Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Expedition: Concurrent Skies

Not a few moments after Terrador departed from the area that the Magma Golem had been located in, and they had freed the Elemental Scion from the collar that the Apes had put on it, Spyro and the others that could fly took to the air and quickly headed back to the area that the airship had been docked in, while at the same time Bianca made sure to surround herself and the rest of the group with her magic so she could teleport them to their destination. The interesting part about all of this was that they could see the Manweersmalls and the Fire Elementals hanging out with each other, no doubt the former taking the time to thank the latter, though at the very least the massive elemental that called the land home had been able to stop what the Apes had been up to, since they had been trying to detonate the volcano and take out the island. Spike, on the other claw, had the feeling that there was so much more to the Ape's plans than what they were seeing, so what he was planning on doing was spending some time thinking about this when they returned to the airship, since he was the most likely to figure out what their enemies were doing, even with the little fragments of information that they had gained since they started this adventure. Spyro, Ember, and Cynder were silent as they flew through the air, Spyro was no doubt thinking about the new power he had unlocked during their trek through this island, Ember was likely imagining what she was going to do to the Apes when they encountered them again, and Cynder had to be a little worried about her home, since there was the chance that their enemies might attack Warfang at some point in the future. Sol, however, was silent as they flew to the area that the airship was in, no doubt going over what his first adventure was like and how it might have differed from what he was actually expecting, though at the same time he kept his thoughts to himself, something that would change once this adventure was over.

It didn't take them long to reach the beach that the airship was docked at, where the flying group landed and walked up the ramp that was in front of them, which was followed by Bianca and the others landing and following them, meaning that everyone was accounted for and that, once all of them were ready to depart, it was time to head to the final island and see what the Apes were doing there, even though all eight of them were sure it wouldn't be as bad as what they had just stopped when they freed the Magma Golem.

"Fury, set our course for Concurrent Skies," Spyro stated, because it was now time for them to assist Ignitus and see if they could figure out what their enemies were up to, as just attacking the islands, and nearly destroying one, seemed like the start of something much worse, but they had no idea what that something would be this time around, unlike the last couple of adventures they had been on.

The Breezebuilder in question nodded his head and walked back to the building of the airship that held the controls that would allow him and his crew to move the ship away from the island, where the group rested for a few moments and watched as Bozibig started to get smaller and smaller as they moved away from it, before the ship stopped and the four propellers rose out of the water, allowing them to take to the air once more. Once that was done Fury turned them and headed for the area that Concurrent Skies rested in, allowing the group to take some time to disperse and spend their time preparing for the next island, just like they had done when they left the previous islands, where Spyro spent some of his time meditating on the nature of the Earth Element he had unlocked during their visit to the last island. Spike, as the others expected, returned to the inside of the airship and spent some of their time thinking about everything the Apes had done to the three islands they had been to, and what little they had gained from the Guardians that they had assisted, but from what he could tell there were too many pieces of the puzzle missing, though the thing that stood out to him were the hollowed slots that had been near the Ice King and Magma Golem, and he was sure the Stone Sentinel had one near it, only none of them had seen it when they were in Tall Plains. He was positive that he had seen a reference to keys before, back during one of their visits to the Arcanaeum and the vast Archives that were inside it, but for now he spent his time thinking about the danger that the Apes posed to Doxantha and what they might be planning, especially since they were acting differently than what the Guardians were used to experiencing.

While he did that Ember and Cynder spent a few minutes testing each other, mostly because they wanted to do that, before heading to the area that Spike was in, where Ember made sure that they stayed away from Spike while he went over everything that they knew and everything that the Apes might be planning, as it was better to allow him to do this himself and not interrupt his train of thought, even if he might be able to pick it up quickly later. Bianca, Hunter, and Elora decided that this time around they would rest and just relax while they waited for the airship to come to a stop near the final island they would be exploring, while at the same time Sol rested in a seat and watched them, and after a few more minutes they were joined by Spyro, who was done meditating on the Earth Element and wanted to join the others. While they rested, however, the Leaders that had joined them on this adventure, not to mention the rest of their friends, joined them and asked them about what happened during their trek through Bozibig, since they had felt the tremors and had been worried for their safety, even though they were happy to see that Spyro and the others were safe and sound. At the same time Cosmos joined Spike and went over the information they had gathered on the Apes, where Cynder joined them and gave them what she knew about the Apes, where the race in question had been rather peaceful and were content to live in the area that they called home, but other than a number of small events there were no records, to the best of her knowledge, of the Apes doing stuff like this in the past.

The Apes were up to something, that much was apparent when the group thought about it, but despite all that Spike had no idea what their enemies might be planning, only that the hollowed slots seemed to be important and that two of them had been empty when they encountered the Elemental Scions that were quickly freed from the Ape's control, and he worried that the Stone Sentinel had one of those as well... though something told him that they would figure something out when they traveled through Concurrent Skies and saved the Thunder Prince from the Apes.

---

It took them another hour and a half to reach the location of the island that they were heading towards, given the fact that the Isle of Bozibig was further away from the rest of Doxantha and the other islands, but once the airship got close to the final of the four islands Fury called for everyone to head to the deck of the ship and they did so without delay, making sure that they had everything they needed before joining the Breezebuilder. What surprised the group was that Concurrent Skies was a floating crystal island, even though Cynder claimed that many of the dragons that tapped into the Lightning Element called it a wasteland, that seemed like it had been a place of beauty for the visitors and the residents, though the skies were darkened and lightning danced from one cloud to another, showing them that the elementals that called this land home had to be upset. That meant the Apes were already here and that the Thunder Prince might have been chained like the last three Elemental Scions they had assisted, meaning they would have to keep their eyes open for the types of enemies that would be waiting for anyone that might be attempting to help the elementals out, though that also meant they might find the Lightning Elementals who would be attacking the invaders, their allies once they proved that the Apes weren't their friends either. One thing they also noticed was that there were a couple of towers that looked like they had been forged from either metal or the various crystals that were scattered throughout the island, only they were darkened and would likely light up once the Elemental Scion who ruled this island was freed, which they would be able to do once they fought their way through the enemies that were going to try and stop them.

Of course Spike also realized why Fury had called them up to the deck, it was both to allow them to see the island that they would be traveling through for the next ten to twenty minutes and to see that they wouldn't be able to dock normally, like they had done for the last three islands, meaning they would have to glide down to an area that seemed to be the starting area for this island, as it was oval shaped thanks to the crystals and appeared to have a path that lead deeper into the rest of the land.

"This is as far as I'm willing to take the airship, especially with all the lightning that's moving above us," Fury said, as it was easy to tell that he was worried about the lightning racing down at the ship and blowing up part of it at the worse possible moment, so it seemed that he would be doing what they did during their visit to the Isle of Bozibig, before he turned and looked at the group of eight that would be heading down to the island, "I'll make sure to move the airship to a safe location and wait for you to calm down the Thunder Prince, since he's likely connected to the storm that's above our heads, like how the Magma Golem was connected to Boyzitbig, meaning that once you finish your mission I'll be able to move in and pick all of you up."

"Once we're done here we'll head back to Warfang, to figure out our next move." Spyro replied, because that was the current plan he had in mind, save the last of the Elemental Scions and see if they could figure out what the Apes were up to, due to the fact that he figured Spike would have figured out what the Apes were doing by the time they stopped what was happening in this island, especially when he stopped and considered what his brother had figured out during their last couple of adventures.

As Fury nodded, to show that he understood what Spyro was saying, Spyro ran towards the edge and jumped into the air not a few seconds later, where Spike, Ember, Cynder, and Sol joined him in gliding towards the starting area for the last island, and Bianca made sure to surround herself, Elora, and Hunter with her magic so she could teleport them down to the area the others were heading towards, and when all eight of them were together again the airship moved out to a much safer area, where the rest of their friends stayed aboard it in case any Apes tried to attack it with one of their own lesser airships, though they weren't worried about Sheila and the others. The first thing the group spotted, as they looked at the area that was around them and stared at the darkened crystals that likely reflected the mood of the Thunder Prince, was an Ape Leader that had white fur and blacked armor, though there were purple spikes on the helm, shoulder piece, and the shield it was carrying, though this time, instead of a mace like they were expecting, the group found that the Ape was holding a sword in its right hand. That difference, alone, told the group that they should be expecting some resistance this time around, meaning that maybe the Apes had come here in greater numbers that any of the islands that they had been to so far, though as Spyro took a step forward the Ape Leader turned to its right and headed down the only path that they could take, meaning they were going to have to walk into whatever trap it had prepared for them and take it out, just like they had done in the past. As such the group sighed and followed after the Ape, since they didn't have much choice in the matter since it was either move forward or depart from the island entirely, where Spike found that there was a lower section and an upper section for the area they were passing through, though there were no side paths to worry about and both of them met back up at the end of the path the Ape Leader had headed down.

Sure enough they found the Ape Leader they were following and discovered that had readied eight Ape Soldiers, with the same white fur and less armor that the larger foe the group happened to be following, who dropped into the area to do battle with the group as their boss headed deeper into the island, apparently breaking a metallic gate of some kind in the process, which was fine with Spyro since that meant they didn't have to worry about figuring out how to open it once their enemies were taken down. Not a few moments after the Ape Leader was gone the group lashed out at the Apes that were around them, Spyro tapping into the Earth Element to summon some stones around his tail as he smashed it into his target, using the Earthen Flail spell according to Spike, Cynder wasted no time in stunning her target with some of the wind and then beat the Ape Soldier up with her tail, Ember used her metal claws to take her foe down, Spike and Bianca chose to blast their foes with Fireballs, since they knew lightning spells might not effect these enemies due to their armor, while Sol used his Phoenix Dash to take his target out, leaving Elora and Hunter to punch and kick their foes into the walls so they could knock them out. Once all eight of their enemies were taken down the group headed through the broken gate that the Ape Leader had charged through, entering a slightly higher area than what they had been in earlier, before they spotted their target, who hooted at them and then fled down the path that was behind it, making them wonder if it was actually a cowardly Ape or if this was a trap, only to decide that it was the latter option and that they needed to be on their guard as they followed it deeper into the island, especially since they might be heading for one of the towers.

What was interesting was the fact that the Ape Leader was waiting for them in the lightly narrow passage that it had been following, as it was a little smaller than all of the hallways and tunnels the group had walked through during their visits to the other islands, where the Ape lunged at them and attempted to cut them down where they stood, though that was when Ember parried the attack with her metal claws, even though she silently admitted that the Ape had some decent strength, and then Hunter put an arrow into the Ape's exposed right shoulder, since the armor piece was on the left side of its body, something that opened the way for Cynder to charge into its chest and knock it out.

"These Apes are more prepared and better organized than the other ones we've fought," Hunter commented, as even he could tell that the Apes that were attacking Concurrent Skies, and disturbing the Thunder Prince, were better armed and were more organized than those they had seen so far, meaning it was a good thing that they had kept their guards up since the moment they arrived at the edge of this island and started exploring it, especially since none of them had any idea as to how many enemies had been brought to attack this island.

"I wonder if Gaul, who serves as the King of the Apes, is behind all of these attacks," Cynder said, reminding the group that there was a lot about the continent of Doxantha that they didn't know, at least until Spike entered the library that was inside the city and started to discover all the history and knowledge that was beyond the walls, before she shook her head and focused on what they were doing, "Look, I'll tell you guys about him later, but just know that we've had problems with King Gaul over the years, ever since he took the place of his predecessor, an Ape that went by the name of Caesar, but we have been unable to determine if Caesar died a natural death or if he was murdered by a power hungry individual who is using the rest of his kind against Warfang."

"My best guess is the latter, he was killed," Bianca replied, though that was, as she said, a best guess on her part and she found that Spike was agreeing with her, even though she knew the dragon would research the books in the library of Warfang when they got back to the city, to fill all the gaps that Cynder left behind whenever she talked about something, before she turned and looked at the next area that they would be entering, knowing that there were likely more enemies for them to deal with before they found Ignitus and the Thunder Prince.

As the group entered the next area of the island they found two more of the odd pool-like areas that had a ring of crystals all around them, they quickly found some worm-like creatures that reminded them of the Magma Worms from the Isle of Bozibig, only these ones had a bluish backside and a pink underbelly, while having some electric fins on the backs of their heads, meaning they were Electric Worms, which no doubt had the same bond to the Lightning Elementals that the Magma Worms had with the Fire Elementals. The group slowly entered the area that the Electric Worms were in and gave them some space, where it was easy to tell that the creatures were trying to determine if they were friend or foe, though that was when Hunter took a few steps back and pulled the unconscious Ape Leader into the area and readied his bow with no arrow, where Spike and the others quickly determined what he was doing. He was showing the pair of worms that they were allies, by revealing that they were the ones who had taken down the Ape in question, who were enemies of the Lightning Elementals that called the island home, though he said nothing as they waited to see if the Electric Worms even understood what he was trying to do, though based on how the Magma Worms reacted it was possible that these ones might be more similar to the others. The Electric Worms looked at them for a moment, glanced at the Ape that Hunter was using as his visual aid for them, and then turned to look at each other, something the group really wasn't expecting, before the pair nodded their heads before returning to what they were doing before their arrival, or at least that was what they thought the worms were doing, but at the very least it appeared that the Electric Worms understood what Hunter was trying to tell them, since they weren't trying to kill any of them.

The group shared a quick glance with each other, as they honestly weren't sure if that would have worked since the Magma Worms needed the Fire Elementals to understand that the eight of them weren't enemies, but maybe the Electric Worms were somewhat smarter than their magma counterparts, though after thinking about that the group moved out of the area they happened to be standing in and headed for the passage that was near the second worm, allowing them to head deeper into the island once more, even though they had to open a metallic gate to do so. What the group discovered was that they had reached the first of the towers, as the path they had found brought them right to an opening that had the front of a tower in front of them, and as they approached it one of the Ape Commanders, this one having more armor than the Ape Leader and carried an electric mace, stepped out of the tower and closed the door behind it as it fired a small burst of magical power into the sky. Spike noticed the magic and used his own power to grab it and hurl it at the couple of Ape Soldiers that were jumping down into the area that they were in, transferring a shock to the six Apes and stunning all of them for a few seconds so the others could attack them, which was why Spyro and Cynder charged at the Commander and struck it so they could push it away from the rest of its forces. That was followed by Spike blasting one of the Apes with a burst of Ice Shards, Bianca smacking one with an earthen Fist, Elora blasted one with her blasters, Hunter used his fists to knock one into the side of the tower that was in front of them, Sol loosed some Fireballs at his target, and Ember swung around with her hardened tail to smack her foe to the side, effectively allowing them to clear the area of enemies so they could move forward.

As they did that eight Ape Leaders stepped out of the tower and prevented them from heading inside, to which the group readied themselves for what was coming their way and attacked the Apes that were in their way, where they had to charge, blast, and beat their way through the new enemies that were in front of them, before they dropped all eight of the Apes and then Hunter loosed a pair of arrows into the sky, downing a Dreadwing that was coming towards them with what appeared to be one of the explosive containers, where it hit a crystal and collapsed on the ground nearby, so they could enter the tower without having to worry about reinforcements. With that done the tower's door opened and the group started to walk inside, where they spotted an Ape Commander hooting at some Soldiers and Leaders that had to be in the other parts of the large structure, no doubt warning them about the fact that there were enemies coming into the tower, though that only allowed the group to make themselves ready as they moved forward. Due to that eight Ape Soldiers moved out and rushed at the area that the group was standing in, where Hunter was the first one to react as he loosed a few arrows into the crowd, striking two of them in the shoulders that knocked them backwards, allowing Cynder to dive into her shadow and unleash the Shadow Play spell on all of the Ape Soldiers that were in front of them, though as she did that Hunter also loosed another arrow into the air and caused a Dreadwing to slam into a crystal, downing another one before it could bomb the area they were standing in. When those enemies were taken care of the group marched into the tower and confronted the Commander that was overseeing the defense of the main gate, where they found that the inside was the same as the outside and it looked like there were electric fences that moved every now and then, where Volteer could no doubt tell them about the obstacles in question, though it wasn't long before the eight of them brought down the Ape Commander and resumed moving forward.

What was interesting was that there were two Ape Leaders on the other side of the passages they could pick from, as Spike was sure that both of them ended in the same place from what they could see, though it was Bianca who stepped up and bounced the sticks of dynamite back at their enemies, allowing her to clear the way for them to move forward without having to waste any energy on the foes that were blocking the way. Once they cleared that area and walked through the next door they discovered that the tower was larger than what they were expecting it to be, as they just so happened to walk into a large chamber, which had five Ape Soldiers guarding the area and a raised area that seemed to be the path the group needed to take, so they lashed out at their enemies before any of the Apes had a chance to hoot at them or warn the rest of their forces about them. This time around it was mostly Ember, Elora, and Hunter who dealt with the Apes, as Ember slammed into one and used her metal claws to take down another, while at the same time both Elora and Hunter knocked their own individual target out before collectively taking out the second with a pair of kicks, though as they did that the rest of the group jumped up to where the next doorway was located and opened it so they could see just how many enemies they would have to fight next. As the group soon discovered the doorway in question didn't open for them, rather it opened for several Ape Soldiers that tried to ambush them, even though Spike realized that the towers might be the homes of the Lightning Elementals, of which they had seen none since they arrived in this island, though that didn't stop the group from facing off with the Apes and bringing them down, mostly due to Sol using his Phoenix Dash on a few of them and left the others for the rest of the group.

Once they were sure that the rest of the enemies were taken care of Spike investigated the area and found that there was some magic tied to the black hexagons that were on the floor of the tower, where a platform rose out of the hexagon that was near them and allowed them to jump up to the next section of the structure that they appeared to be climbing from the inside, only to stop when they realized that to move forward they were going to have to take out all of the Apes that came out of each door, or at least that was what it seemed like they would be doing. Not even a few moments later the next door opened and seven Ape Soldiers marched out of it, practically throwing themselves at the group, while an Ape Leader joined them, so Spyro and Cynder smashed into the Leader and one of the Soldiers so that the rest of the group had one foe apiece, where Spike and the others started to engage the Apes by blasting them into the walls, hitting them with fists or legs, or hitting them with the weapons that a few of them had. As soon as the last Ape fell the hexagon that was nearby raised the next platform and allowed them to jump up to the next area of the tower, where they paused for a moment as they watched a device on one of the walls summon a construct that looked like an eyeball that had a crystalline eye and electric tendrils for legs, an Electric Conduit to be exact, though Spike smiled for a moment as he felt the power that was coming from it. The reason behind his smile was that the creation was being powered by one of the Lightning Elementals that called Concurrent Skies home, meaning it had to be a sentry of some kind and that their allies might have realized they were fighting the Apes, or at least that was their hope since this could also be a random event, but the Electric Conduit turned towards the doorway that the Apes were using and shocked each and every one of them that dared to come out of it, be they Soldier, Leader, or even a Commander.

"You know, I'm glad the elementals of these islands see us as allies, instead of enemies," Elora commented, where she and the others watched as the Electric Conduit, who had been joined by a second to shock the Apes into submission, took care of the foes that would have been theirs to deal with, as in her and the rest of her friends, allowing them to save some of their energy for the fights that were ahead of them, "otherwise we would have been hard pressed to fight our way all the way through everything we found on each island, especially with the time limit we had earlier."

"We are fortunate that such a thing has happened, even though Concurrent Skies is where Volteer and all of the other dragons that learned how to wield the Lightning Element came to study," Cynder replied, showing that she agreed with what Elora was saying and that she had more information to give the group, hence the reason Spike was already prepared to note down exactly what she said, so he could add it to the information that they already knew about Doxantha, before he raided Warfang's library anyway, "the same is true for the Guardians of Ice and Dante's Freezer, the Guardians of Earth and Tall Plains, and the Guardians of Fire and the Isle of Bozibig. The elementals are reacting to us being allies because of that fact, and that we've helped them in some way, like saving all of those magma creatures for example, though this time it seems that Ignitus might have warned the Lightning Elementals ahead of time, so that they would know we're allies from looking at us and watching us take down the Apes."

Spyro nodded his head, showing that he understood what they were being told, as the last of the Apes that were near them fell and the three hexagons that were near the start of this chamber activated, allowing three platforms to rise so the group could head over to an opening, one that seemed to head outside the tower, and as two Ape Soldiers entered the structure Hunter knocked them down with some arrows to the shoulder, allowing Spyro and the others to knock them out as they crossed to the opening, all while letting him claim his ammunition as he joined them. As they walked outside the tower there was an Ape Leader that hooted at them as it drew its sword, indicating that it wanted to cut them all down and stop them from progressing through the rest of the island, so Cynder knocked it down to where the rest of the group was waiting, by using the wind to do so, and they quickly beat it up before moving to the left, since that was where the path forward happened to be resting. That was shortly followed by them discovering a more open area, one that had an upper area and a lower area, though off in the distance there were a few golems that were made out of crystal and happened to be powered by lightning, though what set the creatures off were the Apes, which wasn't a big surprise, something that was followed by one of the golems hitting an Ape Leader in the face and knocked it right into a crystal, knocking the Ape out before it even had a chance to fight back. Of course that was when they got a glimpse of the Lightning Elementals, as a bolt of lightning burst out of the sky and landed near some of the Apes, one that formed into a more humanoid form that did resemble the other elementals they had seen, at least in form, before a suit of metallic armor formed over its lightning based body, where it punched one of the Apes and a burst of lightning arced up and struck them down.

That wasn't the only elemental they noticed, as it appeared that more of them were heading down to the other parts of the island to repel the invading Apes, meaning they would be able to save time once more, though in addition to all of the Lightning Elementals there appeared to be creatures made out of wind or air that seemed to resemble the elementals they were used to seeing, though their armor appeared to be made out of a lighter metal, maybe pale peach colored from what they could see, that joined the Lightning Elementals in their battle.

"So we have three new creatures to add to our list of allies: Lightning Elementals, Wind Elementals, and I would have to say Crystalline Brutes," Spike commented, where he and the others glanced at the area that was in front of them and watched as the elemental creatures smashed the Apes that were around them, and, as some of them expecting, the few Electric Worms that were in the area join in on the fun, punishing the Apes that were trying to take over the island, though that didn't stop him from writing all this down for the future.

"I still can't get over the fact that you name every creature you come across, be it ally or enemy," Cynder said, as that was something that had been interesting when she first heard about it, which was when they went to Dante's Freezer to aid Volteer in making sure the Ice King was safe and sound, though she still couldn't get over the fact that Spike named all of the creatures and they were either accepted by the others or one had a better name and he accepted it when all of them decided on a better name.

"Its for his books, so readers have a better time understanding important individuals from the minor critters, like the birds we saw during our trek through Dante's Freezer," Ember replied, as she and the others understood why Spike did this and why they had fallen into the routine of either letting him name their enemies or helping him from time to time, as she recalled one of the times she had done it and it had been rather interesting, before she turned her attention to the area that the elementals were fighting in, "Hey Spike, since there are Scions for the four Prime Elements, do you think its possible that there might be an Elemental Scion for the four Minor Elements?"

"Hm, in theory there should be a leader for the elementals, and the Windlord wasn't slain like the four Primal Scions all those years ago," Spike stated, where he paused for a moment and considered the question as he looked at the sky for a few seconds, where one could see lightning dancing between the clouds and could feel the wind blowing, which made sense when he considered the name of the area, as Concurrent Skies likely meant where all four of the winds met, or that was his thoughts on the matter, before he returned to the question, "so yes, there should be an Elemental Scion for Wind, Shadow, Fear, and Poison... and possibly the Aether as well, but that's purely hypothetical, as the only one that knew the answer to the question is long gone."

Everyone except Cynder knew who he was referring to, as he was talking about Malefor, the strongest dragon that had existed in the entire world and the one that everyone sung the praises of, be it in stories or song, who was one of the few dragons that had tapped into the power of the Aether, especially with the Aether Elemental that was resting in Akilesh, but instead of focusing on that he finished his notes on what they were seeing and then put his writing material away so they could move forward at long last. With that done the eight of them moved forward, where Spyro blasted some of the Apes with his Earth Shot spell, Cynder knocked a few backwards with the wind, Ember parried the incoming attacks with her metallic claws before cutting down her foes, Spike and Bianca blasted their targets with Fireballs, Sol rushed around the area and Phoenix Dashed his targets, Elora punched and kicked those that were near her, and Hunter used his arrows to knock down the Apes that happened to be his opponents, even though he also loosed a few into the air and knocked the couple of Dreadwings out of the air. The Lightning and Wind Elementals nodded their heads towards the group and focused on the number of Apes that were in the area, where they and the Crystalline Brutes smashed their enemies into the crystals that were around them, allowing the group to move forward and follow the path that was in front of them, one that seemed to be heading towards the next tower. When they drew closer to the tower the group noticed that there were two paths for them to pick from and both of them seemed to head to the same area, so what they did was split up again and headed down both paths, where they found a number of Ape Soldiers waiting for them and lashed out at the enemies that were standing in their way.

As the group started to fight their enemies Spyro noticed that there were a few Ape Leaders in the area as well, even though the one that was in front of him, Cynder, Spike, and Ember didn't last that long when Ember parried the attack that was coming at them and then pushed it backwards, allowing Spyro to charge into its exposed chest while Spike blasted the Ape Soldiers with his magic and Cynder headbutted her foes, while using her tail to finish them off. While they did that it was easy to tell that Elora and the others were having a good time dealing with their enemies as well, given the fact that they could hear Bianca blasting some of the Apes and Sol loosing Fireballs at his foes, and when they finished off their enemies the group also watched as Elora kicked one of the Soldiers into a crystal as Hunter used his blades to cut down the other one, where both groups effectively took care of the enemies that were in front of the next tower and started to move towards the entrance. At first they thought that the area they were walking into was the same as the last tower, as in it was a starting chamber of some kind, and the inside of the chamber was basically a hexagon with a central pillar, though there were six Ape Soldiers that were guarding the way forward, though they weren't expecting the group to actually get passed the guards that had been posted outside the tower and were slow to react to the group being behind them, which meant it was easy for the eight of them to take their foes down and move forward. What surprised them was the fact that the second door headed outside, meaning this tower was far smaller than the first one had been and that they didn't have to spend some time figuring out how to move forward, to which they headed outside the tower and entered the next part of the island that they would be exploring.

Interestingly enough there weren't any Apes directly outside the second tower, which was surprising and meant that they either didn't post guards in this area or the elementals that called this island home had wiped them out, but as they walked forward it was clear that the former was correct, as the latter would have been accurate if there were Apes laying on the ground, but with no Apes in the area at all that meant their enemies hadn't posted guards in this area, which was odd given what they had seen so far. As they dropped down into the area that was in front of them, which appeared to be a circular ring based on what they were seeing, Hunter noticed some Dreadwings flying towards the area that they had discovered and loosed some arrows into the air, knocking two of them out of the air while the third one managed to drop off the container that it was carrying, deploying an Ape Commander and about seven Ape Soldiers into the area, though all of that didn't stop Hunter from knocking the Dreadwing out of the air, that way they wouldn't have to worry about any additional enemies being dropped into the area, or at least from this group of them anyway. With that done the group lashed out at their new foes with Spyro and Cynder pushing the Ape Commander backwards, Spike blasted his foe, Ember cut down two enemies with her claws, Bianca used a Fireball to rock her foe, Elora kicked another into a wall, Sol blasted an Ape in the chest with a Fireball, and Hunter used his blades to knock down the remaining enemy. Of course once that group of enemies fell that wasn't the end of it, as several more Apes jumped down into the area, being a mix of Soldiers and Leaders, though while the rest of the group focused on them Hunter loosed a few more arrows into the air and struck the Dreadwings that were trying to bomb the area, all while making sure to note where they landed so he could retrieve his arrows when they moved forward.

Once they were totally done with the enemies that were in this area, and that included the ones that jumped down to battle them, the group moved forward and found three of the Crystalline Brutes moving to another part of the island and they followed after them, where they quickly found a number of Apes that were under the command of a Commander, so it wasn't a surprise when a battle broke out between the two forces, something that summoned the Lightning and Wind Elementals to aid the crystalline beings. It was an interesting event to witness, where the residents of the island tore the Apes down and knocked all of them out as the battle progressed, causing several of the Apes to hoot in annoyance, and while that happened Hunter loosed a few arrows into the air and knocked the Dreadwings out of the air, preventing them from either bombing the area or dropping reinforcements for the Apes, something that pleased the elementals that were currently fighting at the moment. Once all of the Apes were taken care of, and they were sure of that, the group quickly jumped up the stone platforms that were outside the tower that seemed to be in their way, meaning there would be some Apes inside the structure that they would have to fight, and landed in front of the entrance, to which they walked forward and focused on what they might discover this time around. One thing they noticed was that this tower might be taller than the other two, or at least that was what it appeared to be from where all eight of them were standing, before they noticed that the floor of this tower appeared to be an elevator of some kind, to which they stepped into the center of it and waited for a few seconds, to see what it would do.

Sure enough Ape Soldiers, Leaders, and a few Commanders dropped down onto the elevator platform that they were in the middle of using, though instead of wasting their energy on them the Lightning and Wind Elementals came to their aid and knocked all of the Apes around, allowing them to prepare for the battles that were ahead of them, though at the same time Spike noticed that the exterior shell of the tower eventually broke away and it seemed like there was a magical barrier of some kind that let the elevator know the path it was supposed to take. Of course the platform was connected to the rest of the tower that was in front of them, which seemed to be central to whatever the Apes were doing in this island, before the elementals bid them farewell as they reached the upper part of the path that the elevator was taking, which was when the group focused on the fight that would likely break out when they stepped into the center of the tower and discovered what the Apes had planned for them. Three Electric Conduits formed in the area around them, where they surveyed the area that they were supposed to be guarding and found that there were no Apes or enemies for them to attack, so they returned to the areas that they had been resting in and powered down, though not before causing the two hexagons that were in front of the group to form some platforms for them to use to move forward. That brought them to an area where a few Apes were standing, Soldiers to be exact, so the group wasted no time in attacking them with claws, spells, fists, and charges, effectively opening the way for them to head through the area they were guarding, only for them to stop as they realized something when they came to an opening and stepped out onto a ledge, one that was short and just so happened to be positioned so they could glide to the next tower.

The interesting thing about all of this was that the portion of the island they were exploring had darker skies than the rest of what they had seen, meaning they had to be getting closer to where the Thunder Prince was located, to which they wasted no time in gliding over to the next tower, or teleported in the case of Bianca and Hunter since neither of them had the metallic wings that Elora had, before they landed on the hexagon shaped platform in front of them. That was when the group found out that they were wrong about something, the area they had glided to wasn't a tower, it was a spire that actually formed a path with a few more, to which they followed it without wasting time, though as they did that it was easy to spot an Ape Commander standing in the way, even though Cynder knocked it off the spire it was standing on and letting it fall into the waiting grasp of some Wind Elementals, who would no doubt beat the Ape up once they touched down in the area they were heading towards. As it turned out that wasn't the only Ape that was up here, as on each spire there just so happened to be one Ape Soldier, so the group took turns knocking them off and watching as the elementals caught the unfortunate Apes, before moving forward and repeating the process as they followed the path that was in front of them, since there wasn't much else they could even do right now. Of course not everyone got a turn, since they only touched down on four spires, so what happened next was that Spyro and his siblings let Elora, Hunter, Sol, and Bianca move down into the more open area first, which just so happened to be when an Ape Commander stepped out of the tower that was their destination and used the magic in its mace to seal five of the six sides of the hexagon shaped area, before sending in the Ape Soldiers and a few Leaders to deal with them, to which the three of them and Cynder sat down and watched the show that was going to unfold before their eyes.

What the Ape Commander wasn't expecting was that the four individuals, who weren't dragons, could put up any sort of a fight and was more than willing to fight all of the enemies that jumped into the ring, where Hunter opted to switch to his blades this time around and parry the incoming attacks from those that challenged him, before he was able to cut one of them down and move to the next. Elora kicked the couple of Apes that came after her, while at the same time showing that her armor was more than able to keep her safe from harm when one of them tried to scratch her, before she quickly blasted the Ape that dared to try such a thing in the chest and knocked it off the spire that they were fighting on, before moving towards her next target. Sol, despite not having any weapons like the others, stood his ground and made sure that none of the Ape Soldiers even touched him, all so he could blast them with Fireballs and knock them off the spire they were fighting on, showing that he was glad the siblings gave him and the others the chance to fight since this wasn't large enough for all eight of them at the same time, before he used his Phoenix Dash to send an Ape right into the electric fence the Commander had set up. Bianca opted to use the wind this time around, throwing the Wind Shuriken that Spike had used to great effect during the liberation of Avilion, and while she was still a novice at some of these spells, due to how much she had to learn before she caught up to where she was supposed to be, she was able to blast her foes backwards and even knocked a few off the spire they were fighting on. The Ape Commander hooted at them as the fence fell, showing that it was annoyed with what they had done to its forces and that it was going to be attacking them next, only for Cynder to spot a Wind Elemental that swooped into the area and lifted the stunned and surprised Ape into the air, taking it to an area where it and the other residents of this island could beat it up, causing them to chuckle for a few seconds since none of them were expecting that to happen either.

Once they were done chuckling the siblings and Cynder joined the rest of the group and they headed into the tower that the Ape Commander had been guarding, which was when they discovered that they had to descended into the depths of this tower so they could move forward and did so by using the platforms that formed a spiraling path down to the lower part of the structure. Of course there were Apes inside the tower, not that the group was even surprised by this fact at this point in time, but there were also Electric Conduits that shocked and attacked the Apes that were intruding upon the areas that the Lightning and Wind Elementals called home, so the group was able to save even more of their energy and simply watched as their allies knocked the Apes down a few pegs, before all of them were knocked out and the group was able to move forward once more. When they exited the tower the group discovered that an Ape Commander, who had two rather sinister looking Electric Cannons, given the nature of the island they were exploring, and a number of Apes surrounding it, both Soldiers and Leaders by the looks of what they were seeing, so it was very clear that they had set up this ambush with the sole purpose of taking them out, though one thing their foe didn't take into consideration was that Cynder could dive into her own shadow and use her Shadow Play spell to wreck havoc on her enemies. As she started to attack the Apes, and they started to run around like chickens that had their heads cut off, the rest of the group assaulted their enemies as well, lashing out by blasting them, kicking them, cutting them down, or just charging them into a wall, and it wasn't long before they had routed the Apes and cleared the area out, allowing them to regroup and head through the opening that the Apes had been trying to guard.

That was when they found more of their allies fighting off the Apes, downing them left and right, though this time the elementals didn't want them to stop and assist them, as one of them pointed at the group and then pointed down the rest of the path that would allow them to reach their destination, to which the group nodded and moved forward without even wasting a second, knowing that if the elementals really wanted the help they would have had the group stop, though this just allowed them to save their power for the Thunder Prince and the collar it was no doubt wearing. In fact the rest of the path that was in front of them seemed to be a battlefield as the Lightning Elementals, Wind Elementals, and Crystalline Brutes fought off the Apes that were invading the island, reminding them of what they had seen since they started this adventure, though instead of staying and helping the group respected the wishes of their allies and continued to move even deeper into the island, following the path that seemed to be taking them towards another tower. One thing all eight of them noticed was that there were small sentry towers, about as tall as the crystals that surrounded the island, that had orbs of lightning at the top of them, which zapped the Apes whenever one of them tried to flee an area or invade another one that might be easier than the one they were currently in, though since the sentry towers ignored the group they were able to move through the area with ease and observe what was going on, allowing Spike to take excellent notes so all of the other dragons would know exactly what happened. The others kept their guard up in case there was another force of Apes that were hiding, to attack someone while they were distracted, but from the looks of things the group was able to follow the path and not engage anyone else, though they did have to stop to a brief stop so they could open the gate that was in front of what seemed to be the final tower of the island, or so they hoped.

What they discovered on the other side of the gate was an area that looked like it had been scorched to some degree, and recently based on what they were seeing, so either that meant the elementals had attacked a force of Apes in this part of the island, which was possible due to the unconscious Ape Soldiers, Leaders, and Commander, or someone else had attacked this area and had moved forward before they even arrived at this part of the island, which was when Cynder took a few moments to study what was around them.

"As I thought, this is Ignitus' handiwork," Cynder commented, informing the group that she recognized what they were seeing and that she knew who had damaged the area, which meant Ignitus must have fought the Thunder Prince and had moved to another section of the island so they wouldn't get caught in the fight, or to make sure it was the last thing they found before they headed back to Warfang, since she was convinced that the tower had an elevator that would take them to the very top of the structure, "which means he's fighting the Thunder Prince as we speak."

"Then we'll head up to the top of the tower and assist him," Spyro stated, because that was what they had done since they arrived in Doxantha, took care of the Apes that were attacking the various islands, freed the various elementals and the other creatures that called the islands home, and assisted the Guardians in helping the Elemental Scions, so that was what they were going to do and everyone knew it, hence the reason they headed for the tower so they could see if it had a way up to its summit.

From what they could see, as they entered the tower, there was an elevator that seemed to be what would bring them to the top of the tower, though it wasn't being guarded and that meant Ignitus or the Thunder Prince had taken down the Apes that had been in here some time ago, to which they stepped onto the platform that was in front of them and came to a stop not a few seconds later. Once they were all on the platform it powered up and started to rise into the air, heading up to the top of the structure that had to be resting at the end of the island, though as they passed by the couple of floors that rested on the inside of the tower the group discovered that all of them were empty, as in whatever Apes they could have faced had either been taken out or ran off due to whatever had happened here. It gave them time to rest and save their energy for whatever was at the top of the tower, where Spike could tell that the structure seemed to have been made to test the dragons that were trying to harness the Lightning Element, which meant it would have been a good place for Spyro to test his skills in one of the new elements he had unlocked, but they remained silent as they waited to see what would happen when they reached the very top of the structure. The next couple of floors didn't seem to have anything for them either, so there was nothing for them to do but sit on the platform as it moved towards the top of the tower, which allowed them to see the lightning dancing between the clouds and guessed that the wind was the same as it had been when they were visiting the rest of the island.

When they reached the top of the tower they found that Ignitus was definitely up there, as he was in the middle of a duel with a large metallic being whose inner body was made out of what appeared to be rather powerful lightning and it carried a blade that seemed to match its size, reminding them of the Lightning Elementals, meaning this had to be the Thunder Prince and it definitely had a collar around its neck... though standing near Ignitus was a gusty elemental that reminded them of the Wind Elementals and it nodded towards the group, especially Spyro.

"Ah, it is good of you to show up," Ignitus commented, where he held his rapier at the ready as the Wind Elemental held what appeared to be a blade that channeled the wind itself, though they were focused on the foe that was in front of them and not much else, before the group realized that the arena they were in was large enough for a few of them and some of them would have to take to the air to get a better shot at the collar, "the Apes beat us to this tower and put one of those collars around the Thunder Prince's armored neck, so we've been trying to destroy it so we can free our ally from what the Apes have done... oh, and allow me to introduce one of our other allies, the Windlord, the Elemental Lord that rules over all the Wind Elementals."

Spyro, Spike, Ember, Cynder, and Sol took to the air as Elora, Hunter, and Bianca stayed on the platform and aided the two fighters in what they were doing, where Spyro loosed some well placed Fireballs at the back of the Thunder Prince's collar, Ember rushed into the battle and swung her metallic claws to distract their foe, Cynder called upon the shadows to lash out with shadowy claws and cut into the collar, Sol blasted the collar with something new, discs made out of fire, or as Spike called it Blaze Discs, and Spike used the Wind Shuriken to damage their target. While they did that Elora dodged the attacks that were coming her way, which was no easy feat given the speed that their foe was moving in, Hunter had to do the same thing and used his blades to hit the collar since he knew hitting anywhere else was a bad idea given the fact that their foe was made out of lightning, and Bianca used some Ice Spikes to hit the collar whenever an opening revealed itself to her. Ignitus and the Windlord joined them in battling the Thunder Prince, dodging attacks that were coming at them while trying to hit the collar as well, with both their blades and their own magical powers, though while they did that they let Spyro and the others do the majority of the work since they were the most familiar with what was going on, but that didn't stop them from lashing out at the collar the Apes had put on the Elemental Scion that was in control of this island, as the moment it was freed the storm that was building around them. Fortunately that seemed to be working, the group was more than able to lash out at the collar and do damage to it, even though five of them were flying around the area that they were fighting in, and Spike grinned for a moment as he joined his magic with Bianca's, which caused a seam to appear in the metallic collar.

That was the moment that they were waiting for, as Spyro rushed in with Windshear, a weapon that the Windlord was able to recognize as soon as it was drawn, and swung it at the collar they were targeting, allowing the power of the blade to cut through the metal and break the collar free, where the Thunder Prince knelt for a few seconds as it was freed from the magic of the collar, before it raised its hand and dismissed the storm in moments, allowing the skies to return to what they had been earlier.

"There, the Elemental Scions have been freed and the Apes have been repelled," Cynder said, where she and the rest of the flyers returned to the platform so they could speak with Ignitus, before they headed back to the airship and headed back to Warfang so they could determine what they needed to do next to overcome the Apes and their plans, before she glanced over to Ignitus for a moment, "I still don't understand what Gaul is trying to gain, besides some incredibly powerful allies, from attacking these islands and putting those collars on the Elemental Scions... we're missing something, I just can't figure out what that something is."

"...we... failed..." a voice said, to which the group glanced at the Thunder Prince for a moment, as it sounded like it was a little exhausted and tired, something that made sense due to the fact that they had been fighting it and Ignitus had been fighting it with the Windlord, though while Spike was interested in confirming that the Elemental Scions could talk he made sure that all of them remained silent for a time, before the elemental raised its left arm, pointing at an indent that looked like a key of some kind had been resting in it, "...Elementium Key... gone..."

"Elementium... Key?" Spike inquired, where it was clear to the group that his mind was already racing through every single book, tome, scroll, and piece of information he had read over the years, searching for the term that the Elemental Scion had mentioned, before he recalled a reference, a rather small one to be exact, that gave him a small idea as to what the Thunder Prince was talking about, before he glanced to the others, "We need to get back to Warfang, now, so we can search the library for clues as to what the Apes are currently doing... I have a slim idea as to what might be happening, but I want to confirm it before I freak and worry everyone out."

Spyro and the others glanced at each other, because when Spike was worried about something that meant all of them should be worried about whatever he was talking or thinking about, to which they nodded and started to depart from the area that they were in, where Ignitus joined them as they did so, as they were curious as to what Spike was focused on and what they could do to help him figure out what sort of danger the Apes posed to Warfang and the rest of Doxantha, and possibly the rest of the world if they weren't stopped.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

well thats the last of the elemental scions freed. The whole Elementium key being missing definitely sounds like a bad thing, though I have little doubt of this groups ability to rectify that. Things definitely be heating up in this story once again. Another great chapter, looking forward to the next. Keep up the great work

[Comickook]

Once again, wonderful job on the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Naturally, the teamwork against the Apes was beautifully shown and I can see where Bianca would make the extremely logical guess that Caesar was murdered. I can also understand the caution used in the arrival on the island and the missing Elementium Key is an appropriately scary detail. And now, Spike has a loose theory on what the Apes are up to, but wants to research before he worries everybody else too much. But, at least the last Elemental Scion is freed and I DID love the introduction to the Windlord (aka the Wind Lord Elemental).

All in all, a great chapter and I'm definitely looking forward to more of this.

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Another sweet chapter there Blackdrag, that Elementium Key that was mention at the end sounds ominous though!

Can't wait what the answer to that is next time around!

[zachary12]

nice work

[DJScales]

Okay so I was right the Apes are involved but does that mean this is a New Enemy or somebody from the Distant past?

[Autarch Prime]

Uh Oh. The Apes must have gotten what they came for, or at least Gaul did, with (previously) chained Elemental Lords as another accomplished objective.

Hope that the Expedition and the High Council gets a deal discussion between them this time around. Next awaited reveals are the Chronicler and the High Guardian.