//------------------------------//
// Dragonfly: Ripto's Rematch 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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With Jurassic Jungle taken care of, and the group was sure that they had left nothing behind based on what Spike told them, Spyro lead the others back to the area of the main castle of the homeworld that they had been assisting, because they had no idea if Bianca and the rest of the magic users had managed to breach the portal that Ripto had left behind earlier, so this could give them a few moments of rest before they face the villain that was messing with Castle Hills and the surrounding realms that they had saved from what the Riptocs had been doing. It didn't take them all that long to get back to the area that was their current destination, where it was easy to see that Nestor and the other dragons were busy making sure that the rest of the dragonflies were checked out and allowed to join their hatchling partner, something that put a smile on the faces of the younger dragons, based on what the group was seeing at the moment, which made them do the same thing as they entered the area in question. While they did that Spike could see Bianca off in the distance, surrounded by a few of the other magic using dragons as they poured their magic into breaching the portal that Ripto had created when he teleported into this homeworld, meaning that he and the others would have to wait for some time before they could challenge their foe and bring order to Castle Hills and the realms that were connected to it, hence the reason the five of them walked over to where Alvar was standing, so they could get some refreshments and some rest before the portal was opened and they could tackle Ripto at long last.

"Spyro, you and the others never cease to amaze me," Nestor commented, his tone revealing that he was quite pleased with what the group had been able to do since this adventure had started, even though he was used to hearing about this sort of thing after the previous adventures had been brought to a close, though that was followed by a number of the other dragons nodding their heads in agreement, showing the siblings, Cynder, and Elora that all of them were happy to see that they had recovered the dragonflies and saved the realms from whatever had been happening to them since Ripto had shown up, "you've managed to recover all of the missing dragonflies, which means that you must have assisted the other realms and restored order to them at the same time."

"Indeed we have," Spyro replied, where he accepted one of the juice containers that had been offered to him, as he definitely needed some after their adventure in the jungle and everything that they had faced, something that the others were doing at the same time, before he considered what they had seen and done over the course of this adventure, due to the fact that he was curious about something, hence the reason he glanced at Spike, "and, according to what Spike said, we should have all of the gems as well, so those can be returned to the dragons that call Castle Hills home, once we've taken down Ripto and brought order back to these lands."

"Yes, we have recovered all ninety missing dragonflies and seven thousand gems," Spike stated, not that anyone was even surprised by that statement, because he had been keeping track of the coloration of the gems they had collected and had a very accurate count of what they were worth, just like what happened in their previous adventures, before he took a moment to think about something as he stared at the portal Bianca was working on breaching, which was why he shifted his gaze over to Cosmos, who was either resting from using too much magic or observing the work that was going on, as there was something he wanted to ask, "Hey Cosmos, do you remember where we put the Scepter?"

"The Scepter? Oh right, the one you took from Gnasty Gnorc," Cosmos replied, showing that he did know what Spike was referring to, even though it was an odd thing to ask and made him wonder what the young dragon had in mind for such an artifact, to which he nodded his head a few seconds later as he recalled the area of the Dragon Realms that he and the other Magic Crafters had placed the scepter in, to keep it safe until someone wanted to use it, "Yes, I do recall the area that we put the scepter in, after the last time you used it... give me a few minutes and I'll be right back with it, since I have a feeling I know why you would ask for such a thing."

Spike said nothing to that as Cosmos headed into the castle so he could find the portal that would take him back to the Dragon Realms, all so he could find and recover the Scepter of Crystallization, because he and his siblings had a habit of trapping their villains inside crystalline statues and moving them to areas so they didn't break out and cause more havoc to the islands of this world, and now that Ripto had revealed himself he figured that he might as well have Gnasty Gnorc's scepter with them, in case he got the chance to imprison their foe inside a statue. Spyro and the others, however, said nothing to that as they returned to resting and recovering the energy they had spent since their last break, despite the fact that some of them were staring at the area Bianca was standing in, though the reason they were doing that was so that the moment she breached the portal and waved to them they would be able to move the moment she informed them that she and the others had done their task, as they knew she had to be getting close to breaching Ripto's barrier and opening the portal that was in front of her. Elora did know that Spike was thinking about Moneybags, not to mention the fact that Ripto had broken the crystalline statue the bear head been trapped in after their adventure in Avilion, which had resulted in severe mental damage to Moneybags' mind and created a much nicer version of him, something she and the others needed some time to get used to, though she did know that Spike was likely thinking of ways to make sure the other crystalline statues were safe and sound, to prevent the other villains from escaping. Other than that there was little for the group to actually talk about, as they had no idea where Ripto had decided to make his last stand and it would be a little foolish of them to waste time making plans, not that Spyro, Spike, and Ember needed plans since they had a habit of challenging the villains of their previous adventures and coming up with a plan as soon as they saw the area they would be fighting in and understood what their foe had in terms of attacks and skills, but since this was Ripto, who the group had faced in the past, they had a decent idea of what to expect this time around, though that didn't mean they couldn't be on guard for any new tricks he might have learned over the last couple of years.

Hunter, who had been sitting nearby, actually remained silent for once, no doubt thinking about what happened the last time they saw Ripto, before Cosmos returned to the area they were sitting in and revealed that he had returned with the Scepter of Crystallization, something that he handed over to Spike and let the young dragon slip it into his pack, but as that happened there was a rush of magic in the area they were sitting in and Bianca beckoned for them to join her as the other magic users departed from the area, where it was easy for Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, and Elora to see that there was a hole that was made out of magic that went down into the ground, though it did seem like it was an oddly shaped portal that Ripto had created earlier.

"There, we've breached Ripto's portal, so now you can challenge him and end his plans," Bianca said, where she took a moment to raise her arm to her brow, showing that she had put a lot of time and effort into breaching the magic that Ripto had left behind when he and his minions jumped through the portal earlier, before she glanced at the group for a few seconds, knowing that, while she would have loved to join them in this fight, she would have to stay back since she had next to no magic left at this point, due to her being exhausted from trying to breach the barrier.

"Don't worry, we'll be back with good news," Spyro stated, because unless Ripto had totally changed up everything he had used during their second adventure, not to mentioned obtaining a vast amount of power that rivaled that of Malefor, he was sure that he and the others would be able to take their foe down with some ease, though even as he said that he, his siblings, Cynder, and Elora readied themselves for whatever they were going to find on the other side of the portal and jumped into the portal that was in front of them.

It took the group a few moments to travel from the area of Castle Hills they had been in and arrive in the starting area of the pocket realm that the portal was connected to, a realm that looked like there was an active volcano in the middle of it, a tall wall of charred rock that seemed to create a circular barrier or something, a sea of lava or magma that rested all around the metallic platform that served as the starting area for this realm, and there happened to be some pillars of earth on top of the circular charred wall, though why it was like that none of them knew since this realm seemed to be of Ripto's design... and speaking of their foe it was easy to see Ripto standing a short distance in front of them, complete with both Crush and Gulp standing nearby, with their mind control collars resting on their necks.

"So, it appears that you have foiled my plans to dominate these lands, just like you did in Avalar," Ripto stated, where his tone revealed something that the siblings and Elora knew they would discover as they chatted with him, even if it was for a few seconds, and what they found was that he was upset with them and was totally annoyed by the fact that the five of them had ruined everything he had set in motion since he came to Castle Hills, something they were pleased with since it meant their foe would make mistakes over the course of their battle and those openings would be something they kept an eye out for, though while Cynder didn't have the same experience with Ripto she remained on her guard, which caused the others to do the same thing as Ripto shifted his gaze towards the dinosaurs that were standing near him, "Crush, Gulp, why don't you make yourselves useful and smash our interlopers into the ground, though be sure to give me a show this time around, as the last time you fought these pests I was sorely disappointed in your fights."

As Ripto finished talking, however, Spike flew through the air and rushed towards the area that the large dinosaurs were standing in, where he loosed a burst of magic that split apart and slammed into the collars they were wearing, which broke the collars in seconds and he seized the fragments with his magic, to store them inside the pack he kept all of the mind controlling items inside, though as Crush and Gulp regained their senses, and realized what had happened to them, Spike grabbed them with his magic and teleported them out of the arena that the others were standing in, putting both of them on top of the portion of the rock wall that was close to the area Ripto wanted to fight them in, before he landed near Spyro and the others as he focused on Ripto.

"Sorry, Ripto, but you'll have to face us alone, instead of mind controlling others to fight your battles for you," Spike commented, as he had been planning on freeing Crush and Gulp from the collars that had been placed around their necks at some point in the past, where it appeared that the pair of dinosaurs were pleased with what he had done for them, but even as he said that he could tell that Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora had shifted into their battle stances as they focused on their foe, who seemed to be growing more annoyed with them.

"If there's anything I hate more than a normal dragon, its a purple dragon... and I hate a magical purple dragon, who is immune to lava and can break my mind control collars, even more!" Ripto stated, his tone confirming that he wasn't happy with what Spike had done and he was reminded of what he had witnessed during their previous battle, though that was when he pulled out his new scepter and pointed it at the group, or at Spyro since that seemed to be the one he was more interested in taking down, despite what he had said after Spike had informed him that he couldn't rely on Crush and Gulp fighting for him this time around, but they remained silent as each of them waiting for Ripto to finish speaking and start the fight at long last, "Spyro, Spike, Ember, the three of you have caused me enough problems in the time I've known you, since you smashed my plans in Avalar and have toppled my attempts to take over this place, while I have also had enough of your companions, Cynder and Elora, as all of you have been thorns in my side and I will take great pleasure in breaking all five of you. Prepare yourselves... Hocus Pocus!"

In that moment the five of them separated themselves from each other as Ripto jumped backwards and threw up a shield of ice around his entire body, no doubt believing that the element would be able to protect him from harm, but as he did that he swung his scepter and a burst of Ice Shards rushed out from the area he was standing in and rushed right for the area that Ember was standing in, an interesting decision in the grand scheme of things since she hardened part of her body and smashed her way through the barrage that was coming her way, though it was hard to tell if he was annoyed or just focused on what he was doing. Ember got close to where Ripto was standing and took a deep breath, where it was clear that their foe was reinforcing his barrier with more magic, before she loosed a burst of her Fire Breath that smashed into the barrier and melted several bits of it in the process, where she ducked as soon as that happened and let Elora send a blast through the opening, something that slammed into their foe's chest and knocked him backwards, but it didn't bring down the Ice Barrier Ripto had created, who staggered as he weaved his magic through the air and sealed the opening she had created, before he send out a greater amount of Ice Shards towards all five of them. Spyro and Spike channeled their inner flames for a moment and loosed a pair of attacks through the air, Spyro focusing on Fire Breath to melt the shards that were coming at him while Spike used some Fireballs that melted their way through the incoming attacks and rushed through the air to slam into the Ice Barrier, surprising Ripto as parts of it melted within seconds, which allowed Cynder to use her Shadow Play technique and slipped through the opening so she could reappear in Ripto's shadow, something that was followed by her bursting out of the shadow so she could slam into his back and knock him into this side of the Ice Barrier, something she did a few times before pushing herself out of the barrier in question. As Ripto started to get back up and stare at them, just like he had done in the past, Elora pushed herself into the air and then flipped forward, where she rushed downwards and struck the Ice Barrier with a powerful kick, where she watched as her armored hoof smashed part of the ice apart, enough to create a small opening that didn't seem to do much for the others, while at the same time their foe grinned like he was a winner.

Elora knew that Ripto had no idea what was going on, as Spike loosed a burst of magic that seemed to disappear after a few seconds, which was when their foe fixed the part of the barrier that Elora had broken with her attack, though when Ripto's magic stopped focusing on the barrier Spike waved a claw for a moment and the magic he had snuck into the hole while their foe was distracted exploded, surprising Ripto for a moment as the barrier was smashed to pieces, though as that happened Elora rushed into the falling ice and punched Ripto in the face, something that forced him into the barrage of attacks that Ember had for him, striking him with several blows from her front claws and her tail. The final attack put a fair bit of distance between the two of them and Ripto, despite the fact that it was clear the Ice Barrier wasn't holding up against the attacks that were being sent his way, summoned a brand new Ice Barrier and weaved even more magic into it with a wave of his scepter, creating a barrier that seemed even tougher than the first one he had created, something that caused Spike to take to the air and rain homing attacks down on the area that Ripto was standing in, as in his spells would zero in on the area their foe was in. It was in that moment that Ripto did exactly what Spike wanted him to do, as he hurled a few Ice Shards into the air to intercept the Fire spells that he was sending down into the arena, meaning that his focus was being split between those that were around him and the Fire spells that were raining down on the area he happened to be standing in, something Spyro and the others used to their advantage as the Fireballs melted several of the Ice Shards and several of the Ice Shards broke the Fireballs. Spyro used his intense Fire Breath to melt several openings in the new Ice Barrier for Elora to use, as in slipping blasts through them, while Ember used her Warrior's Armor in combination with Cynder, who used the same tactic, to smash through part of the barrier and knock around Ripto, who was trying his best to stop them from hitting him, before Ember smashed him through the backside of the Ice Barrier a few seconds later, where he rolled for a few seconds and coughed as he focused on them.

It was clear that Ripto was considering what was going on and what sort of spells he was going to use from this point forward, even though he hadn't used any of the spells that he had channeled back during their first fight with him, which could mean that his new scepter might be weaker than his stolen one that was powered by the stone he had taken from the Professor, though it was in that moment that Ripto waved his scepter for a moment and his form actually enlarged for a few seconds, so much so that he was actually as tall as Elora, before a wall of fire, a Fire Barrier, formed around him and he laughed as he stared at the five of them.

Spike raised an eyebrow for a moment, as it was odd that their foe could even bother creating something like this in the first place, especially after everything that happened since the battle had started, though as soon as he saw that both he and Spyro switched to the Ice element this time around, as Spyro focused on freezing part of the barrier so Ember, Elora, or Cynder could smash through the section he targeted, while at the same time Spike remained in the air and rained down Ice Shards on the area that Ripto was standing in, who had to divert some of his attention to loosing Fireballs into the air, returning them back to what they had been doing earlier. While they did that Ember, Cynder, and Elora had to be a bit more careful this time around, as while the Warrior's Armor protected two of them from the flames one of them had to wait for an opening so she could actually punch or kick their foe, openings that were provided by either Spyro or Spike, though there was an opportunity that presented itself as Spike weaved some ice fragments around Elora's armor and that formed a layer of ice over her body, like a set of Ice Armor, something that allowed her to jump through the flames and not take any damage in the process, so she could punch him through the flames, despite the fact that he was taller than he had been a few moments ago. The interesting problem that Ripto didn't appear to have dealt with was the fact that he couldn't accurately see through the flames that were sort of protecting him, as Spike knew that creating a Fire Barrier was a good way to protect oneself from certain attacks, though without the accompanying spell, which would allow the caster to see through the flames with ease, the user's vision would be limited for the foreseeable future, something that could be stopped by the caster or by someone knocking them senseless for a few moments, the latter they had done a few times since this battle started. Of course Ember wasn't going to complain about the current situation, because when their foes made bad decisions it was easier for them to defeat whoever they were facing, though as she thought about all of that she smashed right through the part of the Fire Barrier that Spyro froze and struck Ripto hard enough to force him out of it not a few seconds later, which was followed by Cynder smacking him around with her Shadow Play technique before Spyro struck him with a swift hit to the chest with his tail.

As Ripto staggered backwards for a few seconds he wasted no time in lashing out with a burst of Fire magic that was sent out from the area he was standing in and rushed towards the locations that everyone happened to be in, where Elora dodged the Fireball that had been sent towards her by rolling out of the way, Spike simply fired a more powerful Ice Shard into the heart of the spell coming at him and cancelled it out, Ember hardened her body and smashed through all of the Fireballs that were coming at her while smacking Ripto backwards, Cynder used her Shadow Fire Breath to stall and cancel the sphere that had been flying at her, and Spyro drew Windshear and swung at the incoming Fireball, making sure to add enough power to send it right back at their foe, blowing up the area Ripto was standing in. Spike knew that his brother had done well in managing the power of the blade that he carried, as it would have been easy to accidentally add too much of the wind's power to the Fireball and could have caused it to blow up in his face, but Spyro had done well and had used their foe's attack against him, which was great since it made Ripto pause and question what he was doing, and, if he and his siblings were correct in their thoughts, it was unlikely that their foe would surrender to them, hence the reason they were on their guard and caused both Elora and Cynder to do the same thing. As it turned out Ripto got up and moved out of the area he had been resting in, apparently channeling the flames to create a pathway for him to use, like a slide that one would have assumed he would have made out of ice, though Spike was sure that his scepter was the key to what he was doing and that if they took the scepter out Ripto wouldn't be able to fight them, though as Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora stayed on the platform and defended themselves from the spells that Ripto sent at them, all Fire based since that appeared to be the element he was stuck on, Spike channeled his magic and prepared one of the stronger spells he had in his arsenal, one that could stop Ripto in his tracks.

What Spike did was pull in the moisture that was in the air, even though he had to do so from an area that was a fair distance from the volcano they were fighting near, but instead of creating one of his Lightning based spells, like the one that he was fond of using against their enemies and certain airships, he focused on making a spell that was Ice based and was rather powerful, where the fragments of ice transformed into the Ice Hydra over the course of a few moments, but the moment the spell was ready be beckoned with his head and that caused the others to move out of the way as he sent it down at Ripto, something that froze the entire area around Ripto and trapped their foe in a large block of ice, which was when Spike landed nearby so he could observe his handiwork.

"Is he done? Have we beaten him and broken his plans?" Cynder inquired, mostly because she knew that this wasn't what she was expecting when Ripto showed himself to them and the rest of the dragons that were in the castle, and that was taking into consideration what she had learned since she met Spyro and the others, especially since she had read the book that detailed their previous battle against Ripto, something that told her and the others that his new scepter, while strong in some areas, was weak in certain aspects and it appeared it might not have been meant for battle, though she knew that Spike would be able to tell her if she was right or not.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything a crack formed in the ice prison and caused them to back away from the area that it was resting in, where they silently watched as it expanded rather quickly before the entire thing shattered and their foe hit the ground not a few seconds later, though as Ripto coughed for a moment, to make sure everything was just fine after being trapped inside a block of ice for a few moments, his scepter glowed brightly for a instant as Spike prepared to intercept whatever spell he had in mind... where he transformed into a massive caveman, something that ripped a few bits of his clothing apart and ruined both his cape and his collar, all while making the scepter take on the appearance of a club with a gem at the top, though he stood as tall as Crush did while having some armored bits that looked like he was taking from Gulp's form as well.

"Ripto smash!" Ripto declared, showing Spike that the spell he had used to transform into his giant form had come at the cost of his intelligence, or at least that was what he was assuming based on what they were seeing right now, before he raised his right arm and held the scepter-club up high for a moment, where they could see that magic was gathering around the gem that rested at the top of the weapon, and then brought it down on the area the group happened to be standing in, showing them that he was going to crush them if they didn't dodge the attack.

Spike, on the other claw, quickly weaved his magic through the space between them and the incoming weapon, where the scepter-club slammed into the top of the barrier he threw up and the two conflicting magical energies, Ripto's being more wild while his was more refined due to what he learned over the years, caused the entire area around the platform they were fighting on to shudder, where the others watched as the lava shifted rather suddenly, the volcano erupted for a few seconds, black earth spires burst out of the lava, and parts of the rock wall cracked, showing the others that what had to be the final part of this battle was going to be dangerous. Even Crush and Gulp, who had been on the sidelines since the battle started, backed away from the edge of the wall they were standing on, as the moment the first crack appeared they feared for their lives, a reasonable response based on what the group had seen, demonstrating some of the danger that everyone faced now that Ripto seemed to be pouring all of his magic into brute strength, with little thought for any of the consequences that such a thing might bring, meaning Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora would have to be careful, since all four of them weren't as magically attuned as he was. In the following moments Spike used his power and forced his foe's attack backwards, something that would have shocked Ripto if he was in his right mind and not being a hulking berserker, but he quickly regained himself and swung his weapon in Spike's direction, coming from Spike's left, so he threw up a new barrier to stop the attack from hitting him, while at the same time trying to modify the barrier so it could stop the damage to the surrounding area, not to mention the rest of the realm they were fighting in, but from what he could see either his alterations weren't working or Ripto's enhanced power was more than what he expected it to be. The only good thing that came from this was that the others could attack Ripto without him lashing out at them, or at least that appeared to be what was going on from Spike's perspective, so he maintained his position and pushed their foe back after a few moments of them struggling against each other, making sure not to let the collision of his refined magic and Ripto's wild magic last for too long, especially after everything that had happened during their first collision.

While Spike focused on making sure the magic was contained in a single area, and not running wild all over the place like Ripto was planning, since he felt that their foe had decided to try and smash this entire realm with his wild magic while he was in this state, Spyro, Cynder, Ember, and Elora took to the air and started to fly around the arena that they had been fighting in for some time, where it was clear that Spyro and Cynder were combining their Fire and Wind magic into a more powerful attack that knocked Ripto a tad bit forward, something that was corrected as Ember lashed out with both her armored claws and her Emission skill while Elora tried kicking their foe a few times and blasted him a few times from afar, when Ripto was distracted by the others. Of course Spike wasn't able to stay in one spot for very long, mostly because he noticed that their foe started to shift his attention to the others that were buzzing around the air and lashed out with his scepter-club, where he made sure his barriers were in place as he also moved away from where he had been standing a few moments ago, allowing his magic to clash with the wild magic of Ripto as he continued to try and minimize what the collision did to the surrounding area, which wasn't easy. He was beginning to suspect that the scepter Ripto was using was far stronger than what he originally thought and that their foe had no control over its full power, which would make him rather foolish for coming here with something he couldn't control, something that could explain why he had been using the more basic elemental spells, but that was when he shifted his attention back to the battle as Spyro loosed a massive blast of his Fire Breath at Ripto's back, something that was fueled by Cynder lending her Wind Breath to it so they could singe their foe's back and distract him for a few seconds, while Ember and Elora lashed out at whatever opening their foe revealed to them, as every bit helped in this situation. One thing Ember noticed was that Ripto did use his spare arm as he swung at whoever got close to him, whenever he wasn't distracted by what the others were doing, and there was the rare instance where he was able to focus on her and strike her with his fist, though her Warrior's Armor protected her for any damage that would have been dealt, but such a thing allowed her to understand that being struck by his fist would hurt the rest of the group, if such a thing happened to any of them.

Not a few moments later Ripto seemed to change tactics on them again, as he channeled his power into the scepter-club and hurled several spheres that were the size of Spyro through the air, targeting all of them at the same time, which prompted Spike to summon multiple barriers to catch the spheres, even though it appeared that Ripto was truly trying to break the realm they were fighting in, but as the others moved out from behind their barriers, so they could lash out at Ripto once more, their foe gathered his wild magic and loosed a bolt of lightning that rushed through the air and slammed right into Elora's chest, blasting her out of the air as she screamed, surprising the dragons for a moment.

"ELORA!" Spike exclaimed, where he and the others watched as Elora crashed into the platform and came to a rest in the dead center of the circular area, even though there was a decent amount of smoke covering her, no doubt from her armor being busted by all the electricity that had coursed through it thanks to Ripto's spell, before he glanced at their foe and focused on what he was going to do as he channeled his magic once more, grabbing the fragments of the collars he had removed from Crush and Gulp and pulled them out so he could work on them.

What Spike did was modify the collars and the magic that was inside them to draw in the wild magic that Ripto was in the middle of wielding against them, or at least that was his theory as he considered what he was trying to do, before he hurled the fragments into four directions and quickly activated his modifications, where the wild magic that was in the air, trapped by his barriers, broke apart and drifted into the hearts of the metallic fragments, showing that he had created a prototype item that could draw in Ripto's wild magic, while he used his magic to tug on Ripto's power so he could draw it away from their foe and return him to normal. The problem with such a prototype item and his spell was that he couldn't actually cast any additional spells while he worked to exhaust Ripto to the point where he couldn't use the majority of his magic, something that should return him to his smaller form and restore his intelligence to what it had been before the change had been made, something that caused Spyro and the others to keep their distance so they didn't get in the way of what he was doing, so they started to head for the area that Elora had landed in, who coughed as she started to get up and dealt with the damage to her armor. It was in that moment that Ripto, despite the fact that he should have been more focused on Spike was doing to him, channeled a bit of his wild magic into the space between him and Elora, which caused the others to move since it appeared that he was using bolts of lightning to drive them away from the areas that they had been flying in, before he quickly fired a sphere of wild energy that slammed into the area that Elora was sitting in, which knocked her backwards and forced her to come to a rest near the edge of the platform, where the group noticed that she had a larger cloud of smoke covering her, making them wonder how much of her armor had been broken by Ripto's spell, where Spike turned his attention back to their foe.

It was in the next couple of moments that Spike tugged on Ripto's magic with everything he had and drained the spell that their foe had used to transform into his Crush-sized form, reverting him back to his normal size in a few seconds, but as all of that happened Spike pulled out the Scepter of Crystallization and fired a short burst from it, something that did knock their foe's weapon out of his hand while also freezing his arms and legs in jade, because there were a few questions they needed to ask before he totally sealed Ripto inside his own statue.

"Gaah! Beaten by a bunch of dragons, again!" Ripto growled, showing that what Spike had done had allowed his mind to return to its previous state and that he was no longer consumed by the near mindless berserker state he had been in a few moments ago, before he growled at the four of them while ignoring Elora, since he was more interested in Spyro and the others, though that didn't stop Spike from wandering over to where their friend was resting, so he could see what sort of damage had been done to her armor.

"Talk, Ripto. Tell us how you figured out where Castle Hills was located, along with anything that might tell us why you thought this would be a good idea," Spyro stated, because he wanted to know how in the world Ripto figured out where this homeworld had been located, especially since he and the others only recently learned about it, and that included any worthwhile information their foe could tell them about why he even put this plan into action in the first place, though as he said that Cynder and Ember stood at the ready, just in case he tried anything despite the fact that his arms and legs had been sealed in jade.

"I found a necklace that was supposed to shroud me from being detected whenever I use portals," Ripto said, either due to the fact that he realized that he was in a losing situation and that it was better to talk, or he had come up with a lie for when they bested him and was telling them what he had come up with, but the group remained silent as they listened to what he had to say, even though they would be checking out his story later on, before he chuckled for a moment as he considered something he wanted to tell them, "as such it was easy for me to pass through one of the Professor's portals and arrive in the land that the lot of you call home, allowing me to learn about your pitiful celebration and the area that it was going to be held in. Once I figured out the area that your dragonfly celebration was being held in, and how weak all of your hatchlings would be without them, I went about gathering my henchmen, stealing Crush and Gulp back, and taking enough gems from this land so I could create an army of Riptocs to do my bidding... yet the lot of you smashed them to pieces and have taken both Crush and Gulp away from me, along with ruining my plans once more."

"I don't buy most of what you just said." Cynder remarked, because she refused to believe that Ripto had been able to plan all of this on his own, especially after everything she had learned from reading the highly detailed book about Spyro, Spike, and Ember's adventure in Avalar and everything they did to stop all the plans that he had set in motion, before she thought about something as she glanced at their captured foe, "Tell us who hired you to attack the Dragon Realms, and maybe, just maybe, we won't seal you away in a crystalline prison for the foreseeable future."

"I don't work well with others, so no one hired me." Ripto stated, his tone revealing that he either had nothing to tell them or if he did have something to say he was being incredibly loyal to whoever hired him and was keeping whatever he knew to himself, keeping his lips sealed as the saying went, though at the same time he glanced at the part of the platform that his scepter was resting in, like he was planning on breaking out of the hold he had been stuck in, where Spike paused for a moment and blasted him with the Scepter of Crystallization again.

Spyro, Cynder, and Ember watched as the jade surged out from the areas that Spike had covered when he used the scepter a few moments ago, where it quickly covered Ripto's body and let out a flash as he was imprisoned inside one of the jade statues that Gnasty Gnorc had trapped all the dragons inside, but once that was done, and he put both scepters in his sack, he and the others turned their attention to where Elora was resting. It was in that moment, as the rest of the smoke cleared, that the group paused as they noticed something odd, her metallic wings no longer looked metallic, due to the fact that they now looked slightly smaller, more accurately sized to fit her body, and bared the same coloration as the rest of her body, while the areas between the 'fingers', as Hunter liked to call them from time to time, were green colored, matching Spike's wings, which made sense due to the fact that the armor had been built in his image. In addition to that it appeared that her metallic tail, which she occasionally used to smack her foe's around, had done the same thing her wings had done and moved around like a real tail would, something that meant her normal faun tail had been replaced by what they were seeing at the moment, where the main part of it was colored like the rest of her body and the underside of it had the same green coloration of her new wings. Those weren't the only changes that they could see, as it looked like her hands had become more claw-like, looking more like what Spike and the others had, though an argument could be made that they looked more like what Nestor and the other adult dragons had, something that reflected the piece of armor that had been resting above her hands before she had been blasted by Ripto, and the same was true for her hooves, as they totally looked like the clawed feet that an adult dragon had, which would take her some getting used to. The other thing that was interesting was that Elora had a pair of horns on her head, looking similar to what Spyro had, even if they were half the size and were silver-white colored, like Cynder's horns, and the areas around her transformed arms, legs, tail, and her wings had changed into scales, giving her a half-faun half-dragon appearance, though when she finally regained her senses, after being blasted so much, she looked down at herself with confusion in her eyes.

Spyro and the others stayed by her side for a few moments, trying to calm her down as she took stock of her changes, something that Spike was going to help her with once they left this area, though once he was sure she was ready to move he would use his magic to teleport them back to Castle Hills, so they could deliver the good news to everyone else and get started on figuring out what they were going to do once they got back to the main castle, once the celebration was over officially over and they were allowed to return to what they were doing before Ripto showed up and tried to conquer the realms they had just saved, and, at the same time, try to figure out how to help Elora with her changes.