//------------------------------//
// Hero: Exploring the Village 
// Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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What the group discovered, as they walked through the door that was in the Professor's new lab, was that the part of the homeworld that was outside the lab happened to be built between a few hills, which were about the same size as the stone walls that the siblings were used to seeing in Stone Hill, maybe a tad bit taller in some areas, but they also saw several structures around the area as well, ones that appeared to be oval shaped, despite the fact that it was more of the upper part of the shape and the lower part of the oval likely didn't exist. Part of the design of the structures reminded the majority of the group of what they had seen in Scorch, especially since there were some flags at the top of them, while it was easy to see a larger structure directly across from where they were standing, one that seemed like a store of some kind, something they would check out before they headed out to see what else the homeworld had to offer them, and it appeared that someone might be working in the structure, who they would meet and talk to when they reached the building in question, since it was possible that they might have some information for them to use against their new enemies. The rather interesting thing that the group could see was that all of the trees that were in this area had pink leaves, something none of them were even expecting to find and it was something that neither Flame or Aurora had told them about when they were describing their homeworld to the group, though even as they considered that the pair of dragons happened to be following them, either to assist them or to witness their heroic actions in progress, where Spyro and the others were fine with either option, as long as they didn't get in the way of their adventure.

There was also a new Fairy that was helping the Professor out, who had a pink dress and blond hair, called Trina that took a moment to follow them outside and introduce herself to everyone that was in the group, though once that was done she headed back into the building that the new lab was in and returned to what she had been doing before the group arrived in the lab, though once she did that the group walked forward and found that the other structures in the area, near the shop to be exact, were either locked or had a door that they might need to smash, before they came to a stop in front of their destination and the door opened, revealing Moneybags, in all his glory, now wearing the attire of a shop owner and came complete with a fez on the top of his head.

"Moneybags, what in the name of the ancestors are you doing here?" Cynder asked, because the last time the group had seen the bear was when they finished their adventure in Castle Hills and he had been enjoying himself, unlike the bear that Spyro and the others had warned her about, though seeing him in this homeworld, which was currently under attack by a new villain, did make her wonder if he had been lying to them earlier and that he had reverted back to his old ways once the previous adventure was over, all so he could travel to a new land and get away from them, even though part of her was hoping that she was wrong and that there was a reason behind what they were seeing.

"Pretending to be one of Red's allies, so I can get information on his operation," Moneybags stated, though as he said that he held the door open and beckoned for the group to enter the shop, where they found a circular chamber that was split in half by a wooden divider, a divider that would normally hold items that the owner would sell to customers, though right now it appeared that nothing was on their side of the shop as Moneybags walked behind the counter and came to a stop as he faced the group, "After you guys took out Ripto, and restored order to the realms of Castle Hills, I found a portal in a place where it hadn't been and figured that the best way I could be of assistance to you, to repay what I have done in the past, would be to pass through the portal and figure out where it would take me, before trying to figure out what might be going on and if you needed to be warned of a villain's plans for the world, only I didn't have a portal to get back to Castle Hills and the Professor didn't want to talk to me, no doubt assuming that I was the same bear that you guys had taken out and imprisoned some time ago. Now, Red doesn't trust me enough to give me a copy of whatever he's planning, or a map of the areas that he's placed all of those Dark Gems, which are draining the life from the areas they've been placed in and seem to be replacing the goodness of the lands with wickedness, but I was able to obtain a few things that you might find useful, one of those Guidebooks that I know Spike likes to carry with him and a page that was torn out of a spellbook, one that mentions a Lockpick spell."

"Really? Let me see." Spike said, where he and the others waited for Moneybags to pull out the items in question, though it wasn't long before a large tome was placed in front of them, the Guidebook that would tell them whatever they wanted to know about the homeworlds and realms that they were connected to, which was followed by a page that looked like it had been torn out of a spellbook at some point in the past, which caused him to growl for a moment, "I don't know who would disrespect a book like this, by tearing out a page like this, but hopefully we can restore it to what it once was, even though I'd like to have a chat with whoever did this... however, this spell is interesting and might be useful, especially given the locked door that's nearby and any locked chests that we might come across."

"While you go about assisting the lands of Capora, I will try to get some information from Red or those that are allied with him, just to help you out," Moneybags stated, showing that he was being truthful in his desire to help them out, despite the fact that it might take some time for him to do such a thing, but at the very least he was happy to see that some of the heroes that were in front of him were willing to trust him, instead of focusing on who he had been in the past, before he glanced outside, where the group did the same thing and noticed that there was a dark barrier resting over a cave, which had three dark vines resting in front of the magical barrier, "though from what little I could gleam, from watching Red use his magic to create the barrier that's over the cave that one of his allies wandered into earlier, before you all arrived in this land to be exact, I'm willing to bet that you guys will have to find and smash a certain number of those Dark Gems to bring down the barrier and face whoever is inside the cave."

"Thanks for the help, Moneybags." Spyro said, figuring that he might as well make sure the bear knew that some of them were happy for whatever assistance he was giving them, even if some of them were still coming to terms with the fact that the bear they knew no longer existed, before he nodded to the others and they headed outside the shop, as it was time to see what else the area that was outside the Professor's lab had to offer, which was also the time that Spike decided to turn one of the empty sacks he happened to be carrying into a gem carrying sack, something that caused Flame and Aurora to turn their heads for a moment as they saw what he had done, even though Sgt. Byrd decided to scout ahead and see what else the rest of the land had to offer.

"What are you doing?" Aurora asked, because while most of the spells that Spike used were beyond what she and Flame had seen in the past, even though the same couldn't be said for the Dragon Elders that ruled over the lands of Capora, as she had no way of proving that one way or the other, she was interested in why the young Archmage would have pulled out a sack and use his magic to enchant it with some sort of spell, while at the same time noticing that the others were in the process of spreading out, heading for some straw baskets and metallic chests.

"This is now a Bag of Holding, something for us to hold all of the stolen gems that are scattered across the homeworlds of Capora and return them to their rightful owners," Spike replied, though at the same time he nodded his head and Spyro smashed the couple of straw baskets that were resting near where the locked door was located, where a few gems, more than what they were used to seeing, dropped on the ground and Sparx collected them, where Flame and Aurora saw the gems disappear from where they were resting, while Cynder and Sting picked up the loose gems that were on the ground and Ember smashed the metallic chests so Cinder could claim those gems, before Spike opened the sack and revealed the collection that had been started, "though to be honest, with the couple of containers that we've smashed open, we actually have more gems than what we find in the early stages of some of the realms when we start an adventure, because we're already around five hundred gems and we've barely started this adventure. Say, do you guys know how many gems are supposed to be in your treasury?"

"Nope. We're too young to know something like that." Flame stated, though as he said that he was caught off guard by the fact that Spike was able to accurately count the number of gems that were inside the bag, because from the quick glance he gave the bag he knew he wouldn't be able to do that in a short amount of time, making him wonder if there was a spell or something that allowed him to accurately count what was inside the container without actually counting the contents, but given everything he had seen so far he knew that if such a thing was happening Spike would have mentioned it, so it seemed like the young Archmage was full of surprises.

"Well, we can add another breakable to the list, as there are small dark crystals growing out of the ground and if you break them they yield gems," Cynder commented, though even as she said that the rest of the group turned to look at her, which allowed them to see that there was one small dark crystal growing out of the ground and some fragments that indicated that there had been a second one a few moments ago, before she used her tail and smashed the crystal with ease, where a couple of red and green colored gems fell when that happened, where Spike considered what they were seeing as Sting collected the gems, so they could be added to the collection as well.

"Interesting. It appears that the dark crystals might be growing out of pockets of gems that have been covered by all of the dark energy the Dark Gems are putting out, and when you smash these ones they release those pockets," Spike said, as he knew that some of the members in their group had to be interested in what had happened when Cynder smashed the pair of dark crystals and this was his best explanation, which could mean there were a vast number of unclaimed gems resting throughout the lands and homeworlds of Capora, meaning Flame, Aurora, and the rest of their kind would be able to have a fortune recovered and delivered to them once this adventure was over.

The group glanced at each other for a moment and decided to say nothing on the matter, figuring that it was best to take Spike's explanation on the subject until someone told them otherwise, before they headed for the locked door they had spotted earlier and let Spike approach it first, where he glanced at the page that Moneybags had given them and read the spell page in question, before he weaved his magic through the air and, after a moment or two, a click could be heard as he pushed the door open, allowing them to walk into a tunnel that would likely take them to the next part of the land that they were currently exploring. As they started walking there was a decent sized chamber of sorts that had a pair of straw baskets for them to smash and a number of gems for them to collect, though that was when they noticed that the tunnel was shorter than what they were expecting it to be and noticed that it had brought them to another part of the land that the Professor had built his new lab in, complete with a Dark Gem which had been stabbed into the ground in front of a lone tree, where the bark had turned green and the leaves had turned blue, and there were a few sinister vines in the area around the gem. The interesting thing that the group discovered, as they exited the tunnel and spread out so they could see what was around the area, was that there didn't seem to be any enemies for them to fight, meaning Red was either arrogant in assuming no one could break the Dark Gems or he didn't have enough soldiers and decided to leave this area free for the time being, where either was perfectly fine with the group since that meant they didn't have to expand their energy fighting their foes, something that would change once they progressed to another point of this land. While they did that Flame and Aurora, who were watching what the group was doing, explored the area as well, though Aurora headed over to the Dark Gem so she could study it for a few seconds, as she was interested in what it was and found that it pulsed with a bit of dark energy, something that eventually caused Spyro and the others to focus on the main gemstone that they would be breaking at some point.

"Just look at this Dark Gem... its practically radiating dark energy, which is corrupting the area around us," Aurora said, as it was interesting to get an up close and personal look at the gemstones that Spyro and the others would be smashing over the course of their adventure, though at the same time she really didn't like the look of it, not with all the evil energy it was radiating at the moment, "Normally when I find a gemstone that I like, regardless of the coloration of the stones, I would say something about how it would look inside a ring, necklace, or some other piece of jewelry, but all I can think about as I stare at this stone is that it needs to be destroyed, not turned into something that someone would wear, which might let the darkness invade their bodies... though I'm not sure how you'll go about smashing them to pieces, since this one looks much sturdier than the small crystals we saw earlier."

It was in that moment that Cynder jumped into the air, flew around the area that the Dark Gem was in, and came to a stop above the gem, where she spun around for a few seconds and rushed down to where her target was resting, allowing the force of her Headbash, something she had picked up from Spyro and the others since she joined them, to surge down into the top of the evil gem as her head struck it, shattering the Dark Gem into a thousand pieces and removed all of the vines that were in the area, while at the same time restoring a nearby bridge that had been shattered at some point before they arrived in this land.

"Simple, we use the Headbash technique on them," Cynder remarked, showing Aurora that they had come equipped with a number of skills and that all of them were useful towards stopping Red and his allies, even if they might pick up a new trick or two if they were lucky, though while everything returned to normal she noticed that Spike had enchanted a second bag and darkened the coloration so he didn't confuse it with the first one, which meant he was taking the fragments of the Dark Gems to study and lock them away once this adventure was over, "though to be honest, I was expecting the gems to be a little harder to destroy, given that the Dark Master is involved in what Red is doing, but we should keep our guard up, in case our foes have something waiting to surprise us."

"I... had no idea you had such a technique," Aurora commented, as she wasn't sure what to think about what Cynder had shown her and Flame, to which she glanced over to the area that had the tunnel that lead to the first Dragon Elder anyone in Capora talked to and learned from, but at the same time it appeared that Spyro and the others didn't really need to be told anything at this point, because according to them they had gone on five adventures since they turned ten, or at least Spyro, Spike, and Ember had done that, so she guessed she and Flame would be learning from them.

"It was something we picked up during our second adventure, and later taught Cynder how to do," Ember replied, though as she said that the group noticed an odd metallic structure on the left side of the area, opposite of where the tunnel was resting, which seemed to be something they needed to smash open with a powerful firework of some kind, so for now the group turned away from where the structure was located and focused on the couple of items that were scattered around the area, as they were choosing to clear out the village before heading over the bridge that was beyond the tree that had been freed of the darkness the Dark Gem had forced upon it.

They found a couple of straw baskets that were near the tunnel Aurora had glanced at, which seemed to have some iron bars that were designed to keep dragons or evildoers outside the tunnel and whatever it would lead them to, and it also had two dark crystals resting in front of it, which the group smashed with ease and collected the gems they dropped on the ground, before they found a square pressure plate that lower the iron bars, permanently from the looks of it, so they were able to enter the tunnel without delay. As the group walked into the tunnel Hunter noticed that there was a crack in the wall to their right and beckoned to it, where Ember smashed her head into it and the force of her attack shattered the cracked stone in seconds, revealing a small area with a number of straw baskets that she let the others break down and collect the gems, before they headed down the rest of the tunnel, even though there were a few dark crystals for them to smash as they sought out what was hidden inside the passage they were following. At the end of the passage they found a chamber that looked like a dragon's resting place, which came complete with pots that had large burned out candles that were near the top of the pots, a few pots that seemed to be containers, a few chains, and a few other items that seemed to belong to the Dragon Elder that was standing near their location, a dragon that the group noticed was blue scaled and had a pale chest, though he carried a golden staff that had a headpiece that was carved in a dragon's head and had a decent sized gem at the top of the weapon, one that seemed to change colors as they watched it. Of course the group naturally assumed the Elder was male, based on the fact that most of the dragons that filled the leadership roles at the moment, in their lands and the others they have saved, were male and not female, something that Ember and Cynder were going to change at some point in the future, and he seemed to be wearing a light blue robe with a golden necklace and a pair of golden bracelets, though their attention was drawn away from the Elder as they noticed there was a hole in the ceiling of the chamber and that there were some large vines that were in the middle of reaching down into the area they just so happened to be standing in.

"Ah, Flame, Aurora, its good to see you again... and, if what the Professor said is to be believed, you must be Spyro, Cynder, Spike, Ember, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, and Amelia." the Elder said, speaking the moment everyone was inside the chamber that he apparently called home, or at least served as his relaxation spot and he didn't want to leave due to the vines that were blocking the way, though this showed the group that their friend had informed the Dragon Elders of their impending arrival, no doubt letting them know that help was on its way and that they were the help in question, "You must be setting out to stop Red's plans and smash the Dark Gems that he's using to subjugate the land that he once called home... now, I would tell you about him, but something tells me you don't want to sit around and listen to me, so I'll get to something that should interest you: the Horn Dive technique, which will allow you to smash the Dark Gems."

"Elder Harnell, they, um, already have a technique for smashing Dark Gems," Flame stated, informing the Dragon Elder as to what the group was able to do on their own, while at the same time giving Spyro and the others a name so they didn't have to keep calling the dragon 'Elder' and whatnot, before he rubbed the back of his head for a moment as he noticed a Dark Gem resting near a ledge that would allow them to leave the chamber that they were standing in, which was when he noticed that Elder Harnell seemed interested in what he was talking about.

"I see. Well then, care to show me what you've got?" Elder Harnell asked, directing the question to the heroes, who just so happened to be patiently waiting for something to happen, before he gestured to the Dark Gem that even he could clearly see from where he was standing, showing the group that he was interested in what Flame had mentioned and if he might be able to point something out to them while they smashed the evil gem that was in his area, which he likely couldn't take down on his own due to the fact that he was somewhat older that the Leaders of the Dragon Realms.

Ember grinned for a moment as she propelled herself backwards through the air, doing a good backflip that allowed her to get in the air above the Dark Gem in question, before she rushed downwards and smashed the gemstone into dust with the Headbash technique, something that caused the large vines to shudder as their power source was broken and they fled not a few moments later, even though the boulder that was blocking the path out of this area happened to break at the same time, allowing her to return to where Elder Harnell and the others were standing.

"I don't know what you call that technique, but we refer to it as Horn Dive," Elder Harnell said, though he nodded his head to show that he was just fine with what Ember had shown him, because it seemed like it was the same move that he and the other Elders would have taught the young generation of dragons that were living in Capora, despite the fact that such a thing made them wonder if all the hatchlings had been taken to a safe place when Red assaulted Dragon Kingdom and the other homeworlds, before he tapped his staff on the ground for a moment, to draw their attention to him, "and it is what I would have taught you, all to give the four of you the ability to smash those Dark Gems into dust and put an end to Red's plans, so you are more than ready to face whatever the former Elder has to throw at you."

The group nodded their heads, knowing that Elder Harnell was speaking the four dragons in their group, and headed up to where the second Dark Gem had been resting, something that allowed them to jump up into the opening that had been revealed when the boulder had been smashed and they walked over to the ledge that was in front of them, which was the moment that the group stared out at the open area that was in front of them, complete with a high stone wall that had a few opens for them to focus on and some platforms to jump around, even though there was a structure down to their right that had a bullseye that seemed to open it.

"So, structure first, or jump over the platforms?" Amelia asked, because she was curious as to what the group would do in this situation, especially since this was the first time she was actually exploring with them and wanted to prove herself to them, including her brother for that matter, though that didn't stop her from pulling out her bow as she glanced at the rest of the area they were in, showing the others that if they wanted to head inside the structure to their right she would hit the target with an arrow and open the way forward.

Instead of replying, like they normally would, the siblings and Cynder jumped forward and glided over to the first platform that would lead them to the highest point of this area, something that caused Elora to follow after them, even though she was amazed by her enhanced abilities, before the rest of the group did the same thing, where they smashed a metallic chest that was off to the side and a pair of straw baskets that were in their way, before they found a large pink skinned Gnorc, who happened to be holding an axe, standing on one of the ledges that they would be exploring. The Gnorc Brute, as the group decided to call it, fell easily as Bianca was the first one to react as she blasted their foe right in the chest with a Fireball, something that left gems in its place and caused those that knew what they were seeing to nod their heads as the gems were collected, even though that meant Spike had to inform Flame and Aurora that there was a spell that certain magic users, mainly villains, cast on the gems of the land they were taking over, which transformed the gems into soldiers for their cause, meaning the majority of the enemies everyone would be facing were gem creations and that they didn't have to hold back when they got into a fight. That also caused the newcomers to ask why the group was naming the foes that they faced, as it was easy to notice as soon as Bianca lashed out at the Gnorc Brute, where Spike also revealed that the naming scheme was for the books he wrote, due to the fact that naming an enemy allowed readers to understand who he was talking about, without having to describe them multiple times, something that caused them to nod their heads as they accepted his explanation on the matter and then followed after him as he rejoined the others. As it turned out there was a tunnel in the area that the Gnorc Brute was standing in and they followed it to another part of the area, one hidden by the high wall they had seen, so they glided down to the platform that was in front of them and spotted another Gnorc Brute off to their left, who Spike shocked into submission with a Lightning Bolt, before smashing the metallic chest that was behind it and then glided over to the pressure plate that opened the way into the structure that seemed to be the end of this area, so which they smashed some straw baskets before activating the plate and lowering the iron bars that were blocking the war forward.

What was inside the structure was a sculpture that was in the middle of the first chamber and four metallic chests, which were being guarded by a Gnorc Brute that Flame, oddly enough, torched their foe before the group could do so, showing them that he and Aurora had to have been trained in combat, even if it was using their inner flames, though while he took a moment to huff the group smashed the metallic chests before heading for the opening that would lead them into the next part of the structure, where they found a pink dragon egg with a white flower design resting on the floor, something the majority of the heroes weren't expecting to see at all.

"I can't believe it, our eggs are being stolen as well?!" Aurora exclaimed, as she could understand why Red would want to corrupt the land and convert it into a more fitting domain for himself and his partner, if they believed what Spyro and the others had said about the Dark Master being a silent ally of some kind, she really had no idea why they wanted the eggs that would be the next generation of dragons that would call Capora home, who both she and Flame would teach when they were old enough to become Elders, and that was if they were honored to take on such a role.

"The Dark Master is probably hoping to corrupt some of them when he has time," Cynder commented, recalling what she knew on the matter, even though it wasn't a good memory and she really didn't know why she knew something like that in the first place, though Spyro nodded his head in agreement, to show that she was correct in her thoughts, before Hunter walked forward and picked up the egg from where it was resting, mostly due to the fact that they had no idea where they could put it for the foreseeable future, before she sighed for a moment, "don't worry, we'll recover all of the eggs that have been taken while we bring down Red."

Flame and Aurora glanced at each other for a few seconds before nodding their heads, which showed the group that they understood what they were being told, which was when the group headed through the opening that was just beyond the area the egg had been resting in and discovered that there was a small bit of land in front of them, which had a small river off to their left and a Gnorc Brute guarding the entrance of the next structure, where the group had to assume that the path they were following would lead them back to where the bullseye was located. Ember dealt with the Gnorc Brute that was standing in their way, where she rushed forward and spun around so that the full force of her tail attack struck her target in the chin and knocked it onto its back, before she loosed a short burst of fire to take it out, allowing the others to focus on breaking a pair of straw baskets, two metallic chests, and a bullseye chest that Spyro smashed, before they found a pair of spherical orbs resting near the entrance of the next structure, where Spike informed the others that these were Fire Bombs, which were supposed to be containers that held an enhanced version of a dragon's Fire Breath inside them, meaning they should be able to burn things that the group wouldn't normally be able to burn on their own. Even if they might not use the items in question, given the powers they had access to, the group collected them before they headed through the entrance that was in front of them, though as the group entered the tunnel they noticed that there was a tall pink skinned Gnorc, carrying a mace instead of an axe, though this one was wearing iron armor, where Elora lashed out with her leg for a moment and noticed that her enhanced form was enough to take out their foe's metallic armor and left it vulnerable, something that Aurora took advantage of as she blasted the Gnorc Warrior in the chest, confirming that she and Flame were able of fighting back and that they weren't going to be a burden to the group of heroes. From there they found that the tunnel that the Gnorc Warrior happened to be guarding lead them directly to a ledge that had a bullseye chest near the edge of it, including a large firework that likely went to the decent sized metal container that was near the sealed structure the group had seen earlier, so what they did was smash the chest open and then activated the firework, which flew through the air and smashed open the container in question, something that was followed by them heading down into the area that was just outside Elder Harnell's hidden chamber.

Once the container was blown open they found that the containers did house gems inside them, so while Ember flew over to where all of the gems were resting the rest of the group dropped down into the area that was in front of the structure that was sealed and Amelia loosed an arrow right at the bullseye, something that caused the iron bars to lower not even a few seconds later and allowed the group to walk into the area that was just beyond the structure, which was more like an entry point to another part of this land, even though this one seemed to be heading back to the heart of the area, back to the Professor's lab to be exact. From what they could tell there were two Gnorc Warriors in this area, one guarding a large locked chest and a pair of metallic chests while the other seemed to be guarding the way forward, so Spyro and Cynder focused on the first one that was in front of them while Ember and Elora quickly took down the other one, leaving the rest of the group to collect all of the gems that were resting on the ground, before noticing two things, one being a firework that would break one of the metal containers while the second item was a piece of machinery that seemed to be what the Professor would have made, something they would look at in due time. As it turned out the second Gnorc Warrior wasn't guarding the way forward, rather it was guarding the metal container that the firework went to and a metallic chest that was resting near it, though Flame and Aurora waited for a few moments, to make sure the dragons that were taking care of the second Gnorc Warrior and cleared the area, before they lit the fuse and sent the firework right into the container it would blast open, allowing the pair of dragons near it to claim the gems that had been freed from the container. Once that was done the group got back together, as Spike was choosing to leave the golden chest alone for the time being so they could focus on the machine that was resting near the structure that seemed to be the way forward. The machine seemed to have a screen of some kind that would indicate the power the machine had, which seemed to be at zero right now, a few bits of machinery that either gathered power or transform something into something else, before they spotted what appeared to be a hologram of the Professor's head that was floating in the middle of the machine, above what seemed to be a platform that someone could stand on, to which they turned their attention to the head, as this meant their friend had something important to tell them.

"Friends, you have found the activation pad for my latest device: the Ball Gadget!" the Professor exclaimed, showing them that he was incredibly happy with what he had made, even though they had no idea what it was supposed to do and that would require him to give them an explanation as to what it was, not to mention why they should care about it in the first place, but the group remained silent as they waited for the Professor to tell them what was going on, "However, I'm afraid that you'll need to hunt down and collect eight Power Stars."

"Power Stars? Never heard of those before... are you sure we need something like that?" Spyro asked, where he took a few seconds to glance at the others, who shook their heads to show that they had no idea what the Professor was telling them about, which was also when Spike pulled out the Guidebook that had been given to them and started to see if he could find something that would power the machine that the Professor was talking about, something that was followed by Spyro focusing on the hologram of their friend's head.

"Is that so? Well then, how about Red Coins... Heart Pieces... Gold Tokens?" the Professor asked, naming a few items that apparently held great power, or at least their friend assumed they held great power, but the names meant nothing to the group and they just stood there with blank looks on their faces, causing their friend to sigh for a moment as he thought about what he had been talking about and their reactions to everything he had mentioned, "Oh, I'm at a loss then... what sort of items can we collect from the lands of Capora to power my new gadget?"

"How about Light Gems?" Spike inquired, as he had been reading the new Guidebook and found a mention of something that might help them out, both in powering the Professor's gadget, and any others he created, as well as possibly having a way to counter Red's Dark Magic, before he turned the book over and showed the passage to the hologram, figuring that he might as well give the Professor a chance to see what he was talking about, "According to this passage they're the exact opposite of Dark Gems, so instead of sucking out the life of an area they create and restore life, so maybe we can collect some of them and use them to combat some of Red's tricks, including powering some of the gadgets that you might have come up with since the last time we saw you."

"I see. Yes, these should do just fine, which means you will need eight Light Gems to power the Ball Gadget," the Professor said, showing that he was fine with the item that Spike had pointed out to him, not to mention the rest of the group since this was the first time they had heard of the gems in question, and that he was fine with using the gems to power all of the gadgets that he had prepared for their current adventure, before he seemed to think about something for a few seconds and pressed a button that was inside his lab, "Oh, and I locked the Nursery door earlier, so the eggs would be safe, so let me open the way for you to move forward."

The group nodded their heads as the door in question opened and they bid the Professor farewell for the time being, but when they walked through the doorway they noticed something very familiar, at least to Spyro and his siblings, as a group of blue robbed Thieves, four of them to be exact, just so happened to be exiting the building they were entering and there was a female dragon shouting at the evildoers to stop what they were doing, which happened to be stealing what seemed to be the last of the dragon eggs, though as they entered the chamber that the pink adult dragon was standing in they did spot a gleaming gemstone off to their right, which Spike grabbed since it was a Light Gem.

"More Thieves stealing dragon eggs? That's a surefire way to piss me off." Ember commented, because when Morrigan had all of their eggs stolen her anger had nearly blown, something that was only stopped due to her brothers calming her to the point where she didn't make mistakes in the field and cost them dearly, before she sighed for a moment as she turned her attention towards the adult dragon that was standing near the now open door that seemed to lead back out to the first area of this homeworld, "How many eggs did they steal? I'm asking because we're going to do everything in our power to get them back."

"Oh, at last count there were eighty of them," the pink dragon replied, though at the same time she smiled for a moment as Hunter returned the first one they had found earlier, where she put it down in an area that seemed to hold ten eggs at the same time, meaning that there had to be ten eggs to a set from the looks of what they were seeing, or something like that, before she stood up and turned to face the group once more, the smile on her face confirming that she was happy to have them helping her out in recovering the eggs.

It didn't take the group all that long to nod their heads and tell Nanny, the name that Flame and Aurora told the rest of the group just so happened to be the pink dragon's name, who happened to be wearing an apron over her body, before they headed out through the opening and discovered that they did return to the starting area of this homeworld, which was the moment that Spike turned around and headed back to the golden chest that was near the Professor's new machine, as it was time to see what was inside the chest. A few moments later, after using the Lockpick spell that Moneybags had given him, Spike discovered that a light green egg with blue swirls had been locked inside the chest, to which he carried it back to the Nursery and handed it over to Nanny, who was surprised that a second one had been positioned near the building she was in, before he headed back to where the others were standing, even though he made sure to enchant a third bag to contain all of the Light Gems they found during their adventure. From there they headed over to where the Professor's lab was located and found a ledge that needed more than a normal jump to get up, which was easy for the group to get up due to the fact that the dragons could fly and the others had trained to enhance their jumping skills so they didn't have to rely on Bianca teleporting them everywhere, and there just so happened to be a golden chest up there, so once they were up on the ledge Spike used his magic and unlocked it, even though he was surprised by how easy it was to use the spell he had been given, where they discovered that a Light Gem had been locked away inside the chest, which they collected with all haste before following the path that was just beyond the chest's location. As they followed the path the group smashed a few straw baskets and some metallic chests before finding a Gnorc Warrior standing in the middle of the tunnel that was in front of them, where Ember smashed the armor and Hunter took it down with an arrow to the chest, which resulted in gems and his arrow being left behind, before they walked through the rest of the tunnel and found that it lead them to an area that was pretty wide and happened to have a portal to a side section of this homeworld, not to mention a number of pedestals that moved when someone hit a target that was over on the right side of the area.

Interestingly enough they found that this was where Sgt. Byrd had wandered off to and that he seemed to he standing in front of the portal in question, to which the group picked up the gems that were all over the area, smashed a few straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and some dark crystals as they headed over to where their friend was standing, even though it was easy to tell that another Dark Gem was resting on a ledge that would normally be accessed by the platforms, which they could get around with their flying ability, before they came to a stop in front of Sgt. Byrd.

"Friends, beyond this portal rests Island Speedway, but its off-limits to dragons, no doubt due to Red's orders," Sgt. Byrd said, making sure to salute the group when they came to a stop in front of him, as he treated them like his superiors most of the time, even though they were friends and had no real authority over everything that he did, though the news that the Speedway was off-limits to dragons did annoy Spyro, since he enjoyed taking on the challenges of the Flight Realms and the various racers that they found when they explored each Speedway, "however, with your permission I will take to the skies and face all the challenges that this Speedway has to offer, while bringing you the spoils."

While Spyro really wanted to do the Speedway, like he and the others had done in the past, he nodded his head and stood to the side as Sparx followed Sgt. Byrd through the portal, mostly because there was a chance that he might find a couple loose gems or something and would need them to be delivered to a safe location, though while he did that the rest of the group scoured the area and cleared it out, making sure to pick up any gems that had been left behind before focusing on the Dark Gem and the platforms. Elora decided to try her luck with the Dark Gem as she flew into the air and spun around a few times, just like she had seen the others do when they used the Headbash, or Horn Dive as Elder Harnell called it, in the past, before rushing down towards the gemstone and struck it with all her might, smashing the gem into pieces that caused the sinister vines and dark purple sludge to disappear, revealing an opening to the structure that the gunk had been covering, which revealed a dragon egg that had a flame design on it. While Amelia recovered the egg, which wasn't being taken back to the Nursery since there might be more found in Island Speedway, Flame and Aurora found a firework to use on the metal container that was on the highest platform and a Light Gem, to which they lit the firework and sent it off towards its destination while picking up the gem so it could be added to Spike's container, something they weren't even going to question since he came prepared for anything, leaving Ember to collect the gems that had been inside the metal container. Once all of that was done the group simply waited outside the portal, as there was no telling how long it would take Sgt. Byrd to finish off whatever was around the Speedway, Elora spent some time making sure nothing hurt, as she expected some whiplash from smashing that Dark Gem, but, interestingly enough, her body was just fine and nothing was broken by the looks of it, which was really weird for her when she thought about it, before she decided to blame it on her new dragon aspects and joined the others, even though they could see a cracked portion of a rock wall that they would be smashing once Sgt. Byrd was done with the Speedway.

When Sgt. Byrd emerged from the portal a few minutes after he entered it he revealed that he had recovered a dragon egg from the first challenge, a dark purple egg that looked like it had yellow stars for a design, while gaining a Light Gem from the second round that had been offered to him, plus about five hundred gems from blasting the targets with his missiles, though once they had those items the group thanked Sgt. Byrd for his assistance and headed over to the cracked wall, all while their friend headed off to find another portal to access, before they smashed the through wall and opened the path it was trying to hide. The tunnel they revealed, while being somewhat short, did have a few straw baskets and a bullseye chest for them to smash open, which was what they did so they could get at the gems that were inside them, before they reached a small area that seemed like it might be at the back of the Professor's lab, where they found that a pair of small thing Gnorcs, which were green skinned and seemed to be carrying crossbows, guarding the area, though that was when both Flame and Aurora showed the group that they were willing to fight for the safety of their home and the rest of the residents that called their lands home, as Flame jumped into the air and smashed the Gnorc Archer off to their left into the ground with his tail, while at the same time Aurora moved out of the way to avoid an arrow and flamed her target with a burst of her Fire Breath, dropping the two of them in a matter of seconds. Once those enemies had been taken care of the group smashed a metallic chest that was resting in the area, found a light blue egg that Bianca picked up, since Hunter and Amelia were carrying the last two they had found, and found a few straw baskets to break, before they headed up the rock platforms and approached the opening that was above them, which gave them another Light Gem to add to what they had collected so far, even if that meant they had to drop down into the Professor's lab, who seemed rather busy and simply opened the door so they could head back outside.

With that done the group made a quick stop at the Nursery and dropped off the eggs they had recovered so far, which did impress Nanny since she wasn't expecting to have a number of eggs returned to her so quickly, before they headed over to the area that the cracked bridge had been located in, a bridge that had been restored after the Dark Gem that was near it had been smashed to pieces, as it was time for them to move into the next part of this land and see what was waiting for them as they restored order to the lands of Capora.