Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose


Year: Dino Trouble

It didn't take the group long to return to Midnight Mountain and appeared in the front of the portal that had taken them to Haunted Tomb, where they jumped over the small bit of water and started to walk up the path that was to their right, as there was one more realm for them to assist before they headed to the Speedway and then, with everything else cleared out, they could finally tackle the Sorceress and liberate the Forgotten Realms.

"Its hard to believe that we're here, at the end of our adventure," Elora commented, because it felt so strange that they had finally reached this point in their quest, where they were nearing the lair of their true foe, and she wondered what the siblings had thought about when they had neared Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto's lairs, though she suspected that she would have to double check Spike's books for both of their adventures to figure that out.

"I know, we just have to assist the residents of Dino Mines and clear out the Speedway," Spyro replied, but he knew what Elora was talking about, that after everything they had been through it was hard to believe that they were near the end of this adventure, but their new friends were gathering the forces of the realms they had assisted and were preparing for the battle with the army of Rhynocs that their foe was preparing, "then we can tackle the Sorceress at long last and make her pay for everything she's done to both the Forgotten Realms and to the dragons."

Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement, because both of them knew that they were near the end of their quest and that soon the four homeworlds they had visited would be freed from the person that controlled them, but first they had to do what Spyro said, figure out what was going on in Dino Mines and resolve it, take on the challenges of the Speedway, and then, once all that was done, they could face the Sorceress at last. As the four of them agreed on what they would be doing in the very near future they reached the area that was in front of the portal that would take them to the last major realm of the Forgotten Realms, the one that rested in the shape of a mine shaft, to which they headed through the portal and headed to Dino Mines, as it was time for them to see what was going on in this realm and what they had to do to liberate it. It didn't take them long to appear in the starting area of the realm in question, where they found that they were at the edge of what appeared to be a western town, a place that sort of reminded the siblings of what they had seen back in one of the Peace Keepers realms back in the day, though this place did seem more like a town and there even appeared to be a jail of some kind, meaning this place was, as Titan would have called it, an old western town, complete with barrels, wagons, and wooden posts holding up the front of the buildings. That was when they spotted the first foe of this realm, a large green dinosaur that was wearing cowboy garb, or at least what the siblings recognized as that type of clothing based on what they had been told in the past, and it had two guns that seemed to be loaded and ready for when it fired at its foes, though in the end Spike decided that Cowboy Dino was a good name for this type of foe.

Of course one thing they discovered was that this foe was rather quick to pull out its guns and fire off a few shots at the group when they came within range, so they either had to avoid the attack or let Spike cover them with barrier for a few seconds, something that confused the Cowboy Dino and opened the way for either Spyro to charge it, Ember to use her hardened tail to knock it out, or Elora to kick it in the side of the head so she could take it down. Interestingly enough, when the group lashed out at their target, it managed to fire off one last shot and that hit a cactus that was resting near the starting area for this realm, where the cactus exploded and dropped a gem, to which Spike tilted his head for a few seconds as Spyro knocked the Cowboy Dino to the ground, as he wasn't expecting the cactus to act like that, meaning they would have to break them as they cleared out this realm. That was also when they spotted another type of foe that was off to the left of where the first foe had been standing, a blue skinned dinosaur that was dressed up in some attire that was similar to what the Cowboy Dino was wearing, with a poncho over it, and came complete with a sombrero that was on its head, though it was holding a stick of dynamite in its mouth, like it was going to throw it at them if they got near it, or if they entered its range. It took the group a few seconds to nod their heads to each other, as they knew that this was going to be called a Dynamite Dino, since it was carrying explosives, though it was rather easy to take down since Spike used a bit of his magic to ignite the poorly placed stick that was in the dinosaur's mouth, blasting their foe into the barrel that was behind it and taking it down, allowing them to progress through the rest of the area, before Elora used her Spring Jump Form to jump over the next Cowboy Dino and kicked it from behind when she landed on the ground.

With that done Spike stared at the barrel that had been behind the Dynamite Dino and found that there was a gem on the other side of it, on a part of the town that was hard to access from this area, though that was when Elora walked over to him and jumped over the barrel with her active form, allowing her to pick up a gem or two, and break a cactus for one more gem, before she returned with a dragon egg that had been back there. It that moment the siblings understood what was going on, the egg had been placed in a location one of them would have had to glide to so they could reach it, an area that would have been dangerous since there was the possibility that they could have fallen into the depths of the area and not reach their target, but thanks to Elora they didn't have to worry about such a thing and it wasn't long before Spike was able to send the egg back to the Dragon Realms. From there they found another Cowboy Dino that was blocking the entrance to the jail, where they would likely find one of the residents of this realm, though Ember hardened her body and smashed into it, knocking it to the ground and allowed them to enter the structure it had been guarding, though while she did that Spyro took care of the straw basket that was off to the side and made sure to burn the cactus as well, to get the gem that was apparently held within it, making him wonder if the Sorceress had enchanted a few gems to take on the form of a cactus, or if this was common in this realm. The other thing the group noticed was that there was a wagon that had been turned upside down and placed between the jail building and another building, preventing anyone from using the path that had been there in the past, to which the four of them sighed as they headed into the jail so they could see if they could find one of the residents of this realm.

As they entered the jail, however, they found that there was a small rabbit, male by the shape of the body and stood about their height, that seemed to be dressed in the attire of a sheriff, someone that was supposed to maintain order in a place like this, which told the siblings and Elora that he had either been defeated by the dinosaurs and had been swiftly imprisoned for doing the same to the outlaw dinosaurs, or they had tricked him into entering the jail cell and trapped him so they could run the town their way, though given the theme of this realm Spike was going to go with Western Rabbit for the residents, as Rabbits sounded too plain to him.

"Ah, Spyro, Spike, Ember, Elora, boy am I glad you four are here." the Western Rabbit said, though they could tell he wasn't all that happy about his current predicament, not that they could blame him considering that there was no door that would let him leave the cell that he was currently trapped inside, but they knew he had something he wanted to tell them, before they headed out to deal with the enemies of this realm, "As you can see, I'm in a bit of a pickle, because I had one of those dinosaurs locked up in here and I came to talk to him about the gang he was part of, but when I came to check on him I found that he was gone, so I opened the cage and came in to look for clues, only for one of the dinosaurs to lock me in this cell, allowing them to take control of the town."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of them," Spyro replied, as he had to assume that the Western Rabbit wanted them to take down all of the dinosaurs that had escaped and were no running amok in the town, though even as he said that, and the others nodded their heads to agree with him, he spotted some wanted posters, which were common in places like this, to which he prepared himself for what he was going to say next, "Though on an entirely different subject, I couldn't help but notice that you have wanted posters of our friends, and by that I mean Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9."

"To be honest, I was actually going to take those down after I talked with my prisoner." the Western Rabbit admitted, as he took a moment to look at the wanted pictures that Spike had spotted, which the rest of the group now noticed as well and frowned at for a few seconds, before he sighed as he thought about what they were talking about and focused on them once more, "Listen, my deputies and I were ordered by the Sorceress to put them up when she declared your friends to be enemies of the realms, and at the time of her saying that she was fond of plaguing any realm that disobeyed her with her Rhynocs, to beat us into submission until we pledged to follow her orders again, but that never stopped my deputies and I from accepting the help that Sheila and the others gave us, where we made sure to give them a very generous head start whenever we were done catching the more dangerous criminals we were after, to pull the wool over the Sorceress' eyes. Once we heard that the four of you were here, in these lands, and that you were taking down the Rhynocs while liberating the other realms, we knew that change was coming and that we needed to stand against the Sorceress... and then this happened."

"Lovely, that just gives us another reason to fight the Sorceress," Spike remarked, though at this point he wasn't at all surprised by what the Western Rabbit was saying, especially since they had encountered the Sorceress plaguing all of the realms upon their arrival to the Forgotten Realms, no doubt because some of them might have been uprising due to the lack of magic, something that Bianca had been in the middle of fixing before she had been ordered to steal the eggs from the Dragon Realms.

"Look, help us out and I'll do more than officially join the forces that you have been gathering, I'll officially apologize to your friends for how they had been treated over the last couple of years." the Western Rabbit added, showing that he did know that how Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9 had been treated over the last few years had been wrong and that the residents of the Forgotten Realms needed to make it up to the heroes that the Sorceress tried to lock up and forget about, especially with Moneybags recently helping her by labeling them as dangers to the realms.

The group nodded, showing the Western Rabbit that they were going to do everything in their power to take down the dinosaurs that had taken over the town and restore order to this realm, to which they started with the first thing they did when they entered a new part of a realm and smashed the few metallic vases that were around them, no doubt left by their new enemies, before collecting the gems and heading through the other opening, even though they did notice that the exit portal for this realm was, oddly enough, inside the cell the Western Rabbit was in. Of course, like all of the other instances where they found the various exit portals, it was inactive and would only become active once they figured out a way to get inside the cell, something that they were going to figure out once they found and defeated all of the enemies that were in this realm, hence why they focused on what was in front of them at the moment, since this realm was a bit more dangerous than the last ones. The first foe they discovered was a Dynamite Dino that seemed to be watching over the opening that they walked through, though before it could throw its explosive at them Elora raised her arm and used a small blast to light the stick, something that caused it to explode in the dinosaur's face and drop it to the ground, where a gem fell for them to collect as the body disappeared. It was in that moment that what they were seeing clicked in Spike's mind, the gang of dinosaurs that they were dealing with was the same as the Gnorcs and Rhynocs that they had fought in the past, they were gem creations that the Sorceress sent into the realms that were bothering her, meaning she really didn't like this realm, given the nature of the enemies they had seen so far, and that also meant that whoever used the gems to soldiers spell could create whatever they wanted and weren't restricted at all.

Once he figured out that information for himself, since he was sure that his siblings and Elora might not have figured it out on their own, he told them that the dinosaurs were like the Rhynocs, they were gem creations, which was when they seemed to grasp what they had seen so far and nodded their heads in understanding, though that meant there was really no reason for them to hold back against their current set of enemies. With that discovery made the group continued to move forward, where Spyro took a moment to use the Headbash technique on a bullseye chest that was off to their right, allowing the others to see what they had to deal with as they saved the rest of the realm from the Sorceress' forces, even though one of the first things all of them noticed was the wooden bridge that connected this side of the area to an area that was in front of a rectangular building. There happened to be two Cowboy Dinos in the area that the bridge was in, as one was standing in the middle of it and the other was on the opposite side from where they were standing, though that was also when they discovered that there was another Dynamite Dino off to their left, hiding near the overturned wagon they had seen a few minutes ago, and it appeared that they were out of their enemy's range, meaning they could scout the area out and then attack when they were ready. Spyro charged forward and flamed the Dynamite Dino before it even had a chance to fight back, allowing him to claim the gems it was guarding, break a straw basket, and flame a cactus for its gem as well, though as he did that Spike loosed a Wind Shuriken at the first Cowboy Dino and knocked it onto the ground that was behind it, giving Ember a chance to harden her body and smash the second one into the side of the building, opening the way for them to move forward.

It was after the second Cowboy Dino fell that Ember spotted a Dynamite Dino off to her left, who threw the stick it was holding in its mouth at her and covered the area in a tiny explosion, which didn't do any damage to the building or to the bridge, though when the smoke cleared Ember was standing there with her eyebrow raised, as her Warrior's Armor had been active during the attack and she had emerged unscathed, before she knocked that foe down as well and beckoned for the others to come over.

After Spyro, Spike, and Elora joined her they collected the gems that were in the area outside the building, while also breaking a cactus and a pair of straw baskets to find a few more, before they headed inside the actual structure and found a few enemies waiting for them, one of the Dynamite Rhynocs and a new type of enemy, a blue dinosaur that happened to be sitting on what seemed to be a cannon, only the barrel stayed at one height and it fired what appeared to be small metal shells at them, where Spike threw up a barrier to stop the attack from hitting them. The Gatling Dino, however, went through an entire round before realizing that none of them were being damaged by its attacks, even though the Dynamite Dino had stopped after the second stick, though it was in the moment that the new enemy went to reload its weapon that Spike lowered the barrier and they attacked, where Elora jumped forward and kicked the Dynamite Dino through the glass window that was behind it, the combination of her attack and the glass taking it out, while Spyro charged over to the Gatling Dino and smashed into its chest, defeating it in the process. With those enemies taken care of Ember smashed the pair of metallic vases that were nearby and picked up the gems that were inside them, while Spike walked through the door that the new foe had been guarding and found that there were two of the Cowboy Dinos standing in front of what seemed to be an underwater tunnel, meaning they had to be taken care of so the group could actually continue on their quest to take care of the troublemakers that were attacking this realm, even if it was just the Sorceress who was messing with the Western Rabbits.

Instead of getting close to either of them, as one of them randomly shot at a snake that was moving through the area and only missed to scare the creature so it could relieve its boredom, Spike used his spells to take them out, only this time he opted for some Lightning Bolts to their chests, knocking them down so he could pick up the gems both of them left on the ground, even though the others took care of the cacti and the couple of metallic vases that he didn't get since he was focused on clearing out the enemies of this area.

Once the area had been cleared out, and they were sure that there weren't any other paths for them to take, the four of them walked over to the underwater passage that the pair of Cowboy Dinos had been guarding and Elora dived into the water, where they started to swim around the tunnel and kept their eyes open for any gems and enemies that might be down in this area. As they headed underwater, and found some gems to grab as they smashed a glass vase, it didn't take them long to find a fourth type of enemy, a seahorse enemy that was yellow-orange colored and, for some reason, had a gun like the Cowboy Dino, meaning they had to be careful when engaging these Seahorses, as it tried to fire at them to stop all of them from progressing, though the water drastically slowed down its attacks. That allowed them to charge at the Seahorse and clear out the area that they were in, even if they had to go around the central earthen pillar that just so happened to be in this area and take down the other Seahorse that was oblivious to the fact that they were even there, which allowed them to pick up the couple of gems that were nearby and smash a few more glass vases, before Ember faced a cracked portion of the wall to their right. It didn't take her long to smash her way through the wall and found a few gems that were resting around an egg, one that Elora grabbed onto and stayed at the back of the group so it would be safe as the siblings fought their way to the other exit, so they could leave the area and touch normal ground once more, which would give them a chance to make sure it was fine and send it back home. There were four more Seahorses resting between them and the tunnel's exit, though as the siblings charged through their targets Elora noticed that they were also avoiding the small boxes of dynamite that were floating in the passage with them, but in the end they were able to reach the end of the tunnel and emerge from it without leaving anything behind, though Spike made sure to throw up a barrier when he spotted a Cowboy Dino facing them.

When Elora joined them she gave Spike the egg and it wasn't long before he sent it back to the Dragon Realms, which was followed by Ember hardening her body and crashing into the Cowboy Dino that was in front of them, allowing her to become the focus on the Gatling Dino that was further along the path to their right, where she and the others found that the projectiles their foes were using had no effect on her when she was using her Warrior's Armor. That allowed Spyro to get around the dinosaur and charge into its side, taking out another obstacle as the others collected the gems from the couple of straw baskets and a cactus that were behind them, to the left of the exit they had emerged from, but once that was done they moved into the next area that was in front of them and discovered that there was a water container nearby, one that had one of Agent 9's portals near it, meaning they might have found where the other eggs would be found. There was also another bridge for them to cross over, one that was being guarded by one of the Gatling Dinos, while at the same time there was a Dynamite Dino off to their right, looking like it was ready to throw the stick that was in its mouth at them, but Elora beat it to the punch by loosing a small blast at it, exactly like what she had done earlier, while Spike blasted the Gatling Dino with a well placed Wind Shuriken to the chest. With those enemies taken care of the group collected every gem that was in the area, breaking the various cacti that were around them as well as smashing a bullseye chest that was a little hidden, before they crossed the bridge and spotted another Cowboy Dino waiting for them, one that Spyro dodged the attacks of and flamed so they could reach the other side and start picking up all the gems that were over there, before climbing up the stone steps as well.

At the top of the path they found another cactus to flame and a metallic vase to smash, though that was when they focused on the cracked wall that was in front of them and Ember pushed on it for a few seconds, revealing a rotating wall that lead straight to the prison building, more specifically the cage, where the Western Rabbit's jaw dropped as he watched them use the secret opening to enter the cage that he had been trapped inside.

"Well I'll be, so that's how my prisoners keep escaping!" the Western Rabbit exclaimed, showing that he had never, not even once in his life, seen this secret opening to the cage that he kept all the criminals he captured inside, before he and his deputies punished them for their crimes against the various realms that they were supposed to watch over, before he pulled out an egg and placed it before them, "Well, since you helped me out, by helping me escape and revealing the real problem we've been having, let me help you out by returning this dragon egg I found earlier... I think one of the dinosaurs was trying to make off with it and left it behind, but I know it will be safer in your, um, claws."

Spyro figured that the end of the Western Rabbit's statement was mostly due to him locking up creatures that had sharp claws and that this was the first time he might have worked with friendlies that had claws, given that none of their new friends had claws like theirs, but once the egg had been handed over he managed to find the lever that lowered the bars, even though they were a little curious as to why he didn't just do that in the first place, before heading out to make sure the town was okay. Once it was just the four of them again Spike wasted no time in making sure the egg was just fine, and he found that nothing was wrong with it, something that was common among all of the eggs that they had recovered so far, before he sent it back home so it could join the others and, eventually, be returned to the homeworld that it had been stolen from, something that Nestor and the other Leaders were no doubt working on right now. With the egg safe and sound the group turned around and headed back to where the water container for the town was kept, where they took turns climbing up the ladder that was on the side of it and then, once they were at the top of the container and found that there was no lid to it, they jumped in and discovered that it did have a portal inside it, meaning they had a path to one of the side sections of this realm, to which they smashed the trio of glass vases, picked up the gems that had been inside them, and then headed through the opening that the portal rested in.

It didn't take them long to discover that the area in front of them was a tunnel, much like the dynamite filled tunnel they had seen earlier, though it seemed like it might be getting close to collapsing, like it had a few days before the entire passage was sealed off for a time, and they found another Western Rabbit, this one wearing a badge that identified him as one of the deputies that the other one, the Sheriff, had mentioned to them earlier, even though they had no idea how his hat was staying on his head, especially since Spike detected no magic being used.

"Oh, hello, the Sheriff told me to expect you at some point, or at least he did the last time I saw him," the Deputy said, though it was clear that he was more focused on what he had seen than on the fact that the group had arrived in the part of the realm that he was stationed in, for the time being anyway, though the group remained silent as they waited to see what he had to tell them about this part of the realm, "One of them dinosaurs threw a dragon egg down this flooded mine shaft earlier, while we were trying to round up the escaped criminals, and I'm unable to go get it, on account of the fact that I'm, well, not a strong swimmer."

The group looked at each other for a moment before Ember hardened her body and rushed forward, where Spike was the first one that understood what she was doing, as the Warrior's Armor would protect her from any dangers that might be in the mine shaft and that meant whatever defenses the gang of dinosaurs left for them would be unable to stop her from smashing her way through them as she followed the path the egg went down. It took a few more seconds for Spyro and Elora to realize what Ember was doing, as they were used to her hardening her body whenever they got into a fight, which meant it was a good thing Titan had trained her to better use this skill over the last year, so which the three of them just floated around the area that the Deputy was in and waited for Ember to return to where the portal was located. As it turned out it didn't take Ember all that long to return with the egg that had been sent down the mine shaft, as by Spike's estimate it only took about three to four minutes, meaning the shaft was either smaller than what they expected or she made great time in getting to where the egg was located, even though the group was willing to bet that it was the latter that was true, given how protective she was of the stolen eggs. With that taken care of they bid the Deputy farewell and quickly headed through the portal that was behind them, allowing them to return to the main part of Dino Mines, which was when they took a moment to rest a little as Spike made sure the egg was just fine and then sent it off to the Dragon Realms, adding one more to the list of eggs they had saved from the Sorceress and her foul plans, while at the same time restoring order to the Forgotten Realms.

With that done the group then glided over to the area that Agent 9's portal was located in and quickly passed through the portal in question, where it only took them a few seconds to appear in the square chamber that they found all of their new friends in when they walked through one of their portals, and, just as they suspected, their newest friend was in the middle of the chamber, no doubt eager to deal with the dinosaurs that were causing problems for this realm, or maybe he was just in the mood to blast things, which was the most likely answer.

"Oh, hey guys, I've got big news: the Sheriff promised me that I could be a Deputy, once the Sorceress is taken down and the Bailey Gang is put behind bars!" Agent 9 stated, his excitement visible to the group, as he was overjoyed that he was being given the chance to be one of the Deputies that protected the Forgotten Realms from danger, this time being a publicly recognized hero so that no one would be able to throw him in a cage for saving the day, even though the group knew he would have to tone down his excitement, least he lose the position after getting it.

Before the group could say anything Agent 9 ran into the portal that was behind him and entered the other section of this realm, where they followed after him and found themselves in what appeared to be another town that might look like the one they had explored earlier, before they found the Sheriff and learned what was going on, before discovering that one of the other Deputies was in this area and that he had information to share. That was when Agent 9 surprised them a little, as he remained calm as he listened to what the Deputy had to say, which was when they learned that the Bailey Gang was hiding out in this part of the realm, in the buildings to be exact, and that they had stolen an egg, which apparently was totally unlike them, though that was when Spike revealed that they were no doubt working for the Sorceress and she was having them collect all the eggs that had been scattered in this realm, meaning the last two had to be with the gang that Agent 9 was helping the Sheriff take down. As such it wasn't long before Agent 9 took to the field and carefully started to blast at the dinosaurs that revealed themselves to him, this time actually setting his blaster to stun so he could help both the Sheriff and his existing Deputies take in the Bailey Gang easily, though while he did that, and somehow kept himself from being hit by his enemies, the group followed after him and let Sparx, Talon, and Cinder pick up the gems that were scattered around this part of the realm, since there were a number on the ground and a few inside the various containers they spotted as they followed their friend. It was when they reached a building that looked like a mail building or one that the Sheriff used, as it was rather hard to tell what it was supposed to be since all of the identifying marks were missing and all it had were wanted posters of their friends, that they happened to find one of the remaining eggs, so Elora carried it as the siblings focused on collecting the gems they passed, letting Agent 9 have all the glory for this mission.

Eventually Agent 9 succeeded in taking down all of the dinosaurs that were part of the Bailey Gang and made sure all of them were knocked unconscious, to which Elora claimed the second egg that they had been in the process of making off with as they headed back to the Deputy to give him the good news, though as Agent 9 did that the group bid him farewell as Spike sent the pair of eggs back home, and with the gems collected it was time for them to clear out the Speedway... and then, at long last, face the Sorceress.