After clearing out everything in Lost Fleet, be they the eggs and gems that the group were looking for, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to Evening Lake and headed over to the nearby passage that would take them to where the portal for Fireworks Factory, the oddly named realm, was located, as it was the last realm that they needed to visit and assist before discovering what sort of vessel would allow them to reach Midnight Mountain. Since there were no other realms for them to worry about, other than the one they were heading towards, there was no reason for any of them to return to the surface and talk about what they needed to do this time around, which was why they swam over to the location of the portal in question and passed through it, so they could help the last of the realms in Evening Lake. Once they were done with this last realm they would check out the area that the new vessel would be located in, where the residents of the realms would be located, and check out how long it would take the group to create the object in question, which would allow them to head over to the Speedway and clear it out before it was time to leave for the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms, which would allow them to bring this adventure to an end. Of course the adventure would only end once they confronted their foe, the Sorceress, and reclaimed the Forgotten Realms from her control, but that would come in the near future, since they were so close to reaching their final destination, hence the reason that they focused on the task that was in front of them and the realm that they were heading towards.
What the group discovered, when they appeared in the starting area of the final realm of Evening Lake, was that the architecture was similar to what was in Bamboo Terrace, only instead of houses and towers this realm had brick walls, tall towers made of brick, lanterns that lit the way, a cannon off in the distance, and normal colored lava that seemed to be the hazard that the group needed to avoid, even if Spike and Ember were immune to that. The first thing they did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting on the ground around them, in a starting area that didn't loop to where the area that the exit portal was in, before they walked down the short stone bridge that was in front of them and spotted a foe right away, a Rhynoc that was wearing armor and was carrying a bomb, meaning it was a Bomber Rhynoc. What interested the group was the fact that when they approached their first foe of this realm, who they would likely take down with a quick burst of fire, it was taken down from behind, which was the moment that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora spotted Greta, the little girl that was working with her brother Handel, back in the outpost in Scorch that they had helped them infiltrate and retrieve the flags from, only she was wearing what appeared to be a while ninja outfit or something, which made some sense due to the fact that she and her brother were supposedly secret agents. The surprising part was the fact that she was even here in the first place, because to the best of their knowledge there was no portal between Avalar and the Forgotten Realms, as the Professor would have told them about it, before the group decided to approach the little girl and see what she needed help with this time around.
"Oh, hewwo, it's good to see you guys again." Greta said, where her tone revealed that she was happy to see the four of them again, especially since it had been almost a year since she had seen any of them, but the group stood there for a few moments as they wondered how in the world she could be here, before she focused on something else and glanced away from them for a moment, "That naughty sorcewess has stolen the Pwofessor's wocket plans and I'm on a secret mission to find them. Handel was supposed to meet me here, but I can't find him anywhere. Maybe you guys can help me out a little?"
"It seems that we might have found our way to Midnight Mountain, a special rocket designed by the Professor," Elora commented, as that was something that they had been worried about, since the hot air balloon had been replaced by the much faster whirligig and she was sure that a rocket was much faster than the whirligig would be, though hearing that left her with more questions than actual answers, "Greta, when did the Professor open a portal to the Forgotten Realms? And why didn't he tell us anything about a new set of islands that we could explore?"
"To be honest, I have no idea." Greta replied, revealing that she must have been surprised when the Professor came to her and her brother with the mission in the first place, meaning that their friend must have been scouting out all of the islands before he told the siblings and Elora anything about the Forgotten Realms, meaning that they would have to find him to get some answers to her questions on the matter, before Greta dashed off into the distance, showing that she was eager to continue her mission.
"Well, at least we have an idea of what's going on in this realm." Spyro remarked, as the first resident of every realm had given them the information they needed to know what the Rhynocs were doing to the realms, but this time around it looked like the Rhynocs might be defending the Sorceress' fireworks factory, the same one that Sgt. Byrd attacked at some point in the last couple of days, though it still belonged to someone else and the Rhynocs needed to be evicted from the land the factory had been built on.
With Greta moving forward, to continue her mission, the group decided that they might as well get moving as well and see what else the realm had to offer them, hence the reason they moved away from the starting area and headed over to the other Rhynoc that happened to be near the first tower that was in this realm, though it was wearing what appeared to be a black ninja outfit that covered the majority of its face, and it carried a bamboo staff, to which the group just called it a Ninja Rhynoc and left it at that. Ember found that it tried to hit her with the staff that it was carrying, which only snapped in half when it struck her hardened body, much to the dismay of the Ninja Rhynoc, before she put it down with a swift hit from her tail, allowing the others to smash the straw baskets that were around the tower it had been guarding, which was when they collected all of the gems that were on the ground. From there they approached the arched opening that was in front of them, which two Ninja Rhynoc were guarding at the moment, though Spyro found that he was able to charge one of their foes into the ground while Elora dodged the incoming attacks from the other one, only to kick it in the side of the head and knock it down, which was followed by Ember smashing two metallic vases off to their left, only to find a side area with two more vases and another of the Ninja Rhynoc. Sadly that foe didn't stand much of a chance as Spike gathered a bit of the wind that was around them into what appeared to be shuriken, something that they expected the ninjas to have in their arsenal and found that the last of their foes, for now anyway, didn't have any metallic versions of what Spike had created, to which he threw the Wind Shurikens through the air and they slammed into his foe's chest, knocking it to the ground in defeat so they could smash the vases and collect all of the gems that were in the area.
Once the front part of the realm was cleared out the group moved through the arched opening and found a few more Ninja Rhynoc waiting for them, where the one in front of the bridge even had a firework launcher that was aimed right at the four of them, but Spike dealt with that by shielding them for a few moments when the attack was fired, allowing them to take no damage from the fireworks, before a pair of Wind Shurikens struck his target in the chest, while Elora kicked the other Ninja Rhynoc in the head to clear out the area. There was one other Ninja Rhynoc to their left that seemed to be more interested in a random firework that was on the ground, though when it noticed Spyro walking over to it, however, it picked up its staff and prepared to defend itself, even though Spyro rolled out of the way to avoid the incoming attack and then charged into his target, taking another foe out in the process. Something he noticed, however, was that some of the enemies they were taking down didn't drop any gems and some of them were dropping them like they were supposed to whenever he or one of the others took them down, and when he brought it up to Spike he found that his brother had noticed the same thing, though the answer, as the rest of the group discovered, was that he was of the opinion that their foe might have found a way to create multiple Rhynocs from a single gem, trapping the gem in a dispenser of some kind that only replenished her forces when one soldier was taken out. The reason behind that idea was because he noticed that there was a large box on top of the walkway that was just above the arched opening they had walked through, one that did seem to be in the middle of summoning new foes for them to take out, even if Ember and Elora were smacking the ones that tried to come after them, meaning that smashing the boxes would weaken their foe's forces and make their job in this realm that much easier.
Spyro paused for a moment, as he honestly wasn't expecting that sort of answer when he asked Spike about the lack of gems from the foes they were taking down, but the way Spike explained it was rather easy to follow, as they just had to keep doing what they were doing and smash any boxes they found along the way, to which he returned to the head of the group as they crossed over the bridge that the pair of Ninja Rhynocs had been guarding.
There were two Ninja Rhynocs right in front of them, guarding the other end of the bridge, while standing a few steps behind them was one of the Bomber Rhynocs and two more Ninja Rhynoc, meaning that the Sorceress really wanted this place to be well protected after what Sgt. Byrd did to it, though the first two stood no chance against the group was Spike used his Wind Shurikens, a spell he had been taught by Cosmos over the last year and was only now using, to knock both of them out. From there it was Ember's turn as she hardened her body and jumped towards the Bomber Rhynoc, taking a bomb right to the face, not that it mattered since her body was tough enough to avoid taking damage in this state, before she spun around and rolled right into her foe's chest, knocking it to the ground in a matter of seconds, where a quick hit from her tail knocked it out for good. Once that was done it was Spyro and Elora's turn to deal with the remaining Ninja Rhynocs that were at the back of the pack, where both of them dodged the incoming attacks by rolling or just moving as their foes attacked them, before Spyro flamed his opponent and knocked it to the ground, which was when Elora kicked her opponent in the side of the head and opened the way for them to explore the area now that the group of five had been taken out thanks to their teamwork. After that was done two more Ninja Rhynocs decided to drop down in front of the opening that would lead them into the building that was right in front of them, as the towers didn't seem to be all that important to the Sorceress, but neither of them really did much as they stood there, other than spin their staffs as they waited for one of them to approach the opening, so Spike knocked both of them out with his Wind Shurikens so he and the others could continue exploring the rest of the realm.
As the group explored the part of the realm that they were in they found one of the circular metallic chests off to the left of the longer bridge, though it didn't appear to have anyone guarding it, so what they did was let Ember harden her body once more and smash the chest to pieces, allowing them to claim the gems that had been inside it before finding yet one more Ninja Rhynoc standing near the river of lava that ran through this realm. Elora walked over to it and dodged the incoming attacks that it sent her way, clearly trying to hit her so it could protect whatever its boss was doing in this realm, before she spun around and punched it in the face, knocking it to the ground so that Spyro could smash his way through three more metallic vases, only to discover that there was a ledge near the first opening they had walked through. As such Spyro jumped into the air and glided over the river of lava that was between them and the ledge, as it was easy to get over it without needing the bridge, to which he smashed a few straw baskets and picked up the gems that were around him, something that was repeated near the tower that the circular metallic chest was at, due to there being a few straw baskets over there as well, before they regrouped near the end of the bridge. Elora was the last one to join them, due to the fact that she found an opening in the side of the tower and had smashed all the straw baskets that were inside it, allowing Talon to pick up all of the gems that she had found, since he had spotted what she was doing, before he flew over to Spike and took up his position once more, which was the moment that they continued to explore the area and kept their eyes open for any additional gems or potential eggs that might be resting in this realm.
What they did next was walk around the second tower that was in the area they were in and found that there was a straw basket outside it, which Ember smashed, before discovering an opening that allowed them to smash a few metallic vases and claim a couple of gems for their efforts, only to discover a number of small patches of ground that were in this side of the river of lava, one of which had a gem or two while the other had an egg. As such Spike made his way over to the patch of ground that the egg was on, where he was able to check it out and make sure that no harm had been done to it since it was left here, before sending it off to the Dragon Realms, while Ember collected the pair of gems that were on the other two patches of ground, though once all of that was done they returned to Spyro and Elora so they could use the new opening and continue exploring the rest of the factory. As they entered the structure that so many enemies had been trying to defend, and had failed, the group found another Ninja Rhynoc waiting for them, though Spike just knocked it out with some Wind Shuriken to the chest, allowing them to claim the gem it dropped and let them smash the straw basket that was in the corner, before they used the short ladder to their left to climb up to the next level of the area. What they found at the top of the ladder was one of the Bomber Rhynocs in the middle of a passage, who clearly hadn't noticed any of them yet since its back was to them, though that provided the perfect opportunity for Ember to rush up to where it was standing, up into the air as she hardened her body, and then crushed her target into the floor, allowing the others to pick up a new gem thanks to her efforts.
As they entered the next room they found one Ninja Rhynoc on the roof and one by the opening that would lead them back outside, who was holding a fireworks launcher, so Spike used his Wind Shuriken to knock them both out as the rest of the group smashed a few metallic vases and claimed the gems that had been inside them, though as they walked outside two more Ninja Rhynoc tried to ambush them, only to fall to Spyro and Elora hitting both of them into the ground, allowing them to find Greta standing next to what appeared to be a cannon in the shape of a dragon's head, though it was in a new style than what the group had seen in the past.
"It seems that you guys will have to use this cannon to get across here," Greta commented, though it was a fair fact for her to point out, as there was no bridge or walkway connecting the area they were in to the next area that would let them figure out where the exit portal for this realm was located, which meant the only way across at the moment was by the cannon that happened to be in front of them, one that was clearly designed to work with fireworks, "you just have to climb aboard. As for me, I just have to fwee my mind..."
It was in that moment, after giving the group the information on how they were going to get across the gap that was in front of them, that Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora watched as Greta turned and ran at the edge of the area, where she jumped into the air and seemed to sail over the gap, like it was nothing, before landing on the other ledge and moving forward on her own, even though they would be fighting the enemies that she was running by. After seeing that happen the first thing the group did was smash the two straw baskets that were near the cannon and then, with nothing else to do in this area, they approached the cannon and found that they were going to have to take turns using it, where Spyro was the first one to jump into the opening and watched as the hatch closed behind him, though that was when the cannon turned and shifted so it was pointing at the area that Greta had jumped over to, before he was fired through the air and quickly landed on the area that was above the patch of land he had jumped over to earlier. Spike found that the cannon used the power of the wind to send things over the gap, since there was no explosion like an actual cannon did when they were fired, to which he and the others took turns doing the same thing so they could catch up to Spyro, as they were eager to see what the rest of the realm had to offer and how many other enemies would be standing in their way before they reached the exit portal and acquired the plans that the Sorceress had apparently stolen. The moment they had landed on the new area they explored the area that was outside the structure in question and found that there were a few gems and a couple of straw baskets around the edges of the area, before discovering a light brown box that was positioned over the ledge that was near the starting area, though when Spyro charged into it he freed a gem, confirming Spike's thoughts on the infinite Rhynoc spawning boxes, even if they were easy to break.
With the outside taken care of, and getting a chance to see that this was another realm that was surrounded on all sides by mountains, the group headed into the structure and found that there were four Ninja Rhynocs waiting for them, to which Spyro charged through one of them, Spike dodged an incoming attack and knocked the second out with some of his Wind Shuriken, Ember just tanked the hits from her foe by hardening her body and then lashed out with her tail when it was tired, and Elora kicked hers in the side of the head to knock it out. Once those foes were taken care of the group made sure to smash two more straw baskets, and collecting the gems, before heading for the other opening that would let them move forward through the realm, where a slightly curved walkway connected the structure they were currently in to another one that was near the starting area, which also happened to have two of the Bomber Rhynoc just patrolling the area, waiting for enemies to show up. Since neither of them seemed to be paying attention to what was happening behind them, Ember charged forward and jumped into the air so she could smash the first one into the ground, all with her body being hardened to avoid damage, though Elora was the one that followed her and kicked the other one in the back of the head not a few seconds after Ember hit her target, taking them both down in seconds. On the other side of the walkway they discovered another Rhynoc Box to their left and smashed it instantly, instantly cutting down on the number of foes that were in this realm, before Ember smashed a circular metallic chest with her tail and freed the gems that were inside it, while Spyro entered the upper part of a tower that was in front of them and smashed a couple of metallic vases to add to their collection of gems.
Elora also smashed another Rhynoc Box that was to the right of the end of the bridge, once more depriving whatever enemies remained of reinforcements, before they scouted out the area that was near the tower that Spyro had gone into and found a Ninja Rhynoc guarding a portal to one of the side areas of the factory, so Ember took it down before it could even attack her and they quickly collected the gems that were laying on the ground around them, before they headed to the inside of the next structure, where they found Greta waiting for them.
"Uh oh, it looks like the Sorcewess has already used the plans to build her own wocket... we have to destwoy it!" Greta stated, causing the group to look around and realize that they couldn't actually see the rocket that the Sorceress had built in this realm, meaning it had to be on another level or something, though that didn't stop Greta from trying to lead them to whatever it was that she was looking for, "Just follow me!"
As it turned out the next couple of Ninja Rhynoc had no idea what was coming their way as Greta attacked the first pair from behind, kicking them to the ground before they even had a chance to defend themselves, before heading for the next two that were guarding the rocket area and smacked one into a wall before doing a long backflip to land behind the last foe and take it down, only for her to press a button that caused the rocket to launch from the opening that was in the floor in front of them... but when the rocket was in the air it exploded and dropped an egg onto the ground, which meant that someone was trying to launch it into orbit for some reason.
"Huh, I guess they had a large self-destruct button ready in case things went south." Elora commented, though at the same time they found that the egg landed near the starting area, near a cannon that they must have ignored, meaning it was likely the way back up here, not that such a thing mattered when she could just jump down to the area that the egg had landed in, pick it up, and then jump back up to where the structure was so she could deliver the egg to Spike, which is exactly what she did.
Spike looked over the egg as Greta hummed a little, showing that she was happy about what they were able to do in the last couple of minutes, before she took the Professor's plans for the rocket and headed through the now reactivated exit portal, no doubt returning to the area that the other residents were gathered in so she could have them work on the new vessel that will allow them to reach Midnight Mountain, before Spike sent the egg back to the Dragon Realms... only to discover a rather advanced looking portal in the chamber that the rocket had been in, with a sign that had a monkey on it this time around.
"Wait a minute, that monkey looks oddly familiar." Elora commented, where she stared at the picture for a couple of seconds as she considered where she might have seen someone that looked like what was in front of them, while at the same time the siblings read what the sign had to say, even though they knew it was from the Sorceress, informing them that she had captured the other hero of the Forgotten Realms, before she realized who it was, "Of course, that's Agent 9, who Hunter and I haven't seen in years."
"Agent 9? Who is that exactly?" Ember asked, because this was the first time they had heard of someone that went by that name, especially from Elora since they had spent a great deal of time in Avalar and the realms, so it was a little odd to learn about someone that had been living there long enough for Elora to know about them, though at the same time she had the feeling that they were going to learn something new.
"One of the Professor's old pupils, though he disappeared about three years ago," Elora replied, where she raised her hand for a moment and placed it on her chin, showing that she was thinking about what was going on at the moment, but she was happy to see that they had figured something out and that Hunter would be happy to hear this piece of news the next time they found him, which would be in the next Speedway, "of course that's two years before we summoned the three of you to Avalar to help us take down Ripto and end his rampage. You know, when we started this adventure I had no idea that we would actually figure out where Agent 9 wandered off too... I wonder what he's been doing for the last couple of years."
"Well, that's something we'll likely find out when we find the cage that Moneybags will be guarding, when we finally get to Midnight Mountain, since he's the fourth hero." Spike stated, reminding them of the fact that, since they had found the Sorceress' sign and her note about the other trapped hero, they would be finding Agent 9 in the next hour or so, which all depended on how long it took the rocket to be made and the trek to the final homeworld, before the others nodded their heads in agreement, to which they used the whirlwind behind them to return to the exit portal.
With the discussion done with, and the group now looking forward to the fact that they would be meeting Agent 9 in the near future, the first thing the group did was just clear out the gems that were in the area they had passed through as they were following Greta, and that included smashing the metallic vases their friend had rushed by earlier, before they headed outside and considered their options, as there were two side portals to pick from, with Agent 9's being the last one that they would have to come back for, which wasn't a surprise at this point. The portal they ended up picking out was the one that was right outside the entrance of the structure that Greta had moved through, where they passed through it and headed to the side section that it would take them to, which appeared to be a passage of some kind with Handel, who was also dressed in white clothing like his sister, standing near the start of the area, along with the fact that there was an egg to their right, even if it was on a level that was slightly above them.
"Oh, hey guys, I think I see an egg behind you," Handel said, showing that he was, still, not very observant for a secret agent that was in training, since that was what the group had assumed a year ago when they helped him and his sister out in Scorch, mostly because of the fact that the first thing the group had spotted was the egg, but they decided to remain silent as they came to a stop in front of him, just to hear what he had to say, "but, from what I can tell, its out of reach. You guys will have to take the long way wound, through all of the Whynocs to get to it."
"Or I could do this." Elora replied, where she jumped up to where the egg was located, as it was within her basic skills in jumping, and quickly stood up as she picked the egg, before she jumped back down to where the siblings were standing as she smiled at Handel, who tilted his head in confusion for a few seconds, before heading through the portal that was behind them, showing that he didn't like what he had seen.
Spike took a few seconds to make sure the egg was just fine, though once it was sent off the group headed into the passage that Handel had been at the front of and found a number of foes that were waiting for them, to which Ember was the first one to approach the pair of Bomber Rhynoc and smashed one into the ground with her hardened tail, which Elora followed up by punching the other one in the face. From there they jumped over the next gap that was in front of them and found a number of Ninja Rhynoc waiting for foes to come at them, where the group smashed their way through their foes and knocked them to the ground, dropping more gems to the ground in the process, allowing them to add more to their collection as they moved forward, along with smashing a metallic vase to pieces. As it turned out there were seven more Ninja Rhynoc in the next area they had to move through, where Ember smashed her foes into the ground, Spyro just charged through his opponents, Spike used his Wind Shuriken to take down two more, and Elora reached the one that had a firework launcher, who she punched in the face to take down. From there they cleared out the area of straw baskets, as there were a couple in the area they cleared out, before heading through the passage that was in front of them and found another Bomber Rhynoc guarding the upper part of it, who Ember took out with a smack with her hardened tail, though as they explored the upper area Spike knocked out yet one more Bomber Rhynoc as the others picked up some gems and smashed some metallic vases.
From there they cleared out a side area, which just had a metallic vase, and then totally cleared out an entire large room of Ninja Rhynoc and a Bomber Rhynoc, something that wasn't hard for them to do given how easy these enemies were to take out, along with smashing a few more metallic vases and picking up some gems in the process, before they reached the area the egg had been resting in and jumped down to where the portal was located. From there the group headed back to the main part of the realm, after clearing the area out completely, and headed over to the edge of the area they were on so they could glide over to the tower that would allow them to glide to the area that the other side portal was resting on, only for them to pass through the portal once they reached it. When they appeared in the other side area they discovered the area that Handel had run off to and found that they were on a stone bridge, one that lead them to the spot that Handel had moved to, no doubt to practice his skills or something, before they spotted a Combination Powerup Gate resting behind him, along with two serpent creatures flying through the air, which seemed to be a crude imitation of what the siblings looked like.
"Uh oh, looks like the Sorceress had something else hidden in this realm," Handel commented, no doubt referring to the pair of serpent dragons that were flying through the air at the moment, though even as he said that it wasn't hard for Spike to feel the magic in the air around the pair, likely a spell that was similar to the spell that turned gems into warriors, before the little boy turned to look at them, "I guess you'll need this Combination Powerup Gate to take them out and put an end to whatever the Sorceress has been planning."
The siblings found that the Combination Powerup Gate would give them Superflame and Superfly, allowing them to take to the air and fly after the two serpent dragons that were in this area, where Spyro and Ember followed after the red colored serpent as Spike chased the purple one, where they noticed that they must have been machines or something that had been given life, confirming Spike's thoughts on the matter as they attacked their targets. Elora, since she couldn't use the Superflame ability and her kicks seemed to do nothing to the serpents, which was rather annoying, decided to use the Superfly ability and flew around the area, smashing the metallic vases that were scattered around the part of the factory they were in and picked up the gems that she flew by, allowing them to be added to the bag that Spike was carrying, due to Talon following her again. As she did that it was easy to see Spyro and Ember bombing the serpent they were following, due to the fireball part of the Superflame ability, and bits were blown off of their target as they chased it around the area, be it flying around in the air, heading through the building that was nearby, or flying through an underground passage that connected two points of the area together. Spike, however, gathered his magic and lashed out at the purple serpent he was following, blasting it with small bolts of lightning, a few fireballs from the Superflame ability, and, of course, his new Wind Shuriken spell, where that serpent did its best to overcome the pressure it was under, only to fail as Spike blew off fragments of his target, before eventually causing the serpent he was chasing to explode, allowing him to fly over to where Elora was standing so they could watch Spyro and Ember continue chasing the other serpent.
When the other one was blown out of the sky, just like the first one, Handel commented on the fact that he spotted an egg land in the lava and Ember dived into the river to retrieve it, where Spike made sure that it was okay when his sister brought the egg up for him to check out, which was followed by him sending it back to the Dragon Realms, causing the four of them to head back to the exit portal so they could return to Evening Lake and finish off the Speedway realm, before they focused their efforts on the final homeworld and, more importantly, the Sorceress.