//------------------------------//
// Year: Midnight Stroll 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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After dealing with the latest creature that had been sent after them, to stop them on their quest to recover the stolen eggs and put a stop to whatever the Sorceress was planning, Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora spent the next thirty minutes just resting after the battle they had been in, though for the most part they were just recovering all of the energy they had spent during the previous fight and were readying themselves for whatever Midnight Mountain had in store for them. This was the final homeworld of the Forgotten Realms, the land that the Sorceress ruled with an iron fist from, and it was where they would find the rest of the stolen eggs, minus the couple of eggs that they had to leave behind in Evening Lake, mostly due to the fact that they needed Agent 9's help to get the rest in Fireworks Factory, which would be when they found the sign that Zoe had left for Sparx, Talon, and Cinder, for the other egg they had left behind. Of course, as the group thought about all of the eggs they had recovered so far, they still had to wonder what sort of plan the Sorceress had in mind for them, as it was clear that she didn't care about the realms that existed throughout the four homeworlds, as she was constantly sending her Rhynocs to attack the various residents of the lands that she ruled over, though one thing they knew was that they would figure out her plans when they reached the next homeworld. One thing the four of them were sure about was that none of them would like whatever the Sorceress was planning and that they would be annoyed when they finally learned what she had in mind for the stolen eggs, though since there was nothing any of them could do at the moment, given that they were resting inside a rocket, they returned to resting and waited for their ride to land in their destination.

Of course there was one other thing they all thought about, and that was whether or not Bianca would totally deflect from her mentor's side or if she would be in their way when they reached Midnight Mountain, as during their visit to Sunrise Spring she had been against them, then she seemed to be more neutral when they helped her out in Midday Gardens, and then she even helped them out by giving them the map in Evening Lake, so one would assume that she would be on their side when they reached the final homeworld, but since they had no idea they turned their attention to resting and preparing themselves for what was coming their way.

The first thing the group saw when they finally neared Midnight Mountain, and looked out through one of the round windows that the rocket had, was that the final homeworld was positioned on the peak of a mountain, which made sense when one considered the name of the land, though that was followed by them seeing that there were a number of rather nice looking towers and structures that rested around the land. The closest structure was similar to the keep that they had landed in when they first landed in Midday Gardens, only this one was round and not square shaped, and the reason they knew that was due to the circular opening in the roof, which would allow them to access the inside of the structure, but that was when they noticed a much larger structure that rested a fair distance away from the keep, one that looked like a circular castle with small spikes attached to the sides. It was clear that the large circular structure was the home of the Sorceress, as it was the only building in the area that seemed to be a place where she would rest, and there was even a small tower on one of the islands close to the castle, though that did allow them to see that the peak this homeworld had been built on had been flattened at some point, where Spike could feel the magic that had gone into shaping this land and knew that their foe must have used the magic of the dragons to create this area for herself, before eventually banishing the dragons to have lone control over the Forgotten Realms.

There were a few other things the group noticed, as in the giant crystals that were resting all over the various isles that made up the homeworld, due to the fact that the Sorceress had broken things up and created little islands that were connected by stone bridges, though that was all they could really see as the rocket reached their destination and the disc that allowed them to enter and leave the vessel allowed them to stretch their legs again... though as they walked out of the keep, and started to take in the interesting night sky that was above them, they paused as a rainbow trail rushed over to where they were standing, revealing Bianca once more, only she seemed annoyed.

"Bianca, is something wrong?" Elora asked, because the group could easily assume that something had gone wrong during the last time they had seen their new ally and this instance, though that was when they noticed that she had taken the time to pull her hood back, revealing her rabbit ears for the first time since their arrival in the Forgotten Realms, and that her robe was open, allowing them to see that she was wearing an orange shoulder-less dress that had markings on the sleeves that matched her belt and boots.

"You could say that, as I finally found out what the Sorceress planned to do with the dragon eggs that she had me and the Rhynocs steal," Bianca replied, her statement immediately grabbing the attention of the siblings and Elora, as this was something they had been trying to figure out once they realized that their foe was going to do with all of the eggs and the baby dragons that were inside them, especially since she wasn't interested in restoring the magic to the rest of the lands that she ruled over, which was the reason that Bianca had even followed her orders in the first place, to bring back all of the missing magic and restore the land to its former glory, "its just, well, I knew that the Sorceress was unreasonable the last time I spoke with her, when I warned you about the trap in Evening Lake, but I never suspected how terrible her true plan could possibly be. Guys, she's been planning on killing the hatchlings so she can take their wings, which she claims is the source of a dragon's power, so she can cast an immortality spell on herself and, at the same time, give her the ability to use all of the Powerup Gates that the dragons left behind when they were banished, which would basically turn her into the strongest person in the world."

"SHE'S PLANNING ON KILLING THE HATCHLINGS?!" Ember exclaimed, where Spyro, Spike, Elora, and Bianca could hear the anger that was in her voice, as she didn't like anyone that stole the eggs and threatened their safety, just like the Egg Thieves they had chased during their first adventure and this one, though while the rest of the group was angry after hearing that information their anger paled in comparison to her rather intense anger.

"Ember, stop." Spyro stated, where he opened his right wing for a moment and held it out to stop Ember from doing what she was thinking at the moment, which was to rush over to the castle, basically storming it on her own, to engage the Sorceress while her anger ruled her mind, something he and Spike, at the very least, was the last thing they needed right now, hence why he was stopping her before she did anything she might regret, "Listen, we're all angry over hearing this information, but we can't go rushing off to face her, because if we fight her while anger rules us we'll only be inviting total disaster upon us, meaning she'll end up winning in the end."

"Still, something about that explanation seems wrong... why only go after the hatchlings' wings?" Spike commented, because while he was angry with the Sorceress, after hearing what she was planning on doing to the hatchlings once they were born, he knew more about the magic that all dragons had, thanks to what he learned during all of his studies in the past, and one thing stood out to him, "The Sorceress lived under the rule of the old dragons for a time, so she should know that our magic doesn't just come from our wings, but our entire bodies, so why the interest in only the wings, which would only give her a fraction of the power she's looking for?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Bianca replied, where she shook her head for a moment, as she still couldn't believe that her former mentor was so keen on killing all of the dragons that were in the lands that she ruled over, all to make herself the strongest being in existence, along with the fact that she would be able to live forever if the spell actually worked, as she had no idea if such a spell even existed or not, before she focused on the other bit of information that she had to tell the group, before they moved forward, "Listen, thanks to the fact that you guys have been able to collect over a hundred of the eggs, you've saved them from my former mentor's plans and, at the same time, you've restored the magic to the rest of the four homeworlds, enough to where I should be able to open a portal right into the very heart of the Sorceress' stronghold, but that still leaves a number of eggs unaccounted for. If you guys can recover those eggs as well, not only will you save them from the Sorceress' foul plan, and ruin her chances of obtaining immortality, but you'll also boost my own magic for when the final battle comes around... also, Hunter and I have been gathering your forces, when he's not busy helping you recover the rest of the eggs."

"Wait, our forces?" Elora asked, because that was news to her, the fact that the four of them even had soldiers that were willing to fight for them in some manner, and she could tell that it did confuse the siblings as well, maybe enough to defuse Ember's anger for the foreseeable future, at least until they challenged the Sorceress and she remembered why she hated the person so much.

"Yeah, the heroes you freed and the residents that you helped, they're willing to help you by taking down the army of Rhynocs that the Sorceress is preparing to unleash upon the lands," Bianca answered, though she did know that this bit of news would be surprising as well, not on the level of the Sorceress willing to kill the hatchlings anyway, but at the very least the four of them would know that when the final battle started their foe's reinforcements wouldn't be arriving, leaving them to deal with their foe.

"Well then, we'll get back to saving the eggs and assisting the remaining realms," Spyro stated, as it was time for them to move on and start clearing out Midnight Mountain of everything that was waiting for them, be it enemies, gems, or the eggs that would be scattered around the area, before he focused on Bianca again, who seemed ready for what the near future held for them, "and then, once we're ready, we'll take the fight to the Sorceress and bring her down, to free the entirety of the Forgotten Realms from her iron grip."

Bianca nodded her head, to show that she understood and that she was on their side, before disappearing as a new trail of rainbow magic flew through the air, heading towards the castle so she could begin work on opening the way into the Sorceress' stronghold, allowing the siblings and Elora to start looking around the isles that make up this homeworld and do what they did when they encountered a new land. The first thing they did was head back into the keep and picked up a lone gem that was on the ground, not to mention that they also smashed three metallic vases as well, before heading outside so they could pick a direction to move in, while Spike studied the map that Bianca had given him, so he could see where the eggs had been hidden. That, of course, was why he headed to the left after walking out of the keep, as he had to smash a pair of straw baskets, jump up a few stone steps that were behind them, and then walk along the short path that was up there, before he glided over to a small patch of land that an egg was resting on, causing the others to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they watched him do that, mostly since they weren't expecting an egg to be that close to the starting point of this homeworld. It didn't take him long to send the egg back home, to which he glided back over to where the others were standing and they returned to the front of the keep, where they smashed the couple of metallic vases that were resting in front of some crystals and picked up some gems as well, before picking the bridge that was to the left of the keep's entrance and walked up it. That allowed them to pick up a few more gems as they headed to the first isle that was connected to the one that they landed on, where they spotted a familiar advanced structure, the one that had had the sign that told them about Agent 9, which was when the group noticed the cage that had a light brown furred monkey that was standing inside it, who was wearing a light green suit with red gloves, a pair of boots, and a helmet, though he did have an annoyed look on his face.

Of course Moneybags was standing nearby, as they expected since he was the one that tried to sell them the freedom of the other heroes that the Sorceress had captured before their arrival in the Forgotten Realms, to which they smashed a pair of metallic vases and picked up the few gems that were in the area around the cage, while glaring at Moneybags, and once that was done they approached him at long last.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Elora. Look at what I have right here," Moneybags said, where he actually patted the roof of the cage for a moment, like he owned a toy or something that they might be interested in, while at the same time he seemed to be ignoring the lessons that they had tried to teach him since the first day they met him, not that they were surprised by such a thing, "its a life-sized space monkey action figure, complete with a fully functional and operational laser blaster. Now, I would love to let him out of his cage, so the four of you could play with the little guy, but I was ordered by the Sorceress to ensure that he stays in his triple locked protective cage, as he's a menace to all of the Rhynoc that live in the Forgotten Realms, and you won't be able to bribe me this time... unless, of course, you give me all of the gems you have acquired so far."

"Moneybags, you know who this 'little guy' is, this is Agent 9, the Professor's pupil who went missing three years ago," Elora remarked, though she wasn't at all surprised by the fact that Moneybags was trying to sell Agent 9 to them, like he had tried to do so when they found him standing outside Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, and Bentley's cages earlier, but at the same time all four of them weren't in the mood to deal with the bear, not after hearing what the Sorceress was planning on doing to the hatchlings, hence the glares they were giving him at the moment, "let him go and we won't beat you up for once... I know your body could certainly take a break from being hit by us."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. I have given you my terms, so either take it or leave." Moneybags replied, showing that he was going to be his usual stubborn self in this type of situation, though at the same time it really drove home the point that he didn't care about anyone and was entirely focused on the gems that he could gain from whatever transaction he was trying to make with the residents of the realms that he went into.

Elora sighed for a moment, giving the siblings enough time to move to the side since they felt that she was going to do something to the bear, before she growled and spun around, planting the side of her left leg in Moneybag's chest, causing him to stagger for a moment as he realized that she had struck him, before she punched him in the face twice and then, while he was distracted, she grabbed onto his arm, the one that was holding his precious bag of gems, and then lifted him into the air so she could slam him down on the ground in front of the cage... though as she did that Spike used his magic to tear through the spells that were keeping Agent 9 locked up.

"Hey, thanks for rescuing me." Agent 9 said, though even as he did that he cheered for a few moments, showing just how excited he was at the prospect of being freed from the cage that he had been trapped in, before he eventually settled down, or at least it was his version of calming down, and glanced at Moneybags for a moment, who was picking himself off the ground after Elora let him go, "Say, have any of you ever seen a dancing bear before?"

The group, declaring that they hadn't seen anything like that, since they knew Agent 9 was referring to Moneybags and not any of the other couple of bears that they had helped or seen during their quest in the Forgotten Realms, got a front row seat to Agent 9 using his blaster on Moneybags, as in he blasted the ground a few times, near the bear's feet to be exact, and forced him to dance for a few seconds, something that lead to Moneybags fleeing while Agent 9 cheered about his freedom, before he focused on the group once more.

"Whoa, Elora!?" Agent 9 exclaimed, acting as if he hadn't heard her name being mentioned by Moneybags, and she, at least, was sure that had been the case since he was so annoyed with the bear that was keeping him locked in a cage, but this did bring a big smile to his face, showing that he was happy to see her again, "Long time no see. Its been, what, at least three years since we last saw each other, right? Boy are you a sight for sore eyes, even though I remember you being more into reading your books and letting others do the fighting, yet here you are, kicking Moneybags' tail like you've been the one fighting for the last couple of year. Also, you're probably wondering why I'm here, and not in Avalar, but its a rather simple tale that involves me finding a portal to these lands by accident a while back and that I have been having a blast sticking it to the Rhynocs... well, up until they captured me, anyway. Say, who are your new friends?"

"Its good to see that you haven't changed at all, Agent 9." Elora replied, because it seemed like he was the exact same as he had been before his disappearance three years ago, not that she was actually expecting him to change since the last time she had seen him, but at the very least the rest of their friends in Avalar would be able to rest easy knowing that he had been found, "These are my friends Spike, Spyro, and Ember, and they're dragons that Hunter, the Professor, and I called to Avalar a year ago to help us with a villain that accidentally got summoned to our home, though I've been paying back that debt by helping them recover the dragon eggs that the Sorceress stole... also, we're apparently the leaders of what seems to be a rebellion against the Sorceress."

"Whoa, hold on a minute. These are the dragons that have been tearing apart the Rhynocs, and you're the faun that's been helping them?!" Agent 9 stated, his face showing the group that his mind had been blown as he put all the pieces into the puzzle he must have been working on in his mind, though none of them said anything as he smiled and returned to how he had been a few moments ago, like nothing important had happened, "Listen, I'll help you guys take down the Sorceress and her army of Rhynocs, but first I have to head back to my lab and clean up the place... I'll see you guys once I'm done taking out the trash."

The group had no time to say anything as Agent 9 turned around and disappeared into the portal that was resting right behind him, taking him back to his own realm so he could prepare for the future, a realm that they would be visiting in the next couple of minutes, to which the group simply turned around and started to walk away from the structure that housed the portal their new friend had wandered into.

"Wait, why would the Sorceress open a portal to the same set of islands twice?" Ember asked, because she could see how Agent 9 got to the Forgotten Realms three years ago, but if the Sorceress had opened the portal that had brought the monkey to these lands it didn't make sense as to why she would do the same thing two years later, the event that ended up bringing Moneybags to this particular set of islands.

"She was probably experimenting three years ago and had no idea what she was doing," Spike replied, as it seemed possible when he thought about it, because he had been a little curious about what Agent 9 had told them and he had an idea as to what had happened, hence the reason he was going to explain it to the others since he was the expert on magic and what someone could do with the proper training, "no doubt she was looking for the lands that the dragons called home, so she could figure out where to send her army when the Year of the Dragon Festival happened, and Avalar, which had dragons staying there at one point in the past, seems to have been one of the areas she picked first, which would be the time that Agent 9 stumbled into her portal and ended up here. The Sorceress probably had no idea he was even there, not until the Rhynocs messed with him and he started blasting them to get out of the castle, or wherever she used as her practice area to determine where we were living these days, and now he's ready to bring them all down."

The others said nothing to that as they neared the other bridge that was connected to the area that the keep was in, as it was time for them to begin clearing out the rest of Midnight Mountain before they helped Agent 9 deal with the foes that were in his realm, to which the smashed the couple of straw baskets that were on the stone bridge and approached the next isle that they could explore. It was there that they got a glimpse of the portal that lead to Crystal Islands, which was carved out of some stone and had two large crystals sticking out of the top of it, though after seeing that the first thing they did was collect the nearby gem that was laying on the ground and smashed three more straw baskets that were right behind the portal, though as they spotted a bullseye chest, which one of the siblings had to smash, Ember paused as she spotted an Egg Thief on the middle of the bridge that was to the left of the one they had just used. The rest of the group weren't surprised by what happened next, as Ember rushed off not a few seconds later and they could hear the Egg Thief screaming, or at least that was what they assumed it was doing, as it ran away from Ember, apparently not expecting an angry dragon to be chasing it, and it barely had time to complete a single lap as it was struck in the back when it came down the walkway that was just passed the bridge it had started on. With the egg secured Spike made sure it was okay as Spyro smashed the bullseye chest, freeing the gems that were inside it, before they watched as the egg was sent off, which allowed them to move up the bridge that Ember had chased the Egg Thief up and the four of them resumed looking for the rest of the eggs and the remaining gems.

As they walked up into the next area they discovered that the portal to Desert Ruins was up there, which was inside a large stone structure that had been carved into the shape of a helmet, though in addition to finding another portal they discovered that one of the crystals looked like something had collided with it and cracked it, meaning they might find an egg or some gems if they smashed it. There were also a number of straw baskets in the immediate area, not to mention a metallic vase near the Desert Ruins portal and a few more lining the path to their right, the one that Ember had used to chase down the Egg Thief, so they spent the next couple of moments clearing the area out and collected all of the gems that were resting around them, including one behind the portal itself. Once that was done they smashed their way through the cracked crystal, which was Ember hardening her body to make sure her tail could smash it with ease, though that was when they found a gap between them and one of the smaller patches of land that rested on top of a pillar of earth, along with an egg that happened to be resting on it, where Elora went ahead and jumped over the gap, allowing her to pick the egg up and return it to the others, all so Spike could send it home. From there they decided to head into the lower part of the castle that they had access to, as there was an opening near them that would allow people to simply walk in, where the group found that it was a short walk to the area that contained the door Bianca was working on, though she simply gave them a nod as she focused on her work.

The group knew that there were no enemies in the various homeworlds, save for back during Gnasty Gnorc's attack on the Dragon Realms, but it was weird to see that the Sorceress didn't have any guards posted outside her stronghold and that Bianca was able to do her work without being interrupted, to which they determined that their foe had to be arrogant and believed that her power would overcome anything that challenged her, before the four of them continued moving around the area to clear it out.

What they did was pick up the couple of gems that were resting in the area that was around Bianca, as well as taking a few moments to smash the metallic vases that were near the various walls, before the group spotted a river of pink ooze, possibly lava or acid based on what they had seen in the past, though there was an egg resting on a platform that was a short glide away from the edge of the area that they were standing on. As such Elora jumped over to the small area in question, picked up the egg that was over there, and then returned it to the siblings so Spike could send it off as well, so he could cross another one off the list that Bianca had given them, before they headed through the other tunnel opening that contained some stairs that lead them outside. It didn't take the four of them long to walk down the steps and collect the gems that happened to be resting on the couple of steps, though the moment they were outside the first thing they did was locate a bullseye chest over to their left and let Ember smash it with a Headbash, allowing them to see that there was a portal contained in a structure that looked like a mine shaft, which made sense since the name of the realm was Dino Mines. While they glanced at the portal Elora spotted a couple of straw baskets and smashed them so the dragonflies could pick up the gems that had been inside them, before the four of them headed down a path that took them to a pink waterfall that was made up of the pink ooze they had seen earlier, where they smashed a couple of straw baskets and a few hidden metallic vases along the way, before locating a square shaped portal that had a serpent's head on top of it, one that indicated it was Haunted Tomb.

None of them were at all surprised when they found a gem and a straw basket near the new portal, which they made sure to pick up before heading back to where the portal to Desert Ruins was located, to smash the couple of metallic vases that were over there, before discovering that they had cleared out this part of the homeworld and that it was time to see what else was left for them to clear out. Upon returning to the area that Dino Mines' portal was located they quickly found the sign that Zoe had left for them, reminding them of the one that was left in Evening Lake, which they would take care of after they helped Agent 9 clear out his realm, before they spotted a few steps that had a few metallic vases, to they made sure to smash the pair of vases and a pair of straw baskets that were in their way. The stone steps brought them up to an area that happened to have some cracks in the ground, where Spyro had the others stand back for a moment as he jumped into the air and smashed through the cracked stone with a Headbash, allowing them to enter a small cavern that had a couple of gems resting on the ground and, more importantly, an egg that Spike sent back home as soon as he landed in the cavern that his brother had discovered. From there the two of them used the whirlwind that formed after the ground had been shattered and returned to where Ember and Elora were standing, to which they headed over the next stone bridge that was near them and walked over to where a lighthouse was located, one that housed a portal that would take them to Harbor Speedway, the final Flight Realm of the Forgotten Realms, to which they picked up the gems that were laying on the ground and then smashed a couple of straw baskets that were behind the portal.

From there they walked over to the ledge that was near the bridge that had brought them to this area and glanced over to their left, where a tower that looked like the Sorceress' castle rested on a large patch of land, to which they jumped into the air and glided over to the area in question, though when they landed the four of them stared at the locked tower for a few seconds, wondering why it was even over here in the first place.

"There's some magic on the door, magic that matches what Bianca's dealing with right now," Spike commented, but that caused an idea to spring to his mind, as it was rather simple now that he thought about it, meaning he would be able to tell his siblings and Elora what they were staring at, even if his first statement would give the answer away, "This has to be the Sorceress' treasury, where she's hoarding all of her wealth and keeping it safe from anyone that would try to take it from her... and, judging from the power of the seals, we'll need to beat her and recover all of the other eggs to open the way to her hoard of gems and whatever treasures she's been stockpiling over the last thousand years."

"Still, aren't we missing an egg?" Spyro asked, because they had found five so far and based on what they had seen during their visits to the other homeworlds of the Forgotten Realms there were six eggs, so that meant one was missing and Spike was the one that had the map that pointed out where all of them were located, since he was sure that Bianca wouldn't lie to them or keep information from them.

"We are, but the clue is shrouded by magic," Elora replied, as she was looking at the map that Spike was looking at, as she was curious as to what the map might say about the egg that they were missing, though this told them exactly what they needed to do next, even though they were planning on taking out their foe in the very near future, "basically we need to take down the Sorceress to figure out where the last egg is located, among other things."

Spyro sighed for a moment, as he wished that it could have been easier for them to figure out what was going on, but once they had determined that they had cleared out the homeworld of all the eggs that they could claim, not to mention all of the gems that they had claimed, to which they glided back down to the main area of Midnight Mountain, as it was time for them to help Agent 9 out and then wrap things up before their showdown with the Sorceress.