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// Interlude: Interrupted Vacation 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, and Bianca spent the next week assisting the Leaders with making sure that the realms of Castle Hills were fine and that there was no lingering damage from Ripto's attack, which was what happened after the group defeated all of their past villains and saved the lands that they had been exploring, or at least that was what Cynder had learned by reading the couple of books Spike had published and listening to what Spyro and the others had told her when she asked them for clarification on some of the events she had read about. The group had to admit that it was rather nice to visit the realms that they had explored during this adventure, without having to worry about Riptocs trying to smack them into the ground or attacking them with whatever weapons they happened to be carrying, and the residents of the realms in question were happy to see that things had returned to how things had been before Ripto launched his attack on everyone, which made the group happy at the same time, since it meant their efforts had been worth it. At the same time this allowed the group a chance to let both Hunter and Bianca see the various realms that they had missed out on helping, due to the fact that they stayed behind to help the dragons or breach the magic around Ripto's portal, where it was easy to see that they were impressed by some of the things that they saw as Spyro and the others lead them across the various realms, especially the massive hourglass that was resting in the sky of Cloud 9, something that interested Bianca once she learned that it was actually using Time magic, even though she would have to learn what the group had learned by reading what Spike wrote about the realm in question. One of the other things that happened was that the Professor took Elora's ruined armor, which she had pulled herself out of after their adventure was done and gave it back to him, so she was mostly wearing the suit that went over her body, though she wasn't sure how long it would take him to make a brand new set of armor for her to wear, something she was totally fine with, given everything that she had been through.

While they did that, however, the group also spent some time helping Elora get used to walking with her new legs, as in the group spend some time in front of the main castle before they headed to whatever realm they were planning on checking out, giving her a few minutes or so to go over the movements that would allow her to walk with her new legs and tail, and while it did look like she was getting the hang of it, as the number of times she fell to the ground was steadily decreasing as she got the hang of what she was doing, even though this was all to prepare her for what Titan and all of the other Peace Keepers had in store for her, which she accepted without asking any questions. As it turned out the dragons of Dragonfly Dojo were incredibly happy that the group had repelled the invaders that had been attacking the realms and had recovered all of the missing dragonflies, who had been allowed to partner up with the hatchlings, though even as they checked out the realm in question the dragons that watched over the dojo revealed that they had something for them, or Cynder, to be more exact, which turned out to be a female dragonfly with light green skin and translucent purple wings, a dragonfly who hadn't been partnered with anyone and they felt that it was rather odd for a young dragon to not have one of the small critters following them. Cynder tilted her head for a moment, not out of confusion since she knew just how important the dragonflies were to the hatchlings that had attended the celebration Ripto had interrupted, though while she knew that she didn't need a dragonfly partner, due to everything that she had been through in Doxantha, she nodded her head and Sting, which was the name of her new partner, flew over to where they were standing, where Sparx, Talon, and Cinder greeted the newest addition to their party as the others did the same thing. While they walked through the rest of the realm, and made sure that all of the dojo buildings were intact, the group learned that Sting had all the skills that all of the dragonflies learned during their training, so basically she had the same skills that Sparx and the others had, and that she was eager to do what the other dragonflies did, especially after hearing what the group did to save the all of the realms from the Riptocs.

Once they were done checking out Dragonfly Dojo, and realized that everything was just fine in this realm, the group headed back to the main homeworld and headed for the next realm Spyro wanted to check out, as he was going to make sure they checked all of them out before they headed back to the Artisans homeworld and resumed what they had been doing before the celebration had started, though from what Spyro could tell all of the residents that he and the others talked to were happy that order had been restored to their various realms and that they were thankful that they had come to their aid when the Riptocs attacked them. Of course many of them knew that the group had been interested in all of the missing dragonflies, since they eventually learned that the dragonflies were part of the reason behind Ripto's assault on all of the realms and the homeworld, but they also knew, from talking with Nestor and the other Leaders, that the group had been more focused on stopping whatever the Riptocs had been doing to the realms and had put the dragonflies at the back of their minds, something that Spike had to correct, as he and the others had been more focused on saving the realms and recovering the dragonflies, doing both at the same time. The reason he had to do that was because the one that mentioned such a thing was the same Rat Professor that annoyed the group during their trek through Jurassic Jungle, though this time around Spike withstood the desire to smack the resident in question and simply corrected what he had said, allowing him and the others to leave the area and resume checking out the remaining realms of Castle Hills, just to make sure that everything was just fine and that Ripto hadn't left anything dangerous behind, to attack the realms in the off chance he was defeated by the group. Based on what the group knew they suspected that Ripto had focused all of his attention on casting his spell to displace the dragonflies and then had retreated to his personal realm to wait for them to arrive, so he could take them down and complete his revenge, even if that had failed since they had beaten him. Hunter informed the group, when they were far away from the Rat Professor in question, that he understood why they were so annoyed with some of them, even if it seemed to be directed at one of them and not the entire group of individuals that called the realm home, but other than that he kept his mouth shut and followed the group as they checked out the rest of the remaining lands that had been attacked.

In the end the group found that none of the realms had any additional enemies for them to worry about and none of them were in danger, even though they did spend a few days making sure the realms were fine, before they returned to Volcanic Crater, where Spike simply went there to study the lingering traces of Ripto's wild magic so he could figure out what he could do for Elora, giving Hunter and Bianca a chance the see the area as well, though even as he did that Spike could tell that there wasn't much wild magic left in this realm anyway.

"So this is where you guys fought Ripto," Hunter commented, where he glanced out at the area that was around them and noticed all of the cracks that were in the rock walls, while at the same time feeling the heat of the volcanic crater that was around them, even though it was rather impressive that there was a platform resting on top of the lava and wasn't even starting to break apart, but as he considered everything he realized that this was less like a realm and was more like a battleground, something that Spike had likely determined, which only made him wonder what would happen to this place once the dragons started exploring it, "Spike, do you have any idea where this place might be on the globe?"

"While I'm assuming its somewhere near Castle Hills, to make it a realm of the homeworld, I'll need to do some light research to figure out the truth," Spike replied, though at the same time he glanced at the air that was around them, as he was following the trails of magic that were lingering all over the place, where it was easy to discover something that would make his studies harder, as the traces of wild magic that he had been following were starting to break apart and he was sure that they wouldn't be here for much longer, to which he sighed for a moment as he glanced at the others, despite the fact that he was focusing on Elora, "however, whatever traces of wild magic that have been lingering in this realm are now starting to dissipate, and from what I can tell the same is happening to you..."

"So we'll have to wait and see how it effects my body," Elora said, knowing exactly why Spike wanted them to come to this realm in the first place, which was rather thoughtful of him and showed that he was remaining true to his word, but despite the fact that he was trying to help her out she had the feeling that her hybrid form was going to be what she would be using for the foreseeable future, possibly for the rest of her life based on what she and the others had been told when Spike went over the outcomes of the magic's effects on her body, to which she shrugged for a moment, "other than that it appears that we're not going to learn much from the lingering bits of magic that are in this realm."

"I think its time we headed back to the Artisans homeworld and get some rest, and then, eventually, the vacation that will allow us to relax for a time," Spyro remarked, knowing that most of the group was eager to spend some time hanging out at the beach, so they could see what the Gnorcs did to their portion of Dragon Shores and then enjoy their day off, so they could rest and recharge for whatever the immediate future held for them, which was likely going to be training with Malefor and helping Elora get used to her new body, before their fifteenth birthday came around, which could be the start of another adventure if the pattern held.

Once they were done talking the group waited for Spike to use his magic to take them back to the main castle of the homeworld that the dragonfly celebration had been held in, though when they arrived they headed for the portal that would take them back to the Artisans homeworld, so they could tell Nestor the good news about the other realms and the fact that everything was just fine, which would make him and the other Leaders happy once they heard the news, before he and the others gathered their stuff and prepared for the eventual day they would be spending at Dragon Shores and all the fun they would be have.





Once the group had informed the Leaders of the Dragon Realms as to what was going on in Castle Hills, and by that they meant that there were no more Riptocs and no traps left behind by Ripto, they spent a few more days making sure all of the hatchlings and their new dragonfly partners were getting along just fine, something that was rather easy to tell when they looked around their own homeworld, before a week had passed since the celebration had occurred and Nestor said it was fine for them to take some time off. As such Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia gathered their stuff and headed for the portal in question, carrying several containers that Alvar had made for them before they departed for the beach, where the group quickly passed through the portal and appeared at the Nexus, showing Amelia the chance to see the portals to all of the other homeworlds once more, before Spyro started down the path that would take them to their destination, even though some of them were glancing in the direction of the amusement park that had been created by the Gnorcs. Nestor also informed the group that, despite the fact that many of the adult dragons would have preferred to take a day or two off, to get over all of the preparations they had gone through to make sure everything was ready and in place for the dragonfly ceremony, the older dragons would be tending to the hatchlings and starting their training to learn how to communicate and trust their new friends, just like what happened when Spyro, Spike, and Ember did back in the day, when they were younger and had no idea what the future had for them. Not a few moments later the group focused their minds on what they were doing as they breached the tree line and stepped out onto one of the greatest places in the entire world, something that Cynder could easily debate due to the splendor of Warfang, but the beach caused a smile to appear on the faces of their friends, as this would be a relaxing day off and they would be able to regain their energy for the future.

As such the group set their stuff down and started to set aside their gear, as in Spyro set Windshear near his towel and put his scarf near it, Spike took off his hat and satchel, both Cynder and Ember removed their bracers, Hunter put his bow and arrows down while changing into a swimsuit, Bianca and Amelia changed out of their respective attires and revealed that they had put on some swimsuits, the former having a two piece with the latter having one that covered her chest and went down to her lower legs, before coming here, while Elora also had a modified top and shorts, mostly due to the presence of her new tail and wings, which required some new swimming attire to replace her old stuff. Not a second or two later, once all of them were done putting their gear down and made sure the stuff that Nestor and the others had prepared for them had been set down as well, the group rushed over to where the water was and dived right into it, as they had been waiting for this since the moment Nestor had told them about the break they could have once the realms of Castle Hills were fully assisted, which they had done and ensured that nothing dangerous had been left behind by Ripto, who none of them were thinking about at the moment. The first thing everyone did was tackle the waves and started to swim around the beach, even though this time Spyro wasn't the only one that tackled someone into the water, as Hunter did the same thing to Bianca and Spike gently did the same thing with Elora, who turned around and splashed him with some of the water, showing that she was already having fun and that she wasn't thinking about the changes to her body, which everyone was happy to see. Bianca did the same thing, only she poured some of her magic into it and the water flowed as she directed it, making it so light that it was just like the rest of the splashes that everyone else was using while they were having fun, even though she moved on to declaring a 'splash war' against all of them, eventually causing Spike to weave his magic through the air as they both played with the water that was around the part of the beach that they were currently in, something that caused the others to laugh as they watched what was going down.

Of course that wasn't all they did, as while Bianca and Spike had fun messing with the water Hunter got out and pulled something out of one of his containers, revealing a surfboard that he had been working on in his spare time and he quickly rushed out to test it out, while at the same time Amelia pulled out some tools as she got out of the water and started to manipulate the sand that was around her, showing the others that she was going to be building a sand castle or some sort of sculpture while they were relaxing. After a few more moments of enjoying themselves with the splash war Spike and Bianca stopped messing with their magic and walked out of the water so they could return to their towels, something that was followed by both of them pulling out some new books that they intended to read for a time while they were here, only that was when Cynder noticed that Bianca had two intermediate spell tomes, showing her level of skill when it came to wielding magic and that she was trying to improve her abilities, while Spike had a group of scrolls that were covered in a protective field, so they didn't get damaged by the water or anything else, and several books, all of which the group knew he had either removed from the Arcanaeum or from Warfang's library. The others, for the most part, either enjoyed their time inside the water or pulled themselves so they could clean their bodies and dug into the sand so they could build a castle or whatever they wanted, something that left Hunter as the only one that was hanging out inside the water, despite the fact that many of them would be diving back into the water in the future, though that was around the time that Spyro pulled Cynder away from the beach and took her over to the amusement part area, mostly because nothing had changed since the last time he and his siblings had been here and he knew that she might like a chance to relax in a way that she hadn't tried before, even though the others remained at the beach. Elora, on the other hand, floated in the water as the others did whatever they wanted, mostly because this allowed her to relax and close her eyes for a time, something that allowed her to really take her mind off of what had happened when they fought Ripto and focus solely on relaxing, which was what everyone was doing for the rest of the day.

As it turned out, while the games were rather simple, Cynder found that some of the amusement park attractions were a little fun and that the final 'reward', as the Gnorcs called it, was access to the theater that Spyro and the others had told her about, so once she had that she and Spyro departed from the park and headed back to where the others were hanging out, who had left the water and cleaned themselves off, which was about the time that they started to pull out the food that had been packed for them. As they started to do that, however, Spike paused for a moment as he felt something that was in the air around them, to which he glanced at an area that was further down the part of the beach that he and the others were in and watched as a swirling vortex of energy, a temporary portal, quickly opened before their eyes, which meant someone was coming to Dragon Shores, more uninvited guests when they considered what Ripto had done, and it also could mean that more trouble was coming their way, to which everyone rapidly collected their gear, with Spike taking a moment to weave a spell around them to dry all of them off, before they pointed their weapons and held their magic at the ready as they waited for whoever was coming to arrive. The group was expecting a brand new villain to step out of the portal, declare war on the dragons, decimate part of Dragon Shores to enrage them, and then run off to a continent that they would have chased them to, but what actually happened was that a small group of individuals fell out of the portal a few moments after it opened, in the manner that Elora and Hunter recalled when they first called Spyro, Spike, and Ember to Avalar, meaning they crashed into the part of the beach that was in front of them, something that was followed by the group lowering their weapons as they raised their eyebrows, as two of the individuals were dragons, about the same size as Spyro and the others and with a matching body type, a quadrupedal stance, which meant that they were young dragons who had to be close to maturing as well. The first dragon that came out of the portal was a red scaled dragon that had a yellowed colored chest, a colored that was shared with its fin shaped spines between its curved horns, which looked nearly identical to what Spyro had, save for the fact that they were straighter than Spyro's were, while his spines were curved a tad bit more and his tail spike was more like something it could use to stab someone with, and it was accompanied by an orange dragonfly with gray wings.

The other dragon had pink colored scales, an odd and rather uncommon color to be sure, while its horns were more on the side of its head and curved back towards its back, with its fin shaped spines were much smaller than Spyro's and the red dragon's spines, plus they were dark pink colored, though its chest scales were dark yellow colored and its tail spike was shaped like a heart, something that was rather interesting and weird when the group thought about it, before they noticed that it was wearing a golden necklace that had a small heart shaped ruby inside it, and its dragonfly had the same pink coloration with light blue wings.

"Um, hello? Are you guys okay?" Spyro asked, because while he knew that they had no idea who these dragons were, much less their dragonflies for that matter, he could tell that neither of them seemed to be any threat and the rest of the group seemed to understand the same thing as he discovered it, something that was followed by all of them lowering their weapons and cancelling whatever spells Spike and Bianca had been readying, though as that happened the temporary portal finally closed, meaning that whoever the small group in front of them were, and he was hoping they would inform them as to who they were, was going to be stuck in the Dragon Realms until they figured out where in the world the four of them had come from and what they needed to do to get them back home.

"No idea. Let me get back to you on that." the red scaled dragon replied, speaking as if he, and it was a he due to the voice that came out of his mouth, happened to be talking to a friend or something, though that was when he opened his eyes and glanced at the area he had landed in, where he looked down at the sand that was beneath his claws and found that he was standing on a beach, to which he turned towards the pink dragon for a moment and nudged it with his wing, all while the dragon was pulling their head out of the sand, as they had a rather tough landing, "Hey, Aurora, you've got to check out where we ended up."

The dragon, who the group was assuming was female by the name, finally pulled her head out of the sand and shook herself for a moment, mostly to get rid of all the sand that happened to be on her head, before she glanced at the beach that she and her friend had appeared on, even though Spike was making a note of what was said between the two, just in the off chance that they said something interesting that would allow him to understand where they had come from and what he and the others could do to send them back home, even if the latter would involve a brand new portal to the land that the pair had come from, to further connect their world, no doubt after an adventure of some kind.

"Wow, this place is amazing," the pink scaled dragon, Aurora, commented, where she glanced around the area that she and her friend were now standing in, while at the same time their dragonflies did the same thing, before her partner took a moment to tap her head so she could turn her attention to the group, something that caused both dragons to turn and look at the group for a few seconds, as they were shocked and surprised by what they were seeing right now, just like how Spyro and the others had been shocked and surprised when they discovered Warfang and its residents, "No way, we found someplace that has dragons...not to mention cheetahs, a rabbit, and... whatever that is."

"I'm a faun... or, I was a few days ago," Elora stated, figuring that she was the one that Aurora was talking about, due to her new form, though at the same time he stared at the pair of dragons that had suddenly appeared in Dragon Shores, as she and the others were already thinking about what could have drive them to use a temporary portal to explore a new area, because based on what little Aurora had said it sure sounded like they were explorers, looking for new lands to learn about and whatnot, meaning they would rush to Spike once they learned what sort of knowledge he had, though at the moment it didn't look like either of the dragons posed any threat to them and the group put their weapons away, before the pair got the wrong idea about them, "Anyway, that's not important. Can you tell us who you guys are and where you came from? I'm only asking because we haven't seen you around the Dragon Realms or Doxantha before, so that means there another landmass that the dragons happen to be calling home, one we haven't explored yet."

"I'm Flame, this is my dragonfly, Flare, and this is Aurora, with her dragonfly, Daisy." the red scaled dragon replied, as it seemed that he wanted to be helpful and show the group that he and his friend weren't dangerous, though at this point it was hard for the group to really consider anything truly dangerous, especially given who they trained with, but Spyro was happy that both of the dragons were willing to be peaceful and not lash out at them, due to the fact that they had their weapons out and at the ready when they emerged from the portal, before he thought about the other part of what Elora had asked him, "We're from a set of islands that were once called the Isles of Rebirth, to signify us putting our lives back together after everyone was banished from our original home over a thousand years ago, the Forgotten Realms as we have taken to calling them, but we've taken to calling the islands 'Capora' these days, and we have four homeworlds that we call home, which are Dragon Kingdom, Lost Cities, Icy Wilderness, and Volcanic Isle."

"Fascinating, a brand new set of homeworlds to explore and study! I have to get back to the globe and see where your home is located, before we prepare a new expedition to it," Spike said, showing that he was already thinking about what he and the others might learn about the new land that they were just hearing about, even though the description of the land, about it having four islands, would make things much easier for him to determine where on the globe Flame, Aurora, and their dragonflies had come from, which, in turn, would help them figure out how to get the small group back to their homes, since they likely wanted to get back home.

"So he's a scholar, interesting." Aurora commented, revealing that she, and possibly Flame as well, were studying the group as the group studied them, seeing what they could learn about each other before either side truly trusted the other, and that she determined what Spike could be based on what he had said, even though she was far from the truth when the group considered everything that he had done in the past, before she focused on something else, "Okay, we've told you who we are, so you might as well do the same for us, so we have an idea of who we're talking to."

"That's easy, I'm Spyro, and this is my dragonfly, Sparx," Spyro replied, though at the same time he started to gesture to the rest of the group with one of his wings, so Flame and Aurora had an idea of who was who, while the others nodded their heads and even waved a hand or claw towards the pair, something that reinforced what Spyro was telling them right now, before he focused his attention on the pair while he continued speaking, "along with Spike and his dragonfly, Talon, Ember and her dragonfly, Cinder, Cynder, that's with a y and not an i, and her dragonfly Sting, our friends Elora, Bianca, and Hunter, not to mention his little sister Amelia. Also, you are partly correct about Spike being a scholar, even though he's also the youngest Archmage in the history of the Dragon Realms, that's the part of the world that you guys teleported to by the way, if not the entire world as a whole, I'm starting to learn the responsibilities of being a Leader, even though the last adventure kind of put a hold on that, Ember's one of the greatest Peace Keepers in our lands, Cynder is a strong fighter and can wield five of the nine elements that a dragon can call upon, both Elora and Hunter are honorary Peace Keepers, for their skills in battle and for impressing Titan, and are formidable warriors in their own right, Bianca is a magic user that is learning from Spike and she's rather skilled in a fight, making her a formidable sorceress, and Amelia hails from a clan of Cheetahs that work along side the dragons of Warfang, making her a great warrior as well... oh, and that's not counting the rest of our friends, who are busy in the other homeworlds of our world, keeping the peace and assisting those in need."

Flame and Aurora stood there for a moment, their expressions revealing that they were shocked by what they had just been told, while at the same time Spyro was sure he saw a little relief on their faces as well, no doubt something that meant they were happy that the group hadn't attacked them, or that they hadn't come to attack a new set of islands, as the pair now knew that the eight of them were strong and had experience fighting whatever enemies came at them, but even as they waited it was clear that the group was curious as to what the arrival of the two dragons could mean for them and the rest of the lands, even though neither dragon moved for a time.

"Spyro, I think you broke them," Hunter remarked, because he was sure that informing a pair of dragons, who had just come out of a temporary portal from an unknown set of islands, that they were in the presence of formidable warriors and magic users, especially the youngest Archmage in the entire world, was enough to make anyone pause for a time and even appear like the news had shut them down or something, though as he said that both Flame and Aurora seemed to shift for a moment, more like they were in control of their bodies and not swaying because of the rush of information they had just received from Spyro, "Never mind, it seems like they're coming to."

"Sorry about that, you just caught us off guard with all of your achievements, even though I'm sure that's not all of the things that you guys have done," Flame said, to which Aurora nodded her head to confirm that statement, even though it was clear that the two of them were going to be coming to terms with what they had just learned, especially since there was more for them to learn about their world and all they had to do was ask, and likely get a lecture of sorts from Spike, before the red dragon rubbed the back of his head for a moment, "To be honest, we haven't done much with our lives and we're the only young dragons from Capora, of our generation anyway, so its rather amazing to hear what you guys have done, without learning everything you might have done over the years... but this was far more than everything I had hoped to find when we stepped through that portal earlier."

"You weren't fleeing from a villain that was bent on taking over your lands, were you?" Spike asked, because he knew that would be just their luck, that they were trying to relax from an adventure that had just ended and a brand new one had come to take its place, though at the same time the group seemed to be thinking the same thing, that there was a chance that the arrival of Flame and Aurora in the Dragon Realms would herald the arrival of a brand new adventure, one that would take them to a brand new set of islands for them to explore and learn about, though they patiently waited for the pair to explain what was going on.

"Goodness no, Capora has been rather peaceful, minus a few incidents and the fact that there's a banished dragon by the name of Red," Aurora replied, immediately informing the group that there was no villain chasing them and that they hadn't used a portal to get away from the lands that they called home, all to locate some heroes to help restore order to the four homeworlds that made up Capora, rather it showed them that the pair was just exploring the world and could have used the wrong portal, since Spike was sure that explorers would have either used a ship of some kind to explore the vast seas of their world or would have double checked their portal and made sure it was permanent, at least until they deactivated it and opened it in a brand new location, though the 'banished dragon' part reminded the siblings of Gnasty Gnorc, since he had been banished to an island as well, "we're just trying to explore the rest of the world and make a map or globe of whatever we uncover along the way, and it seems like you might have something that will accelerate that part of our quest... if you're willing to share, anyway."

"We'll get to that later, once we get back to the Artisans homeworld. However, before we leave, we were about to have lunch, so why don't you join us?" Cynder inquired, though while she knew that it wasn't her place to do such a thing, as it was usually Spyro that did something like this, she could see that Spyro was thinking the same thing and he even nodded his head to show that he agreed with her, that they might as well invite the pair of dragons to join them and maybe learn something more about them, before they headed back to where Nestor was located, even though this was going to bring in the attention of all the dragons that lead the various clans, potentially even her father.

Flame and Aurora, including their dragonflies, took a moment to think about that before they joined the group, even though they were surprised by the assortment of food that had been brought to the beach, but as that happened the rest of the group knew that a banished individual meant something bad was going to happen in the near future, which was why they needed to find out where the islands that made up Capora were located and establish a connection to that area as soon as they were able to, as they had the feeling that this 'Red' was going to do what Gnasty Gnorc did at some point in the near future and they would likely need to be ready to intercept him, even if they were hoping that they were blowing things out of proportion and that there was no danger, which would be nice after everything they had gone through to restore order to the realms of Castle Hills.