Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Hero: Machines in the Clouds

Once the lift returned to the dome that the group had caused to rise out of the water earlier, and stopped, Spyro and the others removed themselves from the area and glided over to where the tunnel that would take them back to Blink's last location was resting, where they carefully bypassed the swinging seashell traps and quickly returned to the area that was their current destination, though it wasn't the one that they would be stopping at since they had cleared out this part of the realm some time ago and was the reason they headed back to where the pool of water rested, where they had met Otto and learned of the fact that the water had been drained from the area. As it turned out Otto was still standing near the edge of the area they had found him in, either waiting for the rest of the homeworld to be saved or he was waiting for the best time to surf inside the area they had restored to its former glory, though that didn't stop the group from reaching his location and heading back down the tunnel that had brought them to him in the first place, where the otter wished them well in his own way, or at least that was what they assumed he was saying since he was pretty much saying 'dude' all the time now, but none of them wanted to stop and talk since they were nearly done with freeing this island from Red's grasp. Once the group returned to the area that Moneybags' main shop was located in, and the bear wished them well as they passed by the cave that was blocked off by a dark barrier, Spike had them head back to the large seashell that had the hole in the top, due to the fact that he recalled another tunnel they hadn't explored earlier, probably due to the enemies they had faced at the time and all of the treasure they had been recovering, though it didn't take them long to reach the first area that they had found the Pygmies in and find the tunnel that Spike had been thinking about.

They quickly found that it was one none of them had been through before, due to the fact that there were what seemed to be ruined parts of the walkway and sunken parts that looked like quicksand, so what each of them did was take turns as Spyro was the first one to move forward and the others followed after him, though at the very least they didn't have to go down a long tunnel and have to jump over a few dozen sections of a ruined walkway, as they were able to reach another area that might have enemies or items for them to collect. What they found in the area on the other side of the tunnel were a few wooden structures, the platforms that would rise once something was pressed, though the main thing they found happened to be resting above where they were standing, some windmill looking structures that looked like one of them could swing on the middle of the wood to get somewhere else, though that didn't stop Flame from smashing the couple of straw baskets that were in front of them while Aurora collected the fallen gems. Once that area was cleared out the group found a step up to the next part of the area and found that there were a few straw baskets in the area, along with a Pygmy house off in the distance, which was followed by Ember rushing forward and charged into a lone Pygmy that emerged from the small structure, before she jumped into the air and smashed the house with the Horn Dive, though as she did that she found some more straw baskets near a button on the ground, which was followed by Flame smashing the button into the ground and that seemed to raise the couple of wooden platforms they had passed by a few moments ago, where Cynder used them to get up to the higher platform and then started using the Pole Spin to move across all of the wooden poles that were keeping the makeshift windmills up. Even if she had to avoid the spinning blades, which slowed her down a little, it didn't take her long to reach the area that was at the end of the path she was following, one that ended with her reaching a platform that had a Light Gem waiting for her, though as she collected the gem she could see Spyro smashing a few metallic chests and some straw baskets, and when she returned to where Spike was standing she added the newest Light Gem to the collection, just like they did whenever they found one in the past, before they focused on the tunnel that was heading out of this area and would no doubt take them to Cloudy Domain, the last realm that they had to help out in this homeworld.

The tunnel, as it turned out, was another one that had some quicksand and some patches of ground for them to get over, though at the end of it the group discovered another shop pad that told them that they had reached the next area, or at least part of it since they weren't in Cloudy Domain just yet, though there was a gap in the ground in front of them and a few stone steps off to the side, not to mention a Gnorc Brute standing near a seashell platform, so it didn't take Ember all that long to knock off it's armor and open the way for Cynder to take it down with a headbutt. The seashell platform, once it was being powered by Spyro's Lightning Breath, took him over to a side section that had three Armored Crabs, a decent number of metallic chests, a number of straw baskets, a bullseye chest, and a Gnorc Brute, where the rest of the group caught up with him and lashed out at the Armored Crabs, taking them out in seconds, before Spyro used his runeblade to take down the Gnorc, something that was followed by him using his Lightning Breath so Hunter could use the seashell platforms, of which there were two in this area, to get up to where another Light Gem rested. With that in hand he made his way down to where the group was standing and added the gem to the bag that contained the rest of the other Light Gems, though once that was done they made their way back to where the newest shop pad rested and crossed over to the other side of the area it happened to be resting in, which was where they found an elevator that looked more like a rather large propeller and an opening in the cave it was resting in, to which everyone stepped onto the platform and Spike used his power to activate the platform, allowing it to rise into the air and left the cave behind, a trip that allowed them to see the rest of the island when they reached a certain height. Of course that wasn't the only thing they could see, as they got a chance to stare out at the other islands that made up Capora, due to the fact that Flame and Aurora spotted Dragon Kingdom off in the distance, an island that was covered in snow and ice, which had to be Icy Wilderness, and a third island that had a volcano that had to be Volcanic Isle, the lair of their foe, as that had to be where they would fight Red once they took care of Ineptune and whoever protected the third island, while above them rested a number of metallic structures that were either floating in the air, floating on the clouds, or generating their own clouds.

Fortunately it didn't take them all that long to reach the large platform that the elevator came to a stop in, where it locked into place when they reached their destination, to which the group walked off what they had been riding on and stared at the reddish sky that was around them, not to mention all of the machinery that seemed to be scattered all over the place, before they noticed something interesting, there were a few Gnorcs that had what appeared to be wings, just like the few Flying Rhynocs the group had faced when they were assisting the residents of Avilion. None of them were at all surprised to find another shop pad up here, even if no one needed to use it, before spotting a metallic container off to the left of the start of the thin path that would allow them to delve deeper into this realm, which was when they found a golden chest to the right of the same area, something that Spike approached while noticing that the Gnorc Brute that was in front of them did nothing since its back was turned towards them, which caused Ember to grin as she jumped into the air and whacked it in the side of the head, sending it flying off the walkway and, interestingly enough, caused some gems to fall as Cinder and the other dragonflies collected them. Once that was done they focused on the chest as Spike unlocked it, revealing the Light Gem that had been resting inside the container, one that was quickly added to the bag the others were resting in, but once that was done the group turned their attention to the path that rested in front of them and walked across it, though it was a short walk over to the first structure of this realm, a small one that had a pair of straw baskets for them to smash, had a button to press, and a bullseye off to the side, where the oddly placed sign was hit by Aurora a few seconds later and caused the propellers that they had walked by to rotate until they revealed another pair of buttons, where it appeared that each of the two buttons caused some platforms to lower down into a new position for them to use. Ember struck the one that was to the left of the platform, approaching the first structure anyway, while Flame did the same to the one on the right side, though the group jumped up onto the platform to the left of the path and found a Flying Gnorc between this platform and the next one that an armored Gnorc Brute was standing on, so what they did was let Bianca blast the Flying Gnorc in the chest with a Fireball and opened the way for Flame to strike the Gnorc Brute in the chest, knocking the armor off so Amelia could put an arrow in its chest, allowing them to jump over to the area it was guarding.

They found a pair of metallic chests that were quickly broken open, a purple bullseye that, when smashed, produced gems for them to collect, and could see a Light Gem near their location, even if they had to access it through another method, to which they turned towards the structure that was to the left of the platform all of them were standing on and Spike took a moment to blast the Flying Gnorc with a Lightning Spear and opened the way to the center of the structure, where he took a few seconds to unlock the golden chest that was inside it while the others broke the pair of straw baskets and the pair of metallic chests that were near it, before he revealed a dragon egg with a flame design, which he sent back to the Nursery as the others headed through the open door that was behind the chest. As it turned out there wasn't much on the other side of the doorway, other than two straw baskets and a button, one that caused a platform in front of them to lower to a new position and showed them that there was another platform, this one smaller and moving much faster, that would let them move forward through this area, to which Spyro quickly jumped over to the much smaller one and rode it to the next area it would take them to, even though he then had to flame a Flying Gnorc and jump onto another small platform to press onward, but from what he could tell this was taking him over to where a Dark Gem was resting. One thing he found out was that there was another type of platform in this realm, a disappearing one that would only vanish once all three of its rings were glowing, though he was able to take out a Flying Gnorc and a Gnorc Brute with ease, one being flamed while the other receiving a charge to the chest, before he entered the structure it brought him to and smashed all four of the metallic chests that were around him, not to mention the bullseye chest that was in the middle of the area, before lighting a firework that flew off and shattered the metallic container that was near where he was standing. It was around that time that Spike and the others caught up with him, since they took the platforms one at a time, before they jumped over to the platform that happened to be where the Light Gem was resting and added it to the bag Spike carried, though from what they could tell the Dark Gem Spyro had spotted could only be accessed from another section of this realm, to which they glided down to the walkway that was down below them and returned to the main path, only for Spyro to head down the main path, figuring that they would backtrack in a bit and they could grab what was over on the other path later, after they smashed some Dark Gems and liberated part of this realm.

With the way forward open the group a Gnorc Brute standing outside the first structure of this realm and that was when Elora kicked it in the chest, knocking it into a pile of gems while Aurora smashed the nearby bullseye chest as Bianca took a moment to focus on the Flying Gnorc that was between them and the first Dark Gem of this area, where she quickly hurled a Fireball through the air and took her target down, opening the way for them to jump over the pair of platforms that were in front of them and landed on the larger platform, in front of the Dark Gem to be exact. Cynder smashed the sinister gem to pieces not a few seconds later, something that caused the darkness to fade as one of the broken machines pieced itself back together and started to work once more, which could mean that the Gnorcs had damaged this place when Red told them to attack it, though the others smashed the couple of dark crystals that were near them and stared at the metallic container that was nearby, which they would have to find a firework for, which was followed by them moving over to the next part of the realm. There was a Flying Gnorc in the air near where they were standing, to which Spike put it down with a swift Wind Shuriken spell, though as he did that Ember found a firework resting nearby and flamed it, where the group watched as it flew through the air and smashed into the metallic container that was near their current location, which was a little weird since they were thinking that it might take down the first one they had seen, to which Amelia collected all of the fire bombs that had been freed from the container before they headed over to the whirlwind that was near where the firework had been resting, where Ember informed them that she had also smashed some metallic chests as well, before they used the whirlwind to get to the level above them. What the group found on the next level were three more metallic containers and a path that lead deeper into this realm, which had a pair of Flying Gnorcs and a Gnorc Brute standing in the way, so what happened next was that Spike and Bianca blasted the flying enemies out of the air as Elora rushed forward and punched the Gnorc Brute in the chest, dropping it to the ground and opening the way for them to collect a Light Gem, before they jumped over to the next structure and found a shop pad waiting for them, which was when Flame and Aurora told them that they were close to the next Dragon Elder's location, based on what they remembered anyway.

What they did was head around the curved structure that was in front of them and smashed some straw baskets, before locating what appeared to be a Gnorc Warrior who had a shield with Red's face on it, or at least that was what they were assuming the red drawing on the metal was, even though it didn't last too long as Ember smashed her way through all of its armor and Spyro put it down with a burst of fire, while Flame smashed a purple bullseye for the gems, which was when they found a short walkway that brought them to another gadget pad that had the Professor's hologram on it, which made them wonder if there was another gadget they needed to save up for.

"Well done my friends, by my calculations, which I double checked, you have finally gathered the forty Light Gems needed to power the Supercharge Gadget," the Professor informed them, meaning that they must have gathered the necessary gems a few moments ago, which Spike could confirm after looking at what was inside the Light Gem bag he was carrying, which informed the group that they could backtrack to the swamp and see what they might have missed if they wanted to, even though they would be focused on making sure the realms of this homeworld were safe and sound.

As it turned out this version of the Supercharge Powerup wasn't the same as the one they got from the Gates or from all of the markings that were on the ground, as this gadget quickly energized their bodies with the power of the Supercharge as each of them stepped over the pad, something that was rather interesting to Spike as he thought about what they were now capable of and noticed the slightly orange glow to their bodies, which was followed by Flame jumping over to the next platform and smashed through the metallic door with a simple charge, something that seemed to surprise him and Aurora when they came to a stop. What they found on the other side of the door was three metallic chests and a golden one, to which the group made sure to break the metallic ones and collect the gems that were inside them, while at the same time Spike used his magic to unlock the golden chest, which had a light green egg with blue swirls inside it that he sent back to the Nursery, though as he did that the others took out the pair of Gnorc Brutes that were outside the structure and made sure to smash the straw baskets and purple bullseyes that were around the area. Once that was done the group glanced out at the area and found that there might not be a way forward from where they were standing, meaning there had to be a path nearby that none of them had noticed yet, before they headed back to where the Supercharge Gadget rested and whacked the bullseye sign that was on the back side of the structure that had to be where the next Dragon Elder had to be waiting for them, something that seemed to open the front of the building, or at least that was what they assumed based on what they heard a few seconds later. Of course that was followed by Cynder using the new gadget and charged back to where the three metallic containers were resting, where she smashed them to pieces and collected the gems with ease, but once that was done they stepped into the main structure, which was where they found a dull yellow scaled dragon in the middle of a seemingly empty area, with a pale colored chest, who happened to be wearing the same attire as the rest of the Dragon Elders and carried the same staff as the others, but he seemed somewhat older than the couple of Elders they had the honor of meeting.

"Ah, the young heroes have arrived at last. I have been expecting you for some time," the Elder said, where he tapped his staff against the ground for a few seconds as he tapped his brown horns for a moment, almost like he was trying to hear something or listen to someone who wasn't in the area right now, before his focus shifted towards them and they could see that they had it entirely this time around, "Sorry, I thought I heard someone talk. Anyway, I hear that your interested in Red, not to mention learning new skills to help you in your quest... well, from what I remember Red was banished from the Order of Dragon Elders for his terrible crimes against us and the residents of Capora, though I have to say that it pains me to think of the evil that my friend has been possessed by."

"Possessed by? You mean he wasn't always evil?" Aurora asked, because this was the first time that she had heard such a thing and she could tell that Flame was the same way, making her wonder if they might be on the track to learning a secret that only the Elders knew about, though at the same time Spike had his journal and writing materials at the ready, as he wanted to make sure he got all of this down before they moved onto the next part of the realm, all while the others stood at the ready, as they were more interested in the next skill they might be learning.

"Yes, he used to be one of our greatest champions, a defender of the light, while being one of the greatest magic users we have ever seen," the Elder said, where he seemed to think about what he was talking about for a few seconds, no doubt due to the fact that he was calling upon some old memories, before he opened his eyes and focused on the group again, almost as if he was looking at something else and not those that were standing in front of him, which was when he sighed and resumed talking, "he was a scholar, who studied the past and whatever interested him, but one day his personality changed, and I mean it changed entirely and without reason, leading to a darker Red than what we knew... I wonder what sort of dark secrets he learned that could have caused this to happen. Anyway, that's all I have to say on the matter, so let me teach you a trick I picked up over the years, the art of using your wings as shields..."

"Not to sound disrespectful or anything, but we sort of learned this trick in the past," Cynder said, where she and the rest of the dragons folded their wings in front of their faces for a few moments, even if Flame and Aurora didn't do that since neither of them actually knew what the heroes were doing, something that caused the Elder to raise an eyebrow as he stared at what they were doing, to which he nodded his head a few seconds later and beckoned for them to lower their wings, showing that he was impressed by what he had seen.

The Elder, who Flame and Aurora revealed was called Titus, an interesting name when the group considered the names of all the other dragons they had met over the years, indicated that he would allow the main group to teach their new friends the Wing Shield at some point in the future, or at least they could learn how to wield this technique while traveling through Cloudy Domain and the rest of the realms that were ahead of them, though once he said that the third door that was in this structure opened and revealed a path for the group to take, one that formed as they walked outside, even if it was a little short and they had to jump to the next platform they were going to explore. The next platform just so happened to have one of the light green eggs with blue swirls resting on it, one that Spike sent off to the Nursery as soon as they found it, though once that was done the group glanced at the area they were in and spotted a Gnorc who was using a balloon to float in the air, who carried a boomerang in its right hand, something that was followed by the Balloon Gnorc throwing its weapon at them and Spyro lowered his wings accordingly as it came at them, where he was able to redirect the weapon back at its owner and smashed the balloon to pieces, dropping the Gnorc in the process. Once that was done they headed up the path that the Balloon Gnorc was guarding and tackled the couple of enemies that were resting along the way, a few Balloon Gnorcs and a few Flying Gnorcs, something that gave Flame and Aurora time to mimic what they had seen Spyro do earlier, which was followed by them being surprised when they were able to redirect the boomerangs towards those that threw them, allowing the group to reach the end of the path and discovered a Light Gem for their efforts, though as Spike claimed it he spotted something interesting, there was a platform with a whirlwind off in the distance, one that they could glide to from where the Light Gem had been resting. As such the group flew over to where the platform rested, all while Bianca made sure to teleport the others to the area the others were heading towards, something that allowed them to access an area that a golden chest rested in, one that had a number of golden yellow gems inside it when Spike used the unlocking spell on it, before discovering that this was the end of the path and they headed back to where Elder Titus was resting, as it appeared that this was the end of the path the third door had revealed, which involved them heading all the way back to the start to see what the other side area they had ignored held for them.

They discovered another Balloon Gnorc resting in the section that had been opened earlier, where Elora stepped forward a few seconds later and found out something interesting, she was capable of replicating the Wind Shield technique, just as Flame and Aurora could, and sent the boomerang back at the one that threw it, allowing the others to see that there was another one in the area ahead of them and Spike blasted its balloon without delay, choosing a Lightning Bolt this time, to which the immediate area was cleared of enemies and they had to chose between two directions, one heading off to their left and the one that was in front of them. That was when Ember decided not to play around as she flew through the air and tackled the path that was in front of them, where she found a number of Flying Gnorcs and a Balloon Gnorc, to which she drew the Fangs of Felinia and cut down the foes that were in her way, even though all she found in the area was one of the Light Gems, something that she claimed and returned to where Spike was standing, allowing him to put it away while at the same time revealing she had found a number of disappearing platforms in the area it had been resting in, though once that was done they headed down the main path of this area. They found a pair of Balloon Gnorcs guarding the path Spyro was heading down, where Cynder and Aurora landed in front of him and raised their wings to redirect the incoming boomerangs towards their owners, taking them out in seconds, before finding a moving platform that would allow them to access a disappearing platform that had a dark purple egg with yellow stars on it, while the second area seemed to be the main walkway, to which Hunter jumped down into the lower area as the others reached the upper path, where he used a second moving platform to get up to them a few moments later, something that was followed by him hanging the egg over as Spike checked it out and then sent it back to the Nursery. With that done Ember smashed a pair of straw baskets and a bullseye chest that happened to be resting near them, allowing Cinder to pick up the freed gems, before they headed for the smaller platforms that were close to where everyone was standing and discovered that they were connected to each other, as in one would move when someone was standing on the other one, so Hunter and Amelia volunteered to use the pair themselves, where they did so and loosed a few arrows at the Flying Gnorcs and the seagulls that were apparently in the middle of dropping bombs on one of the platforms, with the dragonflies collecting the fallen arrows so they didn't run out in the near future.

As it turned out the pair of rotating platforms seemed to be the only way to move forward, so with Hunter and Amelia in the middle of using them Spyro and the other dragons flew through the air as Bianca teleported herself after them, only all of them waited for their friends to reach what seemed to be the end of this area and beckon for them to catch up, where they found that Hunter and Amelia came to a stop outside a structure, even though the odd thing about this area was the couple of laser walls that could be protecting something, though Spike determined that it might be to keep certain foes out of this area, even if it utterly failed in that regard. The structure seemed to be more of a break area and less of some place they might find any Dark Gems, Light Gems, or even dragon eggs in, so what they did was smash the purple bullseye that rested nearby, something that was followed by Ember growling as she charged outside and started to follow a Thief who had been keeping silent since the moment it spotted them, even though that ended with her crushing her target into the wall and forced it to drop the white egg with green dots it had been carrying, which Spike sent back to the Nursery not even a few seconds after his sister recovered it. Once that was done the group allowed Hunter and Amelia to use the next set of rotating platforms to reach the next structure that happened to be in front of them, which allowed them to take out the Flying Gnorc that was in front of them, opening the way for them to reach the area that the next Dark Gem was resting in, even though they had to go through three Flying Gnorcs and a Gnorc Brute, so Bianca used a Lightning Bolt to blast the Flying Gnroc that was right in front of them out of the way so Spike could loose a pair of Fireballs at the next top, though that was when Elora jumped forward and quickly knocked the next foe off the walkway it was standing on. With that done the rest of the group caught up with her and they headed around the side of the structure, where they smashed the first of the dark crystals and entered the center of the building, which just so happened to be an area that had a few straw baskets and some metallic chests, leading to Ember and the others to smash them open as Spyro used the platform to rise up to the upper level and walk out to where the Dark Gem was resting, even though he smashed it with the Horn Dive not a few seconds later and caused part of the next structure to repair itself, including a walkway that they would have to jump over to so they could continue exploring this realm.

As they expected there was another shop pad at the end of the walkway, at the start of the next area since the Dark Gems seemed to be placed at what appeared to be the end of one area and the start of another, though once they had a chance to see that there was another Dark Gem resting near the area they were in, even if they would head over there by using the path that was in front of them, the group used the nearby whirlwind and headed up to what was above the start of this section of this realm, which was when they found Sgt. Byrd standing outside an oddly place portal.

"Ah, hello again my friends, I have discovered another Speedway that uses the same rules as the last one," Sgt. Byrd said, to which he gestured to the portal he was standing near, though even as he said that Ember smashed the Gnorc Brute that was on the walkway that was behind them and kicked it off the edge, before returning to where the others were standing so they could listen to what their friend had to say, which just so happened to be when he switched back to focusing on all of them as he smiled, "What do you say, shall I take it on and recover whatever there is to find?"

Spyro nodded his head and sure enough Sgt. Byrd headed through the portal that was behind him, to which the rest of the group scattered and took up some positions around the portal, as this would allow them to rest up a little, make sure all of their equipment was fine, and have some conversations if they wanted to, though for the most part they remained silent as they waited for their friend to return to them, and when he did a few minutes later he first handed over a purple egg with yellow stars and then gave them the Light Gem that went with the second challenge, but once the egg was sent back to the Nursery Sgt. Byrd saluted all of them and departed from the area they were in. Once that was done the group took a moment to turn around and walked along the walkway that was behind them and found an armored Gnorc Brute that was walking on part of it, who didn't do much to the group as Ember struck its armor off and opened the way for Elora to kick it while Spike shocked it with a Lightning Bolt, which was overkill when the rest of the group considered what they were seeing at the moment, before they found two more Flying Gnorcs that were in the air between the top of the rather thin structure that was at the end of their walkway and the next structure, which happened to be the area that the next Dark Gem was resting in, though this time Hunter and Amelia took their foes down as Flame messed with the button that rested near them, which seemed to mess with a fan that generated a whirlwind, though since it was below them it didn't seem like it was even remotely necessary for them to use. Once the enemies were taken care of they glided over to the base of the next structure and walked around for a few moments, which allowed Aurora to mess with another button that messed with some platforms that formed a way back to the start of this section of the realm, though that was when they entered the building and used the platform that was inside it to reach the area that the next Dark Gem rested in, which was followed by Flame smashing it to pieces with a Horn Dive and they watched as the darkness in this area was reversed, restoring another structure to its former glory and lowered four platforms into position, allowing them to access another building that happened to rest at the end of it.

Inside the building they found one of the Ball Gadgets and the group accessed it without delay, though what they found on the other side was what appeared to be a raceway of sorts, a ramp that seemed to head to a lower area and might have a dragon egg, possibly even a Light Gem, but from what the group could see the path forward was rather easy for them to get around and nothing really showed them down as they claimed the dark purple and yellow stared egg, something that was followed by the machine resetting everyone, with part of the track shifting, and they raced forward once more, which swiftly ended with them grabbing a Light Gem at the end, even though that ended with them being ejected back into the building the Ball Gadget was located in. Of course that was when they discovered that the building they were in was right behind the starting area of this realm, as in they were near the first area they had explored, and there just so happened to be a firework for them to light, one that smashed the first metallic container of this area to pieces and revealed all of the gems that had been locked inside it, something that caused them to glide down to where it was located and they picked all of them up, even though that was where Spike determined that they had gathered everything in this realm, as in all of it and not leaving something behind for them to pick up later, to which the group climbed back onto the platform and let it take them back down to Coastal Remains. It didn't take them all that long to return to the area that they had first found this platform in, so when it came to a stop they jumped off of it and headed back through the rest of the tunnels that were in front of them, though upon their return to the beach that the Transportation Device was in they came to a stop in front of the cave that was blocked by the darkness, where the dark trees returned to being lively, the dark goo disappeared, and the barrier itself faded away, opening the way for Spyro and the others to head into Ineptune's lair and see if they could talk some sense into the toxic mermaid, though even as that happened the dark sky, caused by the ten Dark Gems that had been scattered all over the place, faded away and returned to normal.

The tunnel that was on the other side of the cave entrance allowed them to delve deeper into the area that they had just saved from Red's darkness, even though it looked like the area they were entering was part of Sunken Ruins and had been separated from the rest of it at some point in the past, and the odd thing was that the couple of Crabs that were in this area fled, meaning they didn't have to waste energy on them, before they eventually reached a large acid filled area that had a large platform for all of them to stand on... though as they did that, however, a large mermaid, easily twice or even three times larger than the last one they had seen, emerged from the liquid and they found that it matched what they had been told when they first entered this homeworld.

"So, you are the heroes that Red told me about," Ineptune commented, where she swam around the area they were in for a few moments, where it was clear that she was studying all of them for some time, her eyes lingering on Elora for a time, no doubt due to the fact that Elora was now two creatures merged into a single form thanks to what Ripto did to her, but as she did that Spike noticed the darkness that came from the gemstone that was attached to her belt, making him think of it like the other dark pieces of jewelry he and the others had seen in the past, "You know, none of you are as tall as I was expecting, after seeing Red a few times."

"Well, that's because Red is an adult dragon and we're still teenagers, there's a difference," Spike replied, though even as he said that he had to wonder if there was anything else the mermaid might have to tell them, just like when they fought Gnorc and all of their other enemies, but that was when everyone jumped to the side as Ineptune loosed a burst of her poison breath at them and only hit the platform, which seemed to run off the platform and fall into the pool that was all around them, to which he glanced at Spyro and the others, who nodded their heads as they spread out and made it so the toxic mermaid had to choose who to go after.

What happened was that Ineptune went after Flame and Aurora first, throwing a trio of Poison Balls at the former before loosing a burst of her Poison Breath at the latter, something that was followed by the inexperienced dragons dodging the attacks that were aimed at it, before Aurora charged into the gemstone that was resting in the middle of the belt, causing some damage to it that caused Ineptune to be pushed backwards by the force of the attack, where Spike nodded his head for a seconds, as attacking the mind controlling gem seemed to be the best way for them to damage the mermaid and put an end to this battle. What happened after that was that Ineptune went under the acid and part of the platform seemed to lower not a few seconds later, replaced by a brand new platform that had a turret of some kind on it, though that was the moment that Bianca raised a barrier between them and the device so none of its blue beams, which were rather weak, did any damage to them before the platform switched out with the previous one and they kept their eyes open for Ineptune, as there was no telling who she might attack next, especially since she knew neither Flame or Aurora were the weaklings she might have been told about before they came to this island. A few moments later Ineptune hurled another set of her Poison Balls through the air and targeted Cynder this time around, who her magic and dived into the shadows to avoid both the attacks that were coming at her and the Poison Breath that followed it, though once that was done she burst out of the shadows and slammed into the crystal everyone would be targeting, damaging it a little more in the process while also knocking their foe backwards, which was around the time that Hunter and Amelia realized that they might not be able to do much against this foe, unlike how they helped take down Gnasty Gnorc. Not a few moments later the same thing as before happened, one of the three sections of the platform lowered and was replaced by one with a turret, which Bianca prevented from touching them with a magical barrier, before Ineptune moved around and targeted someone else, where it was Spike this time, who used his magic to parry the incoming attacks with Fire based spells of equal power, and when he opened the way forward Ember charged straight into the gemstone and knocked their foe backwards, where she took a moment to frown as some of the poison drained out of the area and they lowered to a new level, making them wonder if there was a new attack they needed to watch out for.

Not a few moments later the group discovered that Ineptune didn't change her attack pattern, save for two sections of the platform shifting with turrets this time around, and that meant they were able to overcome her poison based attacks with ease, making way for Spyro and the others who hadn't charged into the dark gemstone to do the same thing whenever the way was open for them to do so, before Spike stepped up after the ninth strike to the dark gemstone and blasted it with a spell he had been readying, shattering the gemstone and breaking the mind control that had been placed on Ineptune by Red. Once that happened Ineptune paused for a moment before realizing what had happened, informing the group that her usual belt had been replaced by a brand new one, as the new one had been a gift from Red the last time she saw him, due to the fact that she had no communications with the Dragon Elders and had no idea he was so evil, so she had been tricked into wearing a mind control device and it seemed to have worked, so much so that she even sealed away one of the Fairies of Capora, Aqua, inside part of her attire and that was when she freed the Fairy in question, where she even apologized profusely for doing such a thing to her, where the blue robed Fairy sighed and accepted the apology before she gave Spyro and the others a gift, the Water Breath, meaning every dragon, despite their innate elements that they started with, now had two elements, with Spyro, Cynder, and Spike being the ones with more than two. As Aqua did that Ineptune took a moment to soak up the poison that was around them and returned it to a pure watery area so the others could be safe when they swim over to a tunnel, one that seemed to have a way for them to use their new breath for a few seconds, though the tunnel happened to be the one that allowed them to enter this area in the first place, so they took a moment to actually test the breath out, which was Spyro trying it out and discovered that they were capable of summoning water to fire at things, capable of turning water wheels, something that allowed them to head outside the cave and return to the start of this homeworld, all while Ineptune returned to the area she called home. With this homeworld saved from Red's plans, and they were sure of that after everything they had seen so far, the group headed over to where the Teleportation Device was located and prepared to teleport over to Icy Wilderness, so they could see what Red was doing to that island and stop it as well, before putting a stop to Red's plans entirely.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work

[PrismStrike]

Cloud Domain:
Eggs Recovered: 8

Total Eggs Recovered: 38 / 80

wow so much to unpack in this chapter. Cloudy Domain was definitely an interesting realm and the use of different abilities than normal has also spiced the combat back up ^^ Now that the group has 40 light coins I think its time to head back to the first realm to pick up the last of the dragon eggs there, mostly so i can get the count up to where it should be. Another realm + boss fight chapter as well, gotta say Ineptune was far more useless than Gnorc boi was in her fight though i do wonder if thanks to her new form if Elora got the water breath as well. As always another great chapter, looking forward to the next. Keep up the great work

[Comickook]

Whoa mama. Another great chapter. The exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up are all wonderfully done. Once more, the gang's teamwork in general is awe-inspiring, plus the detail of the modifications to the "super-charge", as well as the "wing shield" and the little bits of extra background concerning Red, were all great. And, loved the group utterly kicking Ineptune's tail.

Very certainly looking forward to more of this.