Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Dragonfly: Trouble in the Monastery

The first thing the group did when they returned to the main part of Castle Hills was head back to the castle and grabbed some of the food that Alvar had set out for them, no doubt knowing that they had expanded a great deal of energy and that they would need a bit of rest before they headed out into the other part of the homeworld they were exploring, which would allow the group to see the other couple of realms that were attached to this land before they forced open Ripto's portal and dealt with the villain that had come to bother them this year. While that happened Spike made sure to deliver the fragment he had picked up during their visit to Cloud 9, just to make sure the jade statue was as complete as it could possibly be, something that was sure to appease the residents of the realms since this appeared to be somewhat important to them, before rejoining the others as they regained their energy, even though they knew Spyro was waiting to see what realms were next before he came to a decision on what to do next. Ember, of course, was ready for anything and everything that they might encounter in the next realm that they decided to tackle, not that the others were surprised by that fact, while at the same time Elora and Cynder were eager to recover the remaining dragonflies that were scattered throughout the last couple of realms that were in this island, not to mention the few that were in Castle Hills as a whole, as they were sure that there were a few more somewhere in this part of the island. Spike's estimates showed that they had to be halfway done with their quest, as he was positive that they had recused more than forty-five dragonflies, though he was sure that forty of them were scattered throughout the remaining four realms and the others would be somewhere in this homeworld, they just had to keep an eye out and rescue them accordingly.

Once they were done eating and resting, Spyro got up from the area that they had been sitting in and headed for the path that rested near the portal to Dragonfly Dojo, the one that would lead him and the others into the mountain, even if that meant jumping over a small gap to get up there, and it wasn't long before they reached the curved passage and came to the other Elemental Lock they had seen when they were first exploring the area, the one that would be broken with a burst of the Ice Element, hence why he used his Ice Breath to break it so they could move forward. With the lock broken, and the gate opened, the group moved into the next part of the homeworld and followed the path that was on the other side of the structure the Elemental Lock had been attached to, where they made sure to collect the gems that were in front of them while Spike pulled out the Guidebook to check which realms they would be seeing in the next few moments, just so he could inform the others. It didn't take them long to reach a larger area that had a section that looked more like a jungle than the mountain range they were currently exploring, and while they collected the gems and smashed a few straw baskets it was easy to see an ancient structure that looked like a portal had rested in the center of it at one point, one that would reactivate once they rescued more of the missing dragonflies, and speaking of which there happened to be one near the bipedal professor mouse that was in front of the structure. As such the group walked over to where the dragonfly was floating and Spike sent it back to the others, adding another one to the number of those they had rescued since this adventure had started, before the others cleared out the area that was around Jurassic Jungle's portal, as that was the realm this particular portal would take them to in the future, hence the reason they exited the area and returned to the larger area that was right outside the area the structure was resting in.

From there they followed the next mountain pass and came to another large area that was sort of like the one they had just been in, though this time there was a set of stones that were carved into a path, one the group could see was heading to the highest point of this area, possibly the highest point of the entire homeworld, while the area in front of them had a passage of some kind that was carved out of the stone, smoothed down, and even had what could have been large gems added to the pillars that were to the left and right of the passage, even if the siblings knew that the Thieves wouldn't place real gems in an area like this, so they had to be carved out of stone as well. Sure enough on the other side of the short passage there rested a blue robed Thief that seemed to be standing near a magic carpet, or at least that was what the five of them thought they were seeing at the moment, though resting in front of the passage was one of the Challenge Gates, this time looking like an Ice style challenge, and, more importantly, one of the missing dragonflies, where Spike sent it back to the others before Spyro stepped through the pillars of the gate. Interestingly enough eight campfires appeared around the area that they were standing in, so Spyro and Spike separated from the group and focused on putting out the flames, since the two of them were the only ones that could tap into the power of Ice, and while most of their targets were in the area near the portal to Thieves Den, the realm the Thief seemed to be guarding at the moment, a few were back by Jurassic Jungle's portal, which were the ones that Spike focused on. Sure enough when all eight of the campfires had been put out, which had magically appeared when Spyro stepped through the Challenge Gate, another dragonfly came over to the area they were standing in and Spike sent it back to the others, meaning that, by his count on those they had rescued so far, there had to be one more in the homeworld, giving them a grand total of fifty, before they focused on the last couple of realms that needed to be assisted.

With the Challenge Gate cleared, and the entire area cleared of gems, the group climbed up the path that lead them over the passage that would take them to the lone Thief and followed the icy part of it towards the highest point of this island, where they discovered a number of gems to collect, a few straw baskets to break, a wooden structure that looked like it belonged in a monastery, a hot air balloon that was attached to a wooden boat that seemed large enough for the five of them to stand in it, and a monkey that was dressed in white monk robes, meaning it had to be one of the Monkey Monks Spike had read about, and while they approached him the last dragonfly of the area, who had been resting in the center of the wooden structure, flew over to them so it could be sent to the others.

"I don't know what you young ones did, or if something has changed, but you can use my balloon to get to my realm and stop the Riptocs that are attacking it," the Monkey Monk said, showing that he either believed that they had rescued more than enough dragonflies, to restore enough magic to the various portals, which Spike knew to be incorrect, or he felt that the wind or something had changed, allowing him to use the balloon at long last, or at least offer it to them so they could get to his realm and see what was going on.

The group nodded their heads, showing that they were going to see what was going on in Monkey Monastery, before waiting for Spike to send the dragonfly back to the others so they could jump onto the hot air balloon and let it take off from the area that the Monkey Monk was standing in, taking them up into the air before heading for the area that served as the portal between Castle Hills and their destination, as it was time to tackle the next realm Spyro had chosen, due to the fact that it was the only one that appeared to be accessible based on what they had seen so far.

The starting area for the realm they had picked out happened to be similar to the starting area of Dragonfly Dojo, the first realm they had picked out, missing the flooring by the looks of it since it seemed that the ground was mostly stones that were covered by ice, not enough to make them slip and slide all over the place but enough to give them the idea that Ice magic wasn't the best if the ground had a layer covering it, before they realized that the hot air balloon was gone, or at least Cynder was surprised by that since there wasn't one near them, and focused on the area in front of them. From what they could tell the starting area of the realm was stuck between two snow covered mountains and there was a structure some distance in front of them that happened to carry the style of what the Monkey Monks used when crafting the various structures that were all over their home realm, and there was no telling what else was in this realm since the structure seemed to be blocking everything, meaning they had to go through it before they could see anything else. Given the snow that was currently falling as they stood around the starting area, reminding the siblings of when they first visited one of the realms that had been covered in snow and ice, Spike took a moment to make sure all of them had the Heat Aura rune etched on each of them, just like he did whenever they came to a realm like this and used the opposite spell whenever they visited a realm that had an intense heat, before the five of them started to move, as it was time to find a resident of this realm and figure out what the Riptocs were doing. Fortunately there just so happened to be a Monkey Monk standing near the edge of the starting area, who must have tilted his head for a moment and moved it back into position as they walked over to where he was standing, meaning that he must have been studying them and their movements, before the five of them came to a stop in front of him, intending on figuring out what was happening to this realm.

"Those unbalanced Riptocs have invaded our sacred monastery, and, since we practice divine compassion, none of us can raise our hands towards them," the Monkey Monk stated, showing the group that he and the others of his race were more like the Artisans dragons, who practiced the arts and didn't fight like the Peace Keepers did, something that made things a lot easier for them to understand without him actually telling them all that much, before he scratched the back of his head for a moment, "Can you help us?"

"That's why we're here." Spyro replied, to which the others nodded their heads in agreement and walked over to the other side of the starting area, even if that allowed them to pick up a few gems in the process, before they found a gap that rested between the area they were in and the first area of the realm they would be exploring, meaning that the five of them would have to glide over to the area that was in front of the temple and take down the enemies that were in front of it, since they knew that enemies would be waiting for them to interfere with their plans.

As such it didn't take the five of them long to get into the air and glide down to the area that was in front of the temple that was their first destination, where it was easy to find a pair of Mammoths, small creatures which were about as tall as the siblings were, wandering around the area and they huffed when the group approached them, which was why Ember rolled forward and landed on the ground first, before she swung her claws at both of her targets while her inner magic flared, hence the reason a few claw marks appeared on both of them, her Emission technique in action, and she reduced them to gems as the others landed near her. While she did that Spike found the first dragonfly of this realm waiting nearby and sent it back to Nestor and the others, though as he cast the spell he felt it was odd that they had already found the first one of this realm when it had taken them some time to locate the first one during their visit to the previous realm, but he wasn't going to complain about that as the others smashed some metallic vases and collected all the gems that were area the area they were standing in. With the dragonfly secured, and the area cleared out, the group headed for the steps, even if they had to skate over some ice for a few seconds, and found a few ice sculptures that had been carved into the shape of the Monkey Monks and placed on either side of the steps, though they made sure to break the couple of straw baskets that were near the statues before approaching what looked like the temple entrance, which was when they found a passage on their right and that the door was locked, so they headed to the right and moved forward. From there it was easy to find that they would have to jump over another gap and land near a wooden chest that seemed a little out of place to the group, especially given the area that they were in, and that they needed to find a key so the chest could be unlocked and the items inside it could be revealed.

Once they had a chance to study the chest, and understood that a key was necessary to unlock it, the group jumped over to the next part of the path they were following and had to make sure they didn't slide around too much, thanks to the ice that was on the area in question, before finding that it only covered a small area and that the diagonal path that rested nearby was just normal, so it was slightly harder to collect the gems that were in the first area and then they glided to yet another ice covered area that served to let them explore the rest of this realm. The next part of the realm had a few gems resting on the ground and some metallic vases to smash, though that was when they found a Mammoth standing between them and the rest of the enemies that they would be facing during their trek through this realm, as in two types of Riptoc that were slightly different from each other, an orange scaled Riptoc that was carrying a club made of ice while a light yellow scaled Riptoc carried a shield that would no doubt stop their breath attacks from hurting it. The group took a moment to glance at each other and nodded to each other, as it was easy for them to label the new enemies accordingly, with the club enemies being the Club Riptocs and the shield bearing enemies being the Shield Riptocs, though that didn't stop Spike from blasting the Mammoth with a well placed Fireball while Elora dodged an incoming attack and kicked the Club Riptoc in the chest, knocking it backwards as Cynder used her Shadow Play to get behind the Shield Riptoc and struck it down before it should turn its shield towards her. Interestingly enough, as they struck down the foes that were around them, the siblings paused for a moment as they found a young Yeti standing near what appeared to be a house carved out the stone of the mountain and covered in a bit of ice, no doubt keeping the stone together from the looks of it, but the reason they did that was because they recognized the Yeti in question.

"Bartholomew?! What are you doing here?" Spyro asked, because this was Bentley's little brother, who they had seen a few times during their visit to the realms of Avilion, and while they had seen him a few times over the years it was odd to see him here, in a realm that none of them had known about until the Leaders had brought them to Castle Hills and let all of them learn about these lands, so he was interested in seeing if they could gain anything from their friend, even though it did make them wonder if Bentley was nearby and happened to be busy crushing Riptocs.

"Bentley and I were planning on moving here, to Monkey Monastery, so we could learn more about the Yetis that lived during the days that Malefor ruled over Avilion," Bartholomew replied, where it was easy for the group to determine that he was speaking of the Sasquatch Six, the Yetis who had been notoriously difficult for anyone to defeat in racing, as they liked to use shields of some kind to race along areas and it had taken the group a bit to bring them down, or at least the echoes that had been left behind according to what Spike had told the others when they discovered what was going on in the Treasury that the Sorceress had hidden herself in, before the small Yeti rubbed the back of his head, "of course we were planning on revealing this information to you with a surprise party, or at least that was my brother's plan, and then these Riptocs, stupid name by the way, started causing trouble for our new neighbors... by sealing the Yeti that protect the monastery in the ice, and there are five of them from what I've seen."

"Well, we can take care of that." Cynder stated, though at the same time she knew she was going to have to ask Spike about the tale that he had told her in the past, when she asked about their adventure in Avilion, and focus her attention on what he and his siblings had seen during their third adventure, but that was something that she could ask him about later, once they were done taking down Ripto, and it wasn't long before the others nodded their heads in agreement before they left the area that Bartholomew was standing in, who knew that they would do everything in their power to save the day and repel the invading Riptocs.

From there they jumped over to the steps that had been carved into one of the sides of the mountain and made their way up to where a Mammoth was standing, one Spyro took care of with a quick burst of his Fire Breath, though while he did that Elora smashed the couple of metallic vases that were along the way, with them making sure not to leave any in the area outside Bartholomew's new house, before Ember walked over to where a Club Riptoc was standing and let it swing its weapon at her, though instead of activating her Warrior's Armor, like she usually would, she stood still and the attack hit her square on the head, where her base defense shattered the ice club it was carrying. It was disappointing, due to the fact that she and her dragonfly were expecting the attack to do something, but that was followed by her smashing her foe into the side of the mountain and defeating it in a matter of seconds, to which she returned to the others and found that the wall of ice that was near where the Mammoth had been standing had to be a lot thicker than what they were expecting it to be, so instead of wasting his magic to blow it open Spike had them investigate the structure that was near them, since it did look like a cannon was at the end of it all. The first thing they found on the area he wanted them to investigate was one of the Shield Riptocs, though that was when Elora flipped backwards and brought the backside of her right leg down on top of her target's shield, the force of which knocked it down into the ground, before she spun around and kicked it right in the face, allowing a gem to fall as they walked along the ramp it happened to be guarding, finding a Club Riptoc blocking the way forward, which was quickly remedied as Spyro charged right through its defenses.

Of course there were a few more gems for them to pick up along the way, since there were a decent number of them, but interestingly enough those were the only two enemies for them to deal with on this structure and they found one of the Monkey Monks stranded on the top of the structure, near a gap between them and the area that a turret, not a cannon like they originally believed it to be, happened to be resting on, so the five of them stopped in front of the Monkey Monk so they could see what sort of information he had to share with them, all while keeping their guard up in case enemies came at them while they were talking, which likely wasn't going to happen, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"Greetings, young ones. I believe that the turret that rests behind you will aid you in your current quest," the Monkey Monk stated, drawing their attention to the weapon in question, one that seemed out of place considering that they had been told that the residents of this realm were supposed to be peaceful, so a turret like this just seemed out of place to all of them, but none of them said anything to that as the Monkey Monk turned to face them once more, meaning he might have more to say, "though we usually use it for our annual snowball war event... though I'm sure the Riptocs have messed with it, something we'll have to fix once our realm is safe once more."

The group really had nothing to say to that statement, as it sounded like the Monkey Monk wanted them to use the modifications the Riptocs had made to the turret, and the others that were scattered throughout the realm, if there were any more anyway, to make the lives of him and the other Monkey Monks easier, though instead of sticking around Spyro glided over to the platform the weapon rested on while the others collected the gems, both on the structure and on the platform near them, before climbing onto the turret so he could take down all of the ice walls that were blocking the way, in the area that was around them to be exact. There were three ice walls to take down, one to the far left while the other two were right in front of where the turret was resting, one that happened to have a taller Yeti trapped in side resting right behind it, which could be accessed by the whirlwind to their immediate right, while the other seemed to have a path that lead to another part of the realm, so the group waited for Spyro to make short work of the walls and then climbed off the turret once the job was done. From there they flew over to the area that the frozen Yeti was in and flamed the ice that was around him, freeing one of the protectors of this realm from the ice they had been trapped inside, who thanked them for the timely rescue, before they jumped down into the area that the Mammoth had been in earlier and faced the path that was right behind them, as all five of them knew that they would be coming back to this area at some point and that meant they could investigate the other path at some point in the future. As it turned out there was a gap between the area that was on the other side of the ice wall and the next part of the path that they had decided to follow, so they jumped over it and kept themselves from sliding too much as they collected the couple of gems that were around them and smashed the straw baskets that were around them, before jumping to another part of the path and repeating what they had just done, which was when they jumped over to an area that a Shield Riptoc was standing in.

As it turned out the foe in question didn't last all that long against them, not with Elora kicking its shield down into the ground so Spyro could flame the Riptoc's chest, and while they did that the others moved forward and glided over to the next part of the segmented path they were following, which was when Ember smashed her way through the Club Riptoc that was in their way and let Cynder take on the next foe that stood in the next part of the path, a Mammoth that she used her Wind powers on, by knocking it into the wall to her right. From there it was easy to find two Shield Riptocs and one of the Club Riptocs standing near a Monkey Monk, so what happened next was that Spike gathered his magic for a moment and loosed a pair of Fireballs that knocked down the club wielding foe, but that was when the pair of shield carrying foes chuckled for a moment, like they thought they were invincible or something, causing Spike to chuckle for a second as he applied his Teleportation magic to the next pair of Fireballs, causing them to disappear after a few seconds and slam into the backs of his targets, opening the way for them to proceed further into this realm. Once that area was cleared of foes and gems, like they had done in the past, the five of them used a whirlwind to get up to the top of the next structure that was in front of them and landed on an icy area that two Club Riptocs and a Shield Riptoc were waiting in, so while Spyro flamed his target, Cynder did the same thing with her Shadow Breath, allowing Ember to spin through the air as she struck down the Shield Riptoc, allowing Elora and Spike to collect the gems that were in the area, so they wouldn't have to retrace their steps later on. With those enemies taken care of the group moved forward and found a turret at the end of the area the whirlwind had brought them to, where Spyro used it to take down an ice wall that was off in the distance and blast one of the flying Riptocs out of the air, as in it was a dinosaur with wings, though there were two more in this area, ones that were lower than where this turret could aim, so he climbed off the weapon and spotted another turret down near where the last Monkey Monk was standing, hence why he glided down to the second turret and used to to blow the other two Flying Riptocs out of the air, as well as smash an ice wall that revealed another frozen Yeti.

Interestingly enough defeating the three Flying Riptocs was enough to cause a dragonfly, who must have been taken by the enemies he had taken down, to fly over to him, so he let Spike and the others join him so Spike could use his magic to send the second dragonfly of this realm back to the others, though that was also when he flew over to the frozen Yeti and used his Fire Breath to free the individual in question, before the group gathered near the first turret of this area and glided down to an area that seemed to be the way forward. What was really interesting for the group was the fact that the next area they landed in was where the exit portal happened to be located, meaning they had picked the end path earlier, though that didn't stop Ember from using her Emission skill to take down both Mammoths that were guarding the portal, allowing Spyro to loose a small burst of his Fire Breath to ignite the fuse of a firework that just so happened to be resting nearby, one that flew off into the distance and smashed open an ice wall, meaning there was more for them to explore in this area, before heading back to where Bartholomew was standing. Resting near the exit portal were two paths, one to their right and one to their left, so what they did was take the path on the left and followed it, climbing up the steps that had been carved into the mountainside and made sure to collect the gems that were along the way, though there were no enemies to deal with and the path, which was full of places where they had to jump over a number of small gaps, brought them to where the third frozen Yeti was located, so they quickly freed him and then glided back to where the first turret of this area was located, as Spike noticed something odd and that was the fact that the other path didn't lead to where the other ice wall had been resting, so the group followed him for a few moments.

With the ice wall taken care of the group found that a simple glide was more than enough for them to get to the small platform that had been covered by the ice wall, where they found a key resting on the ground and it was easy to figure out that it went to the chest they had seen earlier, so Spike tucked it away before they jumped over the platforms that were in front of them and made their way over the path that was in front of them, allowing the five of them to reach the first side portal of this realm, or second since this was the end of the realm, but instead of going through it they glided over to an area that a fourth frozen Yeti was resting in and freed him. Once that was done they glided down to where the exit portal rested and took the other path that Spike had pulled them away from, where the five of them climbed the ramp-like path that was in front of them and picked up the gems that were along the way, before reaching the top of the path and quickly found that they were definitely back at the start of the realm, high enough so they could glide over to a small cave that the fifth and final frozen Yeti was resting in, so they glided over to it and freed the Yeti from his prison. Like most of the other things they had done for the residents of the other realms just completing something like this didn't yield an immediate reward, or the return of a dragonfly, so that meant they needed to tell Bartholomew that they had freed the protectors of the realm before they found the third, or possibly fourth, dragonfly of this realm, based on whether or not they found one on the way to where their friend was standing. With the Yetis freed, and they were sure of that, the group jumped back down to the first area of the realm they had explored and made their way back to the lone chest that they had seen some time ago, where Spike slipped out the key and unlocked the chest, revealing that the third dragonfly of this realm had been trapped inside it, which was rather odd, before Spike sent it back to the others and the group turned around for a moment, as they had noticed the door they had walked by had been opened, when the last time they walked through this area it had been closed.

That was when they found the fourth dragonfly of this realm right behind the opened door, meaning that the one that would have flown over to them when they gave Bartholomew the good news was going to be the fifth at this point, and it didn't take Spike long to send the dragonfly back to the main castle that the others had been sent to, before they started to climb the stone steps and collected the gems that were resting on them, even though that included smashing a couple of straw baskets at the same time. Of course there just so happened to be a Club Riptoc at the point where the path split, something that was easy for Spike to take down with a well placed Fireball to the chest and was followed by them picking the path on their left, which ended in a dead end that had a pair of straw baskets resting at the end of it, along with the fifth dragonfly of the realm, causing the group to sigh for a moment, as it appeared that labeling the dragonfly that would come to them after giving Bartholomew wasn't going to work based on how quickly they were finding the next dragonfly, but that didn't stop Spike from sending it back to Nestor and the others. Once that was done they headed back to the split in the path and headed up the steps that formed the other path, one that ended in the second side portal of this realm, so what they did was smash the couple of metallic vases that were nearby and cleared out the gems, before retracing their steps as they made their way back to where Bartholomew's new house was located, since this time around they knew that there wasn't anything to get in their way, not unless they ignored their friend and followed the other path that was resting near him, so they focused on Bentley's brother and nothing else.

Sure enough they found Bartholomew standing guard over his house and he appeared to be looking out at the area that surrounded his place, no doubt keeping his eyes open for the Yetis that had been protecting the realm until the few types of Riptocs had come in and frozen them, though as they approached him he stopped what he was doing and faced them, showing them that he was interested in what they had to tell him and, unless they were wrong, it seemed like he did have something to tell the five of them as well.

"All five of the Yeti protectors of this realm have been freed from their prisons," Spyro stated, because that was what Bartholomew needed to hear, since he had asked them to head out and free the Yetis from the icy prisons the Riptocs had placed them in when they assaulted the realm they were in, something that made the group wonder what sort of crimes the Riptocs might have committed in the rest of the realms that they needed to assist, before they tackled Ripto and put an end to his assault on Castle Hills.

"Yes, and I can tell that they're getting ready to return to their duties," Bartholomew said, appearing to have the same personality that the group was used to dealing with, back during their third adventure, before he headed inside his house for a moment and came back out a few seconds later, accompanied by the sixth dragonfly of this realm, who flew over to the group and joined them without wasting any time, knowing that Spike would be sending it back to the others, "I found that dragonfly while you guys were dealing with the Riptocs and freeing the Yetis, so I figured that I would return it once you guys got back... oh, and thanks for saving the Yetis from their prisons."

The group nodded their heads and waited for Spike to send the sixth dragonfly back to the main castle, so it could join the others they had rescued so far, though once that was done they glided over to the area that the other path rested on, or the one the five of them had ignored earlier to be exact, and climbed up the stone steps they discovered where the one ice wall had been resting, making sure to pick up the gems that were around them as each of them kept their eyes open for any foes to take down. There was one Club Riptoc in front of them, who fell as Ember spun through the air and brought her tail down on her target's shoulder blade, though once that foe was taken care of the group glided down to the other side of the area and landed at the start of the path that seemed to head to an ice covered platform that was above their friend's house, where they made sure to pick up the gems that were in their way, even though that was around the time that they noticed two more Club Riptocs standing between where they were standing and the platform that happened to be their current destination. Elora was able to strike down one of their enemies with a swift kick to the side of the head, a blow that would knock out any normal enemy and simply reduced her target back to its original gem state, while Cynder charged through the other one, allowing the others to reach the end of the path and find the seventh dragonfly for this realm waiting for them, which was followed by Spike sending it back to the others while Ember and Spyro cleared out the gems that were around the area. Once that was done, and the group was sure that they had cleared out the majority of what the Riptocs had done to this realm, they took to the air and headed for the portal that rested near the exit portal, as it was the closest of the two side portals of this realm, though it didn't take them long to reach the portal in question and head through it so they could see what the first side section of this realm had to throw at them.

What they discovered was one of the hatchlings, no doubt one of the ones that called Castle Hills home, standing near a dock of some kind that had a plane that looked like it was a little dangerous, though that was when they learned that the Riptocs were building turret facilities so they could destroy the monastery and chase everyone that called this realm out, almost like they wanted the realm to themselves and their allies, though since there was only one plane the group picked their best pilot to take to the skies and blast the Riptocs, and that meant picking Spyro for the job. What Spyro found was that the area the portal had brought them to was surrounded by a circular mountain range, a rather tall one at that, and wasted no time in climbing into the plane so he could take off and see what sort of damage the Riptocs had done, even though it didn't look like they had done anything major, save for building twenty small factories that were scattered all over the central area of the mountain range, though once he determined that piece of information he opened fire on the enemy forces that were guarding the factories. Sure enough the Riptocs weren't too pleased with someone attacking their forced, even though they were the invaders in this situation, though it was easy for Spike and the others to see that Spyro had the upper hand as he flew around the area, caused the plane to do a few tricks as he blew up his targets, and avoided everything that the Riptocs fired at him, something that ended in the various groups of enemies blowing up without him taking any damage, allowing him to focus his attention on the factories that were no longer guarded. Once he was sure all of the factories were taken care of, and all of the Riptocs that were guarding them had been blown away, Spyro returned to where the others were standing and landed on the dock, where he left the plane behind and gave the hatchling the good news, something that was accompanied by the eighth dragonfly of this realm, not the dragonfly of the young dragon that was in front of them, flying over to them so Spike could send it back to the others.

As soon as that was done the group wished the hatchling well and returned to the main part of the realm, where they headed for the area the formerly sealed door had been resting in, which was easy to get to, and headed for the portal that was their destination, though on the other side of the portal they found that they were in an area that looked like a slide of some kind, one carved into a different area of the mountain range and was covered in ice, meaning it was going to be hard for them to do whatever the Monkey Monk in front of them wanted them to do. What surprised them was the fact that this was a legendary or famous slide and that it came with two challenges that had different difficulties, and the only reason the Monkey Monk was admitting this now, instead of waiting for someone to finish the first one and return to him, was due to the fact that he knew they were skilled and was curious if they could handle both of the challenges, something that would become clear to him once they tackled the first challenge. As it turned out whoever headed down the slide had to make sure they hit enough of the flags on their way down, since this appeared to be a timed challenge, and the Monkey Monk informed them that using magic was against the rules, meaning that Spike would have to sit this challenge out, and it was followed by Elora declaring the same, since she wasn't used to this sort of thing and knew that she would only stall their progress through the area they were in. Spyro also stood to the side, as he did just do the last challenge and felt that it wouldn't be fair if he hogged all the glory, leaving Ember and Cynder to tackle the challenge, which was why Ember took a step forward and started sliding a few moments later, where the group watched as she accurately made her way down the course, which was rather well set up due to all the sections that had been carved into the mountain and set up to be a nice racing area, or a slide as the Monkey Monk called it, to which they watched what was going on and waited for Ember to return to the area that they were standing in.

It didn't take Ember long to return to where they were standing, with the ninth dragonfly of this realm and the Monkey Monk declaring that her skills were impressive, before Cynder stepped forward and tried the harder challenge out, even though that meant heading down the slide to the right of the portal they had walked through, though that was when they surprised the Monkey Monks as Cynder returned a few moments later with the tenth and final dragonfly of this realm, to which Spike sent them both back to the main castle of Castle Hills and they departed from the realm, as it was about time for them to pick another realm and help the residents of that realm out with their problems, all while drawing closer to stopping Ripto at long last.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

Castle hills:
Dragonflies Rescued: 4

Monkey Monastery:
Dragonflies Rescued: 10

total Dragonflies rescued: 60 / 90

this was an interesting chapter. Seeing Bartholemew again was nice. Spike is definitely starting to branch out as well and begin to make his own spells, I mean like come on teleporting fireballs thats just too awesome. AS always another great chapter, looking forward to the next. keep up the great work

[Comickook]

That's another world taken care of. Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Absolutely loved seeing the gang helping out the Monkey Monks as well as Bartholomew's reasons for being there AND the info on the five Yeti protectors. The stuff about dividing up the challenges for the last few dragonflies fairly was well done too. And, yeah, now we are at the two-thirds mark concerning the recovered dragonflies. Just three more worlds left to go and then Ripto is going to get a rather massive can of kick keister opened up on him.

VERY definitely looking forward to more of this.

[Kamen rider yokai]

Whoo boy the last dragonfly is going to be hard to locate as from what I remember I found 89 of the dragonflies but could never find the last one when I had the game. It wasn't until I looked up the game did I realize there was a massive constant glitch that erased the dragonfly from the game so I could never fully clear it or unlock whatever second ending after beating the final boss was. That was a issue worthy of a migraine of annoyance.

[zachary12]

nice work.