Spyro gave the group another five minutes of rest, as while he would have loved to give himself and the others more time to recover from what happened during the battle with the Dark Master, to better prepare for whatever might be coming their way next, he knew that they couldn't afford to waste time and he suspected that they were getting close to where the place their foe was hiding in, meaning that once they found where their foe was resting it was either going to be them engaging him immediately or waiting for Malefor to arrive to give them a fighting chance. While they did that, however, he noticed that there were a couple of the Critter enemies waiting on the other side of the entrance to Dark Mine, as it appeared that they were waiting for the group to pass through the opening to attack them, which was fine with him since such a thing gave them a chance to catch their breath and for Spike to make sure that the Frost Aura runes were still being powered, as they had no way of knowing what was waiting for them on the other side of the entrance and he wanted to make sure that all of them were ready in case the next realm brought everyone even closer to the lava and magma. As Spike did that Spyro also noticed that Cynder was looking off into the distance, choosing to stare at something that wasn't the entrance to the next realm they would be exploring, though he knew that she was waiting for her father to show up since a letter had been sent to him earlier, thanks to Spike making sure to do such a thing, because having him on their side would mean that the next battle might be smoother on their end, which all depended on how much power Malefor and the Dark Master threw at each other when the final battle started. Everyone else seemed to be thinking about a number of different things, where it was hard for him to actually tell what they were thinking by just a glance, though it wasn't his place to pry and figured that he could leave them to their own devices until it was time for them to move forward, as once they reached the Dark Master's hiding place it would be a full blown battle once more, and if this next fight was anything like the last one they needed all of the power they could muster, regardless if Malefor showed up to join them or not.
Once Spyro was sure they were ready, and the rest of the group either nodded their heads or verbally confirmed that they were ready to go, the group picked themselves up from where they were resting and walked over to the entrance of the next realm, though as that happened they discovered that there were three of the blue furred Critter enemies wandering around the first pipe filled room that needed to be explored, though in addition to those enemies the group spotted what appeared to be a pair of bipedal mechanical beings that had a drill attached to their right hands, while they were covered in a yellow paint based on what they were seeing. Spike determined that these new enemies had to be Drill Robots, given the fact that they were now in Dark Mine and that this could be where the Dark Master had dug out all of the Dark Gems he had used on the other realms of Capora, though what happened first was that the three Critters rushed over to where the group was standing and both Hunter and Amelia used their blades not a few moments later, reducing their foes to a pile of gems for the dragonflies to collect, as they were happy to have unarmored enemies to fight at long last, though as that happened Flame and Aurora separated from each other to use their Ice Breath, which they were becoming more skilled in using, to freeze both of the Drill Robots so Ember and Cynder could smash them to pieces. Once that was done they made sure to smash the pair of straw baskets, a metallic chest, and a bullseye chest that happened to be in this area, though while that happened Spike noticed two interesting things, the first was that there was also a golden chest resting near the entrance of the realm, while the second was that one of the golden doors was resting nearby, so while he took a moment to walk over to the golden chest Ember quickly smashed a wall of wooden planks and opened the way for Spyro to take care of three more straw baskets and a metallic chest, all so they could collect the gems that were freed, which was caused by them focusing on Spike once more. It took him a few moments to use his magic and unlock the golden chest, just like what happened when they found the other golden chests over the course of this adventure, only for him to sigh as he found a number of gems resting inside it, which Talon collected as soon as he was done unlocking the chest, but as soon as that was done he walked over to the golden door and found that it unlocked the moment he approached it, which informed him that they had the necessary amount of Light Gems already.
What they found on the other side of the golden door was quite a surprise, there was a large robot that was painted red and seemed to be modeled in the shape of a Gnorc, meaning it was a Robot Gnorc based on Spike's naming scheme, but instead of it being remotely intimidating Spyro froze their new foe with his Ice Breath, which was oddly effective despite all the metal that went into making it, before Cynder smashed it and left a pile of gems behind, which meant that they had found a new type of gem creation that the Dark Master was using against them, just like the Drill Robots who had poorly guarded the area the golden chest and golden door had been resting in. Once they were done with the Robot Gnorc the group moved through the tunnel opening that was in front of them and entered a room that had a pair of dark crystals that had three Critters guarding them, where Hunter and Amelia simply shifted their grip on their melee weapons and cut down their foes, allowing the others to smash the dark crystals before they moved forward, though that was when they found another Robot Gnorc guarding the next opening and had two Critters standing in front of it, to which Bianca raised her hand and quickly loosed a small amount of the Icy Wind spell, which froze all three of their foes so the others could break them down with a simple charge. As those foes fell Aurora smashed a pair of straw baskets and a metallic chest for the gems that were inside them, while at the same time Spyro did the same thing to a nearby bullseye chest, but as they did that Spike stepped through the next opening their foes had been guarding and found a Robot Gnorc that was being guarded by two bear traps, though as it lowered whatever its weapon was, as it looked like a thin cannon or a gun, like all the weapons the dinosaurs of Dino Mines used against them, all Spike did was loose an Ice Bolt into the air and froze his target with ease, allowing Ember to smash the bear traps and the ice block as soon as she joined him. With that foe taken care of the group made sure to break the nearby bullseye chest, which happened to have a pair of straw baskets near it and another resting in the next section of this tunnel, so what the group did was smash them to pieces and collect all of the gems that had been inside them before they headed down the next part of the tunnel, one that brought them right to an Invincibility Gadget that was resting near a large pool that was filled with acid.
Not a few seconds later Flame smashed the pair of metallic chests that rested nearby before the group stepped onto the pad that was in front of them and empowered themselves with the Invincibility Powerup, to which they dived into the pool of acid and found that it was a set of branching paths that, upon closer inspection, connected with each other later on and had a number of things for them to break, some dark crystals and a number of metallic chests, so they split up not a few seconds later and headed down the tunnels that were in front of them, even though the path that Spike followed brought him to a Light Gem that he grabbed so he could add it to the bag once he was resting near the pad that allowed them to do this in the first place. In addition to all of that Elora found one of the missing dragon eggs, a yellow colored egg that had white spots on it, where she was thankful for the fact that these eggs had a protective magic surrounding them, otherwise some of the eggs would have been ruined or destroyed by the areas they had been found in, such as the pool of acid that this one had been resting in, and once Spike was done checking it out he sent it back to the Nursery and then put the Light Gem he had found inside the bag that contained the rest of them. Once they were done with the acid pool, and they were sure of that, the group turned around and retraced their steps as they headed back over to where the golden door rested, where they followed the main path that the Drill Robots had been guarding earlier and found that some of the pipes that lined the other path, as in two or three from what they could see, were a little damaged and were spewing purple gas of some kind into the area in question, to which Spike used a bit of his magic to manipulate the metal and moved it over the holes in question, showing his skill in Transmogrification magic, and as soon as the pipes were fixed he nodded his head and the rest of the group moved forward. As they followed the tunnel that would lead them deeper into the mountain the group found a few straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and some dark crystals to smash, which they did so without delay, only to come to a stop as the tunnel brought them to another golden chest that had some bear traps behind it, not to mention some thicker robots that had spike balls for hands, where Spike decided to call them Crusher Robots, due to the fact that he assumed these ones were designed to smash the rocks that were lining the walls and break some of the thicker rocks that had been in the way of whoever built this place.
What Spike found inside the golden chest, while Flame and Aurora smashed the nearby straw baskets and bullseye chest that happened to be resting to the right of where he was standing, was another Light Gem, which he quickly stored inside the bag all of the others had been stored in so far, though at the same time Spyro loosed a burst of his Ice Breath to freeze all of the bear traps and the pair of Crusher Robots that were beyond them, something that allowed Ember and Cynder to charge forward and smash through all of the frozen obstacles, dropping a number of gems for the group to collect as they approached three more metallic chests that were near the next part of the tunnel. As they followed the tunnel Spike and Bianca took turns modifying the pipes, as in all of the damaged ones that were spewing a small amount of gas into the area in question, allowing Spyro and the others to keep an eye out for enemies and containers that they could break, just like they had done in the past, even though it brought them to a small chamber that had one of Moneybags' shop pads and a pair of straw baskets for them to break, to which Elora smashed the baskets for the gems that were inside them as the others headed through the other opening that was to the right of the previous opening. In that moment they found a Drill Robot digging into a rock wall that looked like part of the tunnel had collapsed recently, or maybe it was put up that was in an attempt to slow them down, though that didn't stop Aurora from quickly freezing her target with her Ice Breath so Ember could smash through it and the wall before it, revealing a larger area that caused them to pause for a moment as they noticed that there was a large gap between them and the next area they would be exploring, though from what they could tell there were a few platforms that would allow all of them to jump to the next part of this realm, which also included a firework that raced off when Spyro lit it and smashed into some metallic containers that were being guarded by a Robot Gnorc, who they could access after jumping over to the section it was guarding. The only other things that were in the area that the lone firework had been resting in were a dark crystal, some straw baskets, and a Lightning Bomb, so the group quickly smashed the couple of breakables that happened to be near them while Spike collected the small weapon that was resting in the small indent below the walkway they had jumped off of, adding it to all of the other bombs he and the others had collected so far, before they turned their attention towards the path that was in front of them and started to move across the gap.
Instead of simply jumping across the couple of platforms like they usually did, Spyro and the other flyers took to the air as Bianca, Hunter, and Amelia followed after them, jumping over the platforms in the process, and the first foe that fell was the first Robot Gnorc they had smashed the metallic containers near, with Spike freezing it with a small Ice Bolt so Cynder could smash it to pieces and collect everything that was found in the side area it had been guarding, including smashing a bullseye chest, before they found that there was one platform and that there were some close sets of walls that allowed them to move to the highest point of the area they were currently exploring. The first set of walls, which was what the first Robot Gnorc had been guarding, lead Spyro up to an area that a Robot Archer, as Spike decided to call it, happened to be standing, as it was basically the Gnorc Archer but turned into a robot, or a gem that had been transformed into the form of such a thing based on the fact that all of the enemies they had faced were made out of gems, though instead of giving it a chance to hit him he lashed out with both his Ice Breath and then smashed it by bashing his head right into the ice, which broke his foe in a matter of seconds. After that was done he spotted a golden chest above where the last Robot Gnorc had been standing and pointed it out to Spike, who flew over to where it was resting and used his magic to unlock it, revealing a blue dragon egg for him to look over and eventually send back to the Nursery so it could join the others they had found over the course of this adventure, before he spotted a platform resting near the ceiling and pointed it out to Spike, who flew over to it and jumped over a railing to reach another Light Gem, though as he collected that, and smashed a few straw baskets as well, the group made their way through the rest of the area, which involved bypassing another close set of walls and smashing a dark crystal before heading over to the next passage that would lead them deeper into the mine, even if Flame used his Ice Breath on a Robot Archer so Aurora could smash it into the wall. A few moments later Spike joined the group and watched as they smashed a few straw baskets apart and broke a metallic chest as well, before they walked over to the next opening and discovered that the ground was cracked, meaning it was over a chasm or something and that this was a trap for invaders, so Bianca formed some square platforms with her Ice Magic and formed a path for them to get over to the next tunnel.
Thanks to that they were able to get over the cracked floor and walked into the tunnel that had some fallen rocks like the one the Drill Robot had been guarding, where Spyro charged through it with his own Earth Magic and revealed a chamber that had three dark crystals and a few straw baskets, not to mention another opening that lead to yet another section of the mine, so Spyro let the others smash the breakables accordingly as he entered the other area, where he found some of Drill Robots poorly operating some cannons for some odd reason. From what he could see, since it appeared that none of the three cannon using Drill Robots had noticed him yet, there were a number of straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a few metallic chests, but the true prize of this area was the caged Dark Gem that was above everything else, even though it looked like this might be a dead end, which meant that breaking the sinister gem would reveal the way forward, just like what happened when they smashed some of the previous ones in the other realms. After taking a few moments to see all there was to see in this area the group separated from each other and dealt with the cannons that were nearby, where it was easy for Ember, Bianca, and Aurora to freeze their foes with their Ice Breaths so Spyro, Cynder, and Flame could take down their frozen foes with ease, opening the way for Hunter, Amelia, and Elora to smash the breakable containers that were around the area as Spike used a bit of his magic to open the cage that the Dark Gem was resting in and smashed it with the Horn Dive, something he usually didn't do since he was more of the magical type, though once it was done they braced themselves for what came next. What happened in the next couple of moments was that the nearby metal pipe cracked before their eyes and shattered with ease, where they found that there was nothing coming out of the top of it and that the part that was attached to the nearby wall formed a tunnel of sorts for them to follow, to which Spyro took a moment to make sure everyone was ready, as there had been two more platforms hanging out in the air near the ceiling and Ember smashed them with ease, before they headed down the new path and kept their eyes open while making sure to keep their guards up as well, only to discover that there was a break in the tunnel not even a minute later and that it let them enter an area that Blink happened to be standing in, complete with another entry point for one of the underground areas he loved to explore.
"Hey guys, its been a while since we've seen each other... and, despite the look of this place, I'm actually at home in a place like this," Blink said, which made sense due to the fact that they were technically below ground, given the path that had brought them down here from where they had started, though the group could tell that he had either come to the same decision that they had just reached, which was possible, or he simply didn't care about the technicalities all that much and just wanted them to know that he was at home in a place like this, "Shall I dig a little deeper and see what I can find in the underground area I discovered earlier?"
It didn't take the group all that long to agree to what Blink was saying and let him head into the hole he had created in the nearby wall, to which Elora smashed a few straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a dark crystal so they had enough space for everyone to sit down and be comfortable, even though most of them could tell that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were looking at the path that seemed to be the way forward and were already envisioning what might be in their way, without Spike even using his special ability to see what the future held for them. It took Blink roughly ten minutes, a record for him since he usually didn't take too long in his underground exploration, before he returned to the surface, where he presented two bags that were full of gems, the first having two thousand inside it while the second had four thousand, before he got to the main items he managed to recover from the underground area, the first being a dragon egg with the blue design, just like the one Spike found in the golden chest earlier, and the second being a Light Gem, to which Spike sent the egg back to the Nursery and placed the Light Gem inside the bag the others were stored in. Once Blink was done handing everything over to them, and was sure that he had found everyone of value inside the the underground area, he wished them luck and headed back into the tunnel that rested nearby, to which Spyro waited for Spike to make sure everything was ready before they walked into a metallic looking chamber that had an elevator for a floor, as the moment they stepped onto it, and came to a stop, the door sealed behind them and the platform lowered, taking them down to the next part of Dark Mine so they could tackle whatever was between them and where the Dark Master was resting. Everyone was expecting some of the robotic warriors to ambush them while the elevator was moving, as that would have made sense given how close they were getting to their final destination, but over the course of a few moments, where they stood there in silence, the group discovered that there were no enemies trying to ambush them and that meant it was a peaceful ride all the way down to the tunnel it was taking them to, and when the new door opened they found a robot version of the Gnorc Warrior standing on the other side, meaning it was a Robot Warrior and it was armed with both a sword and a shield, just like the foe it was based on.
Sadly the Robot Warrior was no match for Bianca's Ice Bolt, which totally froze it where it was standing, only for Ember to smash it to pieces with a charge, before they found a path to the left of where they were standing, or rather an edge that they could jump over to and jump down a platform to reach an area that was below them, so while Elora took a moment to smash the bullseye chest that was over there apart while Spike flew down to the lowest part, where he found a dragon egg that had a purple top, a red bottom, and a zigzag center, the tenth of that type of egg, which he quickly sent back to the Nursery before he and Elora rejoined the others, who finished breaking a pair of straw baskets. In the next chamber the group found a lone Robot Warrior that had a number of straw baskets, metallic chests, bear traps, and a pair of the bullseye chests in the area it seemed to be guarding, while the room beyond it held a dark crystal at the very least, though this time around, instead of waiting for someone to freeze their foe, Elora rushed forward and smashed their robotic foe into the wall to the left of where they were standing, where she found that her new form's strength was definitely too much for such a foe, as she ended up breaking the chest of her target apart, meaning it was either made of inferior metal or her power was stronger than she believed, where she believed it was the latter this time around. With that foe taken care of the group took a few moments to smash all of the containers that were inside this room and made sure to gather every gem that ended up being freed in the process, before progressing into the smaller chamber that was ahead of them and found a Robot Gnorc standing guard over the area in question, where Spike froze it with an Ice Bolt to the chest and he let Ember smash it to pieces as Flame and Aurora dealt with the couple of metallic chests and the dark crystal that was in this room, and once that was done they moved to the right so they could continue progressing towards their destination and face their foe. Not a few moments later the group found that there was a drop in the path and that they had to jump down, hence why most of them glided down to the lowest part of this passage, with Bianca forming a way for Hunter and Amelia to follow her, and they found a few straw baskets and a bullseye chest that were smashed a few seconds later, only to find an opening that brought them to an small walkway that had a few metallic containers resting nearby, though the more important part of what they were seeing were the number of metal platforms that seemed to form a path for them to follow, to head deeper into the mine.
What they discovered was that the metal platforms would shake and collapse for a moment, like a trap one as Spike soon discovered since he wanted to be sure they weren't walking into a trap, so instead of worrying about the platforms, and all the time they would have wasted on following the path normally, the flyers took to the air and headed for the other side of this area, while at the same time Bianca formed a walkway for her, Hunter, and Amelia to use, where Spike found an area that a Light Gem was resting in and claimed it instantly, while at the same time Ember ignited the nearby firework, which flew back to the start of this chamber and blew the metallic containers wide open. Aurora doubled back to collect the pile of gems that had been freed from the containers, allowing the others to deal with the couple of straw baskets that were in this area as Spike put the Light Gem away, before they found a Drill Robot and a Robot Archer guarding the way forward, not that such a thing stopped the group as Spyro and Flame used their Ice Breaths to freeze their targets so Ember and Cynder could smash them to pieces, allowing them a few seconds to find that one path was definitely blocked by a cave in and that there was only one true path, so they waited for Aurora to return to them before they headed through the next opening and continued to make their way through the realm they were in. There was a thin walkway that was resting in front of them and lead them right to the next room that made up the mines, so Spike moved forward first due to the few broken pipes that were in their way and sealed them so the gas didn't harm any of them, before Bianca froze a Drill Robot that was further along the path and then shattered it with a Lightning Bolt, allowing the ten of them to reach the room that the path had been leading them to, even though the room was more like a chamber with a number of moving platforms that were larger than the ones they had passed by earlier, so they ignored walking and simply flew around the upper part of the chamber, where Bianca found a Robot Archer and a Robot Gnorc guarding part of this area and froze them so both Flame and Aurora could smash them to pieces, allowing Spyro and the others to make their way to where a shop pad just so happened to be resting, which had a purple dragon egg with yellow stars on it, one that Spike quickly sent back to the Nursery as well, just to make sure it was out of the way like the rest of the dragon eggs they had found so far, which also just so happened to be the last egg of that set as well.
There was a button in the chamber that opened a door that they had ignored, to which the group quickly reached it and found that there were three Critters on the other side of the opening, where Hunter and Amelia dealt with them before any of them could do anything, allowing Spyro and the others to take to the head of the pack as they moved through yet another opening that had a pair of enemies, a Robot Archer and a Drill Robot, guarding the area, who were frozen thanks to Bianca's Ice Bolts so Ember could just charge through them and break both of them down. From there they found a few more enemies waiting for them, a Robot Gnorc, three more Critters, and a Robot Warrior, where both of the robots were frozen by Spyro and Spike's Ice Breaths and were smashed by Cynder and Elora, though the Critters were, of course, taken down quickly thanks to Hunter and Amelia's skills, before they found another room that had a Robot Gnorc guarding what appeared to be a button, one that seemed to be connected to the wall behind their foe, even though the robot collapsed after Flame used his Ice Breath on it and Aurora smashed it. As it turned out the button activated the wall that was just behind the area the Robot Gnorc had been standing in and created a close set of walls that allowed all of them to jump up into the next area, which was just a bunch of metal poles that would require the Pole Spin technique to get through, but it didn't stop them from just skipping it like they had done and flew through it, even though Elora pointed out a Light Gem that was behind them and Spike collected it without delay, adding another one to their collection, even if there might not be a point for such a thing at this point in time, before they landed in an area that had a Robot Gnorc and a Drill Robot that seemed to be guarding the area, even though a wave of Bianca's Ice Magic was enough to freeze them so the group could smash them to pieces. Once that was done they stared at the Dark Gem that the pair of foes had been guarding and that was when Aurora smashed it to pieces with the Horn Dive, which caused some sections of the nearby roof to collapse and take a few pipes with it, even though it did lower a few metal platforms as well, forming a path that allowed them to reach an area that a Robot Gnorc was guarding and happened to have three bears traps resting between them and it, not that such a thing mattered as Spike froze all his targets and let the others smash the ice to pieces.
The path that their foe had been guarding, however, looked like someone had come through recently and had could have smashed up the area, as the doors were smashed down, some laying on the ground, the various containers were broken and the gems were resting on the ground, several buttons were either pressed or broken, with the path forward being set into place so they could move forward, and it looked like there were a number of gashes in the walls, even though they did notice that the walls changed from being a simple mine to being more like what a lab contained, gashes that had a hint of the Dark Master's magic emitting from them.
"We seem to have moved out of the Dark Mine and entered the final realm between us and the Dark Master," Spike said, though at the same time he studied all of the markings that were on the walls they walked by, as it was clear that a fight or something had broken out in this area, especially since it meant that all of their enemies seem to have been beaten, as if they had mistaken the spirit of the Dark Master for a foe or something, before he focused on the magic that was in the air and recognized the familiar sinister feeling that came from their foe, "and he's definitely waiting at the end of this path, so we should reach his hiding place soon enough."
"Either he's pissed off about being driven from Red's body, or something attacked him," Cynder commented, but even as she said that she knew not to jump to conclusions, as it was easy for some of them to believe that her father had beaten them to the punch and that he was in the middle of fighting the Dark Master, but that wasn't the case, because if the Dark Master was fighting her father the entire mountain would have likely shook at some point before this point in time, and that included when he used that Spirit of Valor, something he would have used if he felt the need was great, which means he would have used it if he was actually fighting the Dark Master.
"Just to be on the safe side, keep your guards up as we explore this laboratory," Spyro stated, because none of them had any idea what this place might throw at them and what might be lurking around the ruined corners that had been left behind, to which the group nodded their heads in agreement as they jumped up a close set of walls and followed the next tunnel as it lead them deeper into the mountain, as so far there was nothing in this realm for them to worry about and it was that fact that worried him, that they might be walking into a trap, but hopefully Spike would be able to stop them in time, before such a thing happened to them.
As they walked deeper into the laboratory the group discovered that something had definitely torn things apart, as there were ruined machines everywhere, which would give the Professor nightmares based on all the destruction that this place had suffered recently, and new paths had been formed in the process, as one of them brought them to where a golden chest happened to be resting, which was surprisingly unharmed and Spike determined it had to be a protection charm of some kind, even though all that was inside the chest was a pile of gems. The nearby broken door provided the path they needed to follow, even though they found a number of gashes and sparks inside the tunnel that was on the other side of the fallen metal doors, which allowed the group to reach an area that used to have pipes with green liquid inside it, as they could see the spilled liquid on the floor and Bianca formed a walkway out of ice so they wouldn't have to walk on the now wet floor, due to the fact that they had no idea what sort of substance had been spilled recently, though even as they did that Spike noticed that some of the machines had images of a bipedal creature, as if the Dark Master had been planning on building a robotic body. That confused him for a moment, as there was no way that such a body would hold out in the long run, as the weight and power of the Dark Master's soul would likely cause it to deteriorate over time, even if he were to upgrade it over time and replace parts to ensure it was still usable, hence why the whole body snatching plan made the most sense to him, their foe needed a living vessel to restore himself and the best way to do that was to force Red's fate upon them, something they would be able to counter now that they knew about it, which made him wonder what in the world the Dark Master was planning, despite the fact that he knew he and the others would find out soon enough, as this path would bring them to their foe in no time. As he thought about that Elora pointed out another golden chest, which just had another pile of gems inside it when Spike unlocked it, though it didn't take them long to find the shattered door that lead the way forward, which contained a shattered path, something they were getting used to seeing, that lead them to a large chamber that had something Spike wasn't expecting to see, an Orrery, a device that functioned much like the magical globe back in the Arcanaeum, only this one had been designed to act as a lock and key... or at least that was what its purpose had been, up until the destruction of this place.
It saddened Spike to see this place in the state it was in, as he was sure that this place had been impressive before it had been ruined by whatever had attacked this laboratory, but he couldn't think about it too much as he and the others took a moment to head into the ruined tunnel that was to the right of the tunnel that had brought them to this chamber, which brought them to another chamber that was totally ruined and, eventually, it allowed the group to reach an area that they assumed had been a room designed to made large parts for a machine, even though it was damaged beyond repair and all the cutting lasers seemed to be offline as well, but the only thing the machine shop had for them was a Light Gem that Spike stored away not even a few seconds later. From there they used a doorway that was nearby and found that there was more parts of the laboratory that had been ruined, as in a room or two that looked like they had been guarded by a few lasers or something, before they came to an area that a Dark Gem was resting in and Aurora smashed it, allowing the group to watch as a large inactive machine, which was on the other side of the chasm from where they were standing, was blown to pieces by the destruction of the sinister gem, even though Spike was sure the machine had been responsible for turning gems into robotic warriors, and once that was done part of the ceiling cracked, showing them that there had been a time limit before lava filled this place. After that was done the group turned around so they could head back to the area that the Orrery rested in, so they could pick one of the other paths that were in the massive chamber and make sure the remaining stolen eggs were recovered, not to mention any of the remaining Light Gems that had to be resting in this area, as it was only a matter of time until the ceiling cracked to the point where it allowed lava to start pouring into this lab and totally ruined everything that was left inside this area. When they returned to the Orrery they found a Thief lingering near one of the doors, to which Ember growled and smashed it into the nearby wall without giving it a chance to flee with the white dragon egg with green spots that it happened to be carrying, allowing Spike to check it for any damage, even though he found that it was just fine and that it was the last of that set, before sending it back to the Nursery without delay, but once that was done they picked the door that was near a busted shop pad, as even it had been carved up by whatever had attacked this place, something that was making them worry since there were no enemies for them to fight and the only person they had found so far was a Thief, though they kept their guards up as they headed deeper into the ruined realm, just in case there were any enemies lurking in the shadows.
The next ruined chamber brought them to another Light Gem that had a path leading right up to where it rested, even if it was a path formed from the wreckage, before it brought them to another chamber that had a machine that was like the last one they had found, though they were able to fly over all of the ruined lasers and reached an area the next Dark Gem was resting in, surrounded by shattered glass, and when Flame smashed it with the Horn Dive it blew the machine up as well, causing more damage to the already cracked ceiling as it cracked some more, where Spike was sure that breaking each of the Dark Gems weakened the defenses of this place, though the sinister gems were protecting the Dark Master and needed to be broken away, so there wasn't much they could do at this point in time. With the sinister gem shattered the group headed through the nearby broken doorway and found that it let them enter a decent sized chamber that had a Light Gem resting above the ground, near the ceiling to be exact, and a yellow dragon egg with white spots, to which Spike took a moment to make sure the egg was just fine before sending it off to the Nursery, even though he noted that it was the tenth of its set as well, though while he did that Elora collected the Light Gem and returned it to the bag that contained all of the other Light Gems they had found so far, but once that was done they headed through the nearby ruined tunnel and followed it even deeper into the devastated laboratory. That path actually brought them back to where the latest Dark Gem had been resting in, so what they did was head back out to where the Orrery rested and headed through the second busted door that was on the right side of the large chamber, which had a wrecked tunnel that brought them to another ruined chamber, though Spike found a blue dragon egg in this area, the tenth of that set, and it was unharmed as well, just like all of the others they had recovered so far, so he quickly sent it off to the Nursery as the others headed for the broken door that rested in this area, allowing them to enter another chamber that was, as they expected, totally broken and that a path to a Light Gem had been formed, to which Aurora collected it so it could be added to Spike's bag. From there the path brought them to yet another ruined chamber that had one of the Dark Gems resting inside it, the last one of them all if the pattern for ten in each homeworld worked in Volcanic Isle as well, and since all of the glass was shattered the group was able to fly over to where it was resting and allowed Ember to smash it with the Horn Dive, breaking yet another large machine that rested nearby and did some additional damage to the ceiling, which seemed to be getting close to the point where lava might break through in the very near future.
From there they retraced their steps, even though Flame found a Light Gem in the upper part of the chamber that the last Dark Gem had been resting in, before they reached the final busted door and followed the ruined tunnel that was on the other side of it, where they found that the damage extended to this area as well, not that they were expecting anything less based on everything else they had seen, before they came to a stop near the dark barrier that the Dark Master had to be resting behind... and standing in front of the magical barrier, after stepping out of a temporary portal that had been opened not even a few moments ago, was Malefor.
"Malefor, its good to see you again," Spyro stated, because that was the truth of the matter, as they had a greater chance of winning this fight with the first purple dragon fighting beside them, especially after he and the others had witnessed the power of the Dark Master for themselves, though the arrival of their ally and the presence of the barrier meant that they had reached the end of this adventure, as their foe was on the other side of the barrier, which should collapse soon since all of the Dark Gems that had been scattered throughout this homeworld had been broken.
"Indeed, even if all of us would wish that it was under better circumstances," Malefor replied, though as he said that the group could see that he was focused on the barrier and what was on the other side of it, as even with the barrier up all of them, even those who weren't well versed in magic, could feel the sinister dark energy of the Dark Master, who was in the middle of preparing for the battle that would be coming his way, before he sighed for a moment as he glanced towards them for a few seconds, "I'm sorry you had to face the Dark Master on your own, and had to face his power... had I known that you would have faced him when you did, well, I would have rushed to your aid a lot sooner, but I'm here now and I'm ready to face him once more. The more important question is this: are you ready?"
"I don't think we'll ever be ready to fight the Dark Master, but we don't have a choice," Cynder remarked, to which she and the rest of the group stepped forward and stood beside Malefor as they faced the barrier that was resting in front of them at the moment, the only thing that stood between them and their foe, which fizzled out and opened the way for them to enter the area that the Dark Master was waiting in, though all of them made sure to keep their hands and claws near their weapons, as the moment the battle broke out they would need to lash out with everything they had in their arsenal, and even as she thought about it Spike summoned Akilesh from where it was resting and cast an Invisibility spell to make sure their foe didn't see it until he used it for the first time.
Malefor nodded and stepped forward as the group followed after him, as it was time for them to battle the Dark Master once more and stop him from completing his terrible plan to take control of the entire world, though they knew that they were in for the fight of their lives, especially after what happened the last time they fought this foe, though that was why all of them were happy to have Malefor on their side this time around, as he was definitely as strong as the Dark Master was, but instead of thinking about what might happen the group focused their attention on what was on the other side of the door and readied themselves for the greatest fight of their lives.