itself and called out the group of Cat Witches that were inside the area, where they found that there were twenty-five of them in total, they all had light pink fur and were wearing outfits that identified them as witches, including the brooms that they flew out on, but seeing the group of four made them stop what they were doing. Spyro took the chance to inform them that they had freed the rest of their people from the Sorceress' grip, with Spike making sure to show them all the necklaces they had recovered over their trek through the realm, something that caused the entirety of the witches coven to cheer, even though it did confuse the Fairy that was Sgt. Byrd's friend, hence the reason the group informed all of them as to what happened in the main part of the realm. As it turned out Prince Azrael had sent the coven to the temple to protect a dragon egg they had discovered, that way when it was time to pull out of Charmed Ridge they could safely move it without their foe, the Sorceress, finding out about their actions, but since the group had freed all of the Cat Wizards from the enchantment their foe had placed on all the wizards of Felinia, and had proof that everything was alright, that caused the Cat Witches to apologize to Sgt. Byrd and his friend, before flying through the portal so they could rejoin their Prince, earning the group another egg in the process, which they were happy to recover. Once that was done they wished Sgt. Byrd farewell and left him to his date, since he did deserve some alone time with the one that he had some affections for, to which they returned to the main section of the realm they had been assisting, only to discover that the Fairies and the Cats were working together, to put the realm back together and to repair the damage the Sorceress had forced upon the land.
The group was happy to see that they had succeeded in stopping the Zephyr and Breeze Harbor War, as it was called back in Avalar, from happening to another pair of realms, along with the fact that they managed to prevent it from getting to the point where both sides were willing to tear each other part, making them annoyed with Moneybags all over again, but for the moment the group headed back towards the exit portal, as it was time to pick another realm to help as they considered what they were going to do with the evil bear once this adventure was over.