With the Fireworks Factory taken care of, save for the area that Agent 9 would help them clear out once they rescued him from Moneybags, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora returned to Evening Lake and made their way towards the area that would house the device that would take them to Midnight Mountain, which might to be the rocket that Greta had acquired the plans for. It didn't take them long to burst out of the water and touch down on the patch of ground that was above where the portal to Frozen Altars was located, where they were able to see the area that the whirligig was located in and, as they expected, there were a number of residents inside the tower that had been empty earlier, only this time there was a dark silver colored rocket, almost like the one from the realm they had just exited, resting between them. This one had four feet that touched the ground, instead of three like the last one had, though it did seem large enough for more than a single dragon to sit in, meaning it was likely large enough for all four of them to sit in it and rest while it took them to their next destination, though it did look like Bentley and the others were in the middle of fixing it up so it could be used, just like Sgt. Byrd and the others had done back in Midday Gardens. As they expected Bentley wasn't alone, where they found that one of the Penguins from Frozen Altars was nearby and the Opossum from Lost Fleet was there as well, Greta, of course, was there as well, though both Princess Ami and Prince Azrael were present, helping the others out and lending their aid to the group, no doubt to partly repay them for saving Charmed Ridge and the Cats.
"Ah, my esteemed friends, you have returned." Bentley said, turning away from the rocket that he and the others were in the middle of making ready for their departure, which seemed to be nearing completion, just like what happened when they reached the area that the whirligig was in, where the group came to a stop near him so they could hear what he had to tell them, before they left for the Speedway, "The Professor's rocket, which our friend Greta was able to steal back from the Sorceress' Firework Factory, is nearly ready to depart for our adversaries base of operations, but it will take a few more minutes before it is ready to take you to the final homeworld."
"Don't worry, we kind of figured that was the case," Spyro remarked, as Sheila and the residents of Sunrise Spring had helped them access the hot air balloon while Sgt. Byrd and the residents of Midday Gardens had assembled the whirligig so they could reach Evening Lake, though it was nice to see that things were progressing rather well for Bentley and the others of this homeworld, "We're going to go clear out Honey Speedway real quick, which should give you and the others more than enough time to get the rocket ready to depart for Midnight Mountain... its going to be nice to bring this quest to an end and bring the Sorceress to justice for her crimes."
Bentley nodded his head and returned to his work, allowing the group to head outside and dive back into the water that was near them, which was when they headed back towards the area that the portal to Charmed Ridge was located in and quickly located the Speedway portal, hence the reason they moved through it and headed to their destination, so they could clear out the Flight Realm and then move on to the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms. When they appeared in the starting area, and came to a stop for a few moments, the group discovered that they were on another small island, which wasn't a surprise given the previous Flight Realms they had visited so far, though the sky was darker than the other two had been and it appeared that there was a number of large flowers growing out of the area around them, which was before they focused on the major parts of this realm. What they discovered was that there were a number of beehive areas, or what looked like beehives, scattered around the area and that there was a river of honey that seemed to be cutting through the entire Speedway and had vessels riding on top of it, though as the group glanced at the Speedway, to take in the sights, the three dragonflies flew off for a moment to see what sort of challenges would be thrown at them, even though they suspected that the challenges would be the same as the last two Speedways they had tackled. Elora, on the other hand, was more interested in heading out and finding Hunter, since she knew that he had to be here, due to the fact that he loved these areas, and it was possible that he had another egg for them to return to the Dragon Realms, but she would head out once the siblings started the first challenge.
In fact it only took Sparx, Talon, and Cinder a minute or two to find whoever they needed to talk to so they could get the information that the group needed, about the challenges they would be facing, before returning to the starting area so they could tell the siblings what they needed to do to acquire two of the three eggs that were resting on this island, while Elora went out to find Hunter and the third egg.
"The bees have informed us that the challenges are the same across all four Speedways," Sparx stated, informing the group as to what was going on, which made things much easier for the siblings since they already knew what to expect thanks to the first two Flight Realms they had taken on and bested, but they patiently waited for the dragonflies to finish talking before they said anything, "so your choices are Time Attack and Race the Bumblebees."
It was pretty straightforward for the siblings, as Elora watched as they took off and started to head towards the area that had eight rings that had been changed into honeycombs, to go with the theme of the entire island, though while they did that she took to the air as well and started her search for Hunter, even if she would be spending the next couple of minutes seeing what the siblings did. As soon as the eight rings had been flown through, and the first obstacle had been taken care of, Spyro continued forward and started to fly through the eight beehives that rested around the island, as that seemed to be another target for them to focus on, due to the fact that anything that was in groups of eight in one of the Flight Realms was generally a target that they were required to take out, hence why he focused on them. While he did that Ember flew over to the flowers that had angry looking bees flying above them, eight of them to be exact, where she used her hardened tail to smack them out of the air and send them into the water that rested around the island, showing that she had found the third obstacle they needed to best, something that left Spike to deal with the boat riders that were on the river of honey. Instead of flaming the boat riders as he flew by them, like he would have done in the past, Spike used his Wind Shuriken as he flew along the river, causing the riders to lose control and wipe out in the process, which still counted towards their objective, though as he did that he noticed that the riders were all bears that almost resembled Moneybags, only they were dressed in different clothing and didn't have the expression the evil bear had.
Once all four of the obstacles had been taken care of, and in record time in Elora's mind, she watched as the siblings were given four hundred more gems to add to their collection, something that Spike would take the time to count to make sure it was all there, along with the egg that was the reward for beating the first challenge, which was set off to the side as Ember sat near it, making sure no harm came to it as Spyro took to the air once more, since he was the fastest of the three in terms of racing. Spyro followed after the gang of giant bees, much like the ones that Ember had taken out, save for the fact that these five seemed much calmer than the other eight did, using the red dots to guide him along the course that they would be following, while making sure to fly through the green rings to confirm that he was following the path, using the blue stars to give him a boost every now and then, and use the red stars to fire weak rockets at the racer that was in front of him, mostly to stun whoever he was firing at. Elora found that she was right in her assumptions about the race, as Spyro was not only able to keep up with the bees that were his opponents and learn the course that they were following at the same time, but he was also able to overcome the racers that were in front of him, much to the surprise of the bees that he eventually passed by, before he was able to make it to the first place position by the end of the second lap, which showed that his skills in the field of racing weren't to be denied. That, of course, allowed him to use the third lap to put some distance between him and the former first place holder, something that shocked all of the bees that he was racing at the moment, before he eventually located the finish line and flew through it, where Elora and the others cheered as he was awarded the second of the three eggs that were hidden on this island, allowing him to fly over to Spike and Ember as they waited to see what Hunter had to do to get the third and final egg, which was what Elora was doing.
She found Hunter standing out in the open this time around, instead of hiding in one of the structures, granted there weren't many this time around and the only one, which rested in the middle of the island and looked like the hive that all of the bees lived in, didn't seem to have any openings, at least none that Hunter could use without being turned away, but that didn't stop Elora from landing near him.
"At least you were easy to find this time, Hunter." Elora said, where she folded her wings up as she walked up to her friend, mostly so once she had the egg that he would find she could leave the area and get to the siblings in a few seconds, but, at the same time, there was something she needed to tell him, before asking about the egg, "Listen, we might have found where Agent 9 disappeared to three years ago."
"Agent 9? You mean the trigger happy ape that was one of the Professor's pupils?" Hunter remarked, reminding Elora of the fact that their old friend used to enjoy practicing with his blaster, to the extent that it always broke after a short length of time and always needed to be replaced, something that was possible due to the fact that he worked with the Professor, even if the blaster never made it into the Avalar guards since Agent 9 disappeared before all of the testing could have been finished, "That's good news, especially since I know he's been missed by the others back home."
"I know. We're likely going to run into him in Midnight Mountain, no doubt trapped by Moneybags," Elora added, as she felt that Hunter should know as much as she and the siblings did, though even as she said that, and got that off her chest, she focused on the real reason that she had sought Hunter out, which was why she was looking at the dragon egg shaped rock that was nearby, "So, I take it you found one of the eggs?"
"Yeah, I did, and there's a large saucer, being piloted by sheep, flying towards this island that wants it back, so I came up with a plan to fool them," Hunter replied, where he pulled out the egg he had found and set it by the stone that was just about the same size and shape of the egg, something that impressed Elora since she didn't think Hunter would do this to retrieve one of the stolen dragon eggs that they were looking for, "I figured that, since you guys were coming here, that I would lay low and wait for you to arrive, then, once one of you found me, I would hand over the egg and use this rock to lure the saucer out into the open, giving you guys time to send the egg off with the others, if Spike hasn't done so already, and distract it long enough for you guys to escape from this Speedway."
Elora had to admit that it was a rather smart plan for Hunter to come up with, nothing like what he had done back in Avalar when he was helping the siblings collect the Orbs they needed to open the way to where Ripto and his minions had been located, but, at the same time, it showed that he was willing to change what he normally did and that he was rather smart for coming up with such a plan in such a short period of time. Fortunately Hunter had a boat at the ready and, with the egg given to Elora, he jumped into it and started moving down the river of honey, with the fake egg in hand, which was shortly followed by the saucer in question descending from the sky as it started to follow him down the river, something that was her cue to leave, hence the reason she jumped off the nearby ledge and opened her wings. From there it took her a few seconds to return to where the siblings were sitting, where she placed the third egg down and explained what was going on, since they had no idea what Hunter had told her, before Spike sent all three eggs back to the Dragon Realms and made sure the four hundred gems had been stored away inside the bag that he was carrying, which was followed by them getting up. Once all four of them were ready to go they took to the air and started to fly towards the edge of the island, to the boundary that would allow them to return to Evening Lake, though as they did that Elora glanced back and found that Hunter was focused on his mission and that he wasn't making any gestures that would tell the sheep that they had been played by the one they were chasing, to which she focused on what she was doing and left Hunter behind. It didn't take them that long to reach the edge of the island, where the magic latched onto them and sent them on their way to Evening Lake, meaning that it was time for them to see if the rocket was ready to be launched so they could head to the fourth and final homeworld, as it was nearly time for them to put an end to the Sorceress' plans.
As such it wasn't long before they returned to Evening Lake and jumped out of the water that was near the tower that was their destination, where most of their new friends wished them luck on their journey before heading back to their own realms, no doubt to clean up the mess that the Rhynocs had left behind, before they found that Bentley was the only one left by the rocket, which seemed ready to depart.
"My esteemed friends, the rocket is fueled and ready to go!" Bentley stated, confirming their thoughts on the matter, that the reason the others had left was due to the rocket being complete and that they needed to make sure the messes the Rhynocs left behind were dealt with, which made sense when they considered what happened to Princess Ami's realm and Prince Azrael's people, before their yeti friend beckoned to the rocket with a smile on his face, "Its time to boldly go where no dragon has gone before... well, not in a thousand years at any rate."
"Good, I'm eager to kick the Sorceress in the rear," Ember remarked, her tone indicating that she didn't much care for the foe that was in control of the Forgotten Realms, not after everything that they had learned since they had arrived in this land and started helping the various residents out with their problems, before another thought came to mind as she focused on Bentley for a moment, "Since we're upgrading to this rocket, and that generally means we're leaving behind the device that brought us to the homeworld we're currently in, why don't you take the whirligig and use it when you need to get from one homeworld to another? With your intelligence I'm sure you'll have full control over it in no time."
"I would be honored to accept such a gift," Bentley said, though one look from Spyro, Spike, and Elora informed him that they agreed with Ember's statement, that he could definitely use something like the whirligig to get from one island to another, especially if the Sorceress had something waiting for them before they reached Midnight Mountain, though that was when he stepped to the side and let them do their thing.
Not even a few seconds later the ground found that a disc lowered from the base of the rocket and allowed them to ride it up into the sitting area, like an elevator of some kind that didn't seem to mess with the actual systems of the rocket, which was when they found that they could actually set a course without using magic, as there was a screen that held all of the homeworlds that existed in the Forgotten Realms, to which they selected Midnight Mountain and the rocket took off a few seconds later, allowing them to rest and prepare for what the future held for them.
The siblings and Elora discovered a few things while they were resting inside the rocket's container area, or whatever it was actually called, and one of those was that the screen they had used to select their destination informed them of how long it would take to reach whatever location they picked, where it estimated that almost an hour would pass before they reached the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms. Based on that information Spike could determine that all of the lands that made up the former home of the dragons were more spread out than what the Dragon Realms were, which did make sense when he considered the amount of time that it took to get from one island to the next, to which he recorded all of the information that he had gained in his journal, so Argus and the others would know what he found. Ember, as per usual, spent her time in the rocket resting, recovering her energy from all the times she used her Warrior's Armor to take down the enemies that were in their way, mostly because she didn't care to study the machine they were in and figured that she would have time to study it once they were done with their quest, even if she wasn't going to sit down and study it like Spike was planning on doing. Spyro and Elora, however, spent their time looking outside and making note of the area that they were passing through, where the former was doing it just to pass the time, since there wasn't much to do in the rocket besides sit or rest, and the latter was making notes for Spike, who occasionally looked out at the area that they were passing through so he would have a batter idea of what Elora was talking about.
Other than all of that there wasn't much for them to do, other than for Spike to pull out the Guidebook and see what else he could learn about Midnight Mountain, though that was when the rocket warned them that they were descending into an area that an egg was in, showing them that the Professor might have heard about the ambushes and added such a feature in case there was one more for the group to deal with, even if he hadn't shown up to talk with them yet. As such the group readied themselves as they descended down into the new area that they would be staying in for a few minutes, as this wasn't going to be a place that any of them would be returning to, yet what the four of them found as they looked out the windows was a massive skull of what appeared to be some sort of aquatic animal, which Spike determined had to be a shark or something, as there were no records of any dragons growing to be the size of a mountain. This time around it appeared that this ambush area was devoid of all lava, either intentional on the Sorceress' part or this was the only place where such an ambush could be placed, though that wasn't the only thing they spotted as they descended towards the area that was below them, as there was the familiar sight of the whirligig resting off to the side, with Bentley, carrying his trusty club, climbing out of it. That told the group that he must have been told about the possibility of an ambush shortly after they departed from Evening Lake, meaning it would have been impossible for anyone else to warn them about what was in front of them, though that was when they got a glimpse of the creature they would be facing off against this time around, a large bat-like creature that was easily almost twice as tall as Bentley was, with orange leathery skin and darker orange markings on its shoulders and chest, and, interestingly enough, purple shorts that had an opening for a long tail that almost seemed like a whip.
As the rocket landed, and they were lowered into the arena, which consisted of a metallic platform that was floating on the water for them to stand on, the group determined that this could be a monster that was far beyond what they had faced so far, meaning it might be more powerful than the last ones they had encountered, though they came to a stop near Bentley as the rocket moved off to a position where it would be out of the way.
"You have my sincerest appreciations for the gift you have given me, as the whirligig granted me the ability to catch up with the rocket once the Fairies gave me some bad news." Bentley said, his tone revealing that he was happy to be given the whirligig, something that he was planning on using more in the future, though at the same time his words told them that Princess Ami and her people had spotted something and told their friend about it, before he beckoned to the foe that was in front of them, "My friends, this may be our last stand. The Sorceress has created this, her most powerful monster yet, to destroy every iota of her opposition, beginning with the five of us. Fortunately, whether or not they were planted here by our true foe, there are a number of combustibles that we might be able to make use of, so let's get in there, as there is a battle to be had!"
What the group discovered was that the creature they were going to be facing loved to throw up a barrier around it to protect itself from any and all attacks, a magical barrier based on what Spike was feeling at the moment, though even as that happened the five of them spread out and watched what their foe was doing, to get a feeling for what it was really capable of so they could figure out their plan of attack. A few moments later the barrier dropped and the creature swung its arms, which its wings were attacked to, towards the center of the platform, where four large red eggs were thrown out into the area that they were in, which was followed by the eggs shattering after landing and revealed that they carried the Crabs from Lost Fleet, foes that were easy to take out after everything they had experienced so far. As such it didn't take the group all that long to take them down, though while they took down all of the Crabs that had spawned on the platform their foe summoned its barrier again, protecting it for a time, and it was only when all of the other enemies were defeated that it even lowered the protective barrier and moved to a new area, though the flight was short and barely gave them any time to use the weapons that Bentley had discovered on their opponent. Once their foe had picked a good position to float in, for the next couple of moments, it launched a few more eggs into the area and forced them to fight another pair of Crabs, instead of actually fighting them like it was supposed to, and they found that the barrier was back up in seconds, causing Ember to growl as the cowardly foe protected itself without actually fighting them.
Spike, on the other claw, headed over to Bentley and inquired if the items he was trying to assist them with could be modified into spheres or if they could be made to channel some power into one of them, where the yeti paused for a few seconds and informed him that such a thing was plausible and that he could see if he could do such a thing while the four of them kept their foe preoccupied, to which Spike returned to the 'battle' as Bentley did that. While he and the others focused on what they were doing, following the bat creature while it protected itself and deployed more Crabs for them to take down, one of the things that he did was channel his magic into the barrier that was protecting their foe, which was followed by them watching as the magical shield disappeared for a few moments, giving them more than enough time to actually attack their foe, before he let go with a smile on his face. That meant he could forcefully lower their foe's barrier and open the way for Spyro, Ember, and Elora to damage it, to turn the tide of this battle in their favor, while at the same time that meant that Bentley could focus his attention on figuring out how to shift the combustibles into the spheres that were like what Sgt. Byrd used during the fight he assisted them with, which would really help them out. Still, that didn't stop Ember from hardening her body as she jumped into the air and spun as she struck their foe's chest, during one of the moments that the barrier was taken down, and that caused their foe to stagger for a moment, which made sense when the group considered how painful such an attack had to be.
After that their foe tried a new attack by spitting a fireball into the air that expanded and exploded into a shower of slightly smaller fireballs that rained down upon the area that they were fighting in, though it was rather easy to avoid the attack and not take any damage from what was going on, though that was followed by Bentley throwing out a modified combustible that would explode within a few moments, so it was best if they did whatever Spike had told him about and then got away from it, before it exploded. Elora, figuring out what Spike had done, nodded her head and rushed over to the flaming item, where she channeled the power into her Spring Jump Form, as she had switched to it after they landed in this area and found the foe that they were currently facing, which was when she charged at their foe as Spike forced the barrier down once more, where she jumped into the air and kicked at their opponent, releasing two waves of fire that slammed into the creature's chest and caused it to stagger for a moment. Bentley cheered as he watched that happen, as he now knew what Spike had asked him to do and was happy to see that it had been successful, to which he returned to modifying more of the combustibles for the battle to come, though the group discovered something odd, the creature was able to spawn in the first creature that they had fought, the one that Bianca had sent at them, like it was trying to turn the fight into a two against four. Ember, however, was not amused by the situation and rushed at the new creature, where she charged into the creature and knocked it backwards until it fell into the water, revealing that it couldn't swim and that such a thing was enough to take it out, allowing Spyro, Spike, and Elora to focus on their main target by Spike lowering the barrier so the others could hit it, even though this was, by far, the weakest foe they had fought so far.
It was rather strange for the Sorceress to create something like this, as while she might think it was a powerful beast that would be able to take them down, and put an end to what they were doing at the moment, it was cowardly and didn't like to fight them at all, not like the last two she sent their way, after the one that Bianca sent at them, as even Bianca's had a bit of fight in it, where Ember just rolled her eyes as they continued fighting, showing that she wasn't happy about such a weak foe being sent at them at this point in time... though it wasn't long before they brought the creature down and it collapsed in the water, defeated, allowing them to acquire the egg it had been holding.
"That was... disappointing... seriously, that was the Sorceress' strongest monster?" Ember remarked, because she had been expecting a harsh fight where one or more of them would have been hurt over the course of the battle, something that would have required all of them to rest before they reached Midnight Mountain and started the final leg of the quest they were on, but all they got was a creature that was too cowardly to even face them up close and personal, "Now I wish I hadn't opted out of the previous battle, before we reached Evening Lake, as that creature was far stronger, and was way more willing to fight, than this guy was!"
Spyro, Spike, and Elora chuckled for a moment, which Bentley joined in on a few seconds later, because it was just like Ember to make such a remark, before they sent the egg off and thanked their new friend for the assistance in bringing the creature down, where Bentley rubbed the back of his head for a moment, only for them to return to the resting area of the rocket and blast off so they could reach the final homeworld and put an end to the Sorceress' reign.