Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Hero: Checking Frostbite Village

With the realms of Lost Cities liberated from Red's forces, and Ineptune was free to return to her home, even though she insisted on making amends for what she had done while she was under the influence of the mind control gem, the group returned to where the Professor's Teleportation Device rested and started to use it so they could get to the third island and see what sort of dangers awaited them, not to mention all of the challenges that their friends had likely discovered after helping them with the last portals and holes they had found them near. As such Spyro was the first one to use the device and teleported over to Icy Wilderness, or more specifically Frostbite Village according to Flame and Aurora, and when he arrived in their next destination he made sure to move out of the way so the others could safely teleport to the new realm that they would be exploring next, where it appeared that he had appeared in an area that had a few houses around the device's location, one that just so happened to be where Moneybags was setting up shop while they explored the third island and faced everything Red had assembled to stop him and the others. One thing he was grateful for was the fact that Spike had made sure to cast the Heat Aura spell on everyone in the group, that way they wouldn't be all that bothered by the snow that was falling on this area, not to mentioned the chill that was in the air, as he could pleasantly stroll through the area the Teleportation Device was in and not be all that bothered by what was going on around him, though that was around the time that Spike and the others started to teleport over to where he was standing and glanced out at the area he had been staring at, where they could see that the trees were covered in snow and had no leaves, or at least the ones that were near Moneybags' shop were that way.

Once everyone had appeared on this side of the Teleportation Device, and knew that they could now travel between three of the four homeworlds whenever they wanted, the Professor's hologram appeared near the machine not even a few seconds later, indicating that he had some information to share with them before they started exploring this homeworld, hence the reason the group paused for a moment as they waited to hear what he had to tell them this time around, even if they knew it was likely advice from the previous Dragon Elders they had encountered.

"Spyro, it is good to see that you and the others have arrived in the beautiful, but cold, Icy Wilderness," the Professor said, though as he said that he glanced down at the clipboard he carried around with them and checked some of his notes for a few seconds, which meant he was likely double checking something he had written down earlier, before he glanced back up to the group that was patiently waiting for him to reveal whatever it was that he wanted to tell them, or whatever one of the other Dragon Elders wanted him to tell them, "Now, from what I have been told, you need to make your way to a realm called Ice Citadel, which is where you'll find the next Dragon Elder who might be able to tell you more about Red and teach you a brand new move to help you out in the future."

"Good to know that we have an idea of where to find them," Elora commented, as they had no idea if the Dragon Elder for this homeworld was male or female, due to the fact that the other Elders didn't want to tell them that before they met the next Elder, though at the same time the rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, as it was nice to have some idea as to where they had to go next, even if none of them really had an idea where Ice Citadel was located, something that would require Flame and Aurora to help them out.

The Professor nodded his head for a moment and the hologram disappeared, to which the group stepped forward and walked down into the village that was in front of the Teleportation Device, where they discovered a fountain that was totally frozen over and some paths that seemed to head out into the other areas of this realm, and possibly the other two realms that they would tackle before facing the guardian that Red had placed in this homeworld, before noticing that a penguin happened to be standing near a metallic gate, who seemed different from the other penguins they had seen in the past, though instead of worrying about it they headed into Moneybags' shop, where Spike found that he had put a few enchantments down to help with the cold, just to see what he had to tell them.

"Ah, I'm glad you were able to free Lost Cities from Red's grasp," Moneybags said, speaking the moment the ground came to a stop in front of the counter that he was standing behind, though at the same time he let out a sigh as he considered what he was trying to do for them, almost like he was indicating that he had no luck in getting on Red's good side, before he glanced at the group and did his best to smile, where it did seem like he was worried that they might not be happy with him, given that this was the new Moneybags and not the old one they were used to dealing with, "I'm afraid that I don't have any good news for you, as Red refuses to actually give me any information on his plans and operations, so all I can do is tell you what he did after you defeated Ineptune and liberated Lost Cities from Red's dark grip: one of the Gnorcs told him about your achievement and Red outright blasted the creature into oblivion with a blast from his staff, showing that he had no mercy to spare for those that gave him bad news... though as that happened I noticed something odd, he had this intense aura of malice and darkness that seemed far too strong for someone like him, one that made me wonder if I was staring at Red or someone else."

"Well, Red is allied with the Dark Master, so I suppose its possible that the evil of the latter could have rubbed off on the former," Cynder commented, though while she said that she and Spyro knew that such a thing was likely incorrect, as it either seemed like Red could be wearing something on his body that allowed the Dark Master to mind control him and bend his will to whatever foul plans their true foe was working towards, or it might be that their true foe had possessed Red's body and was in control of his actions, though since they had no idea which of their ideas were true or not there was nothing they could do but speculate, before she returned to the other matter, "also, don't beat yourself up over this, as it seems that our enemies are far more cunning than Ripto and the others that we have faced over the years... minus Gaul, as that Ape was much smarter than some of the other foes we've faced."

The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, as the Ape King was definitely one of the smarter foes they had faced since each of them had started their own adventures, even if Flame and Aurora had no idea who they were talking about, before they left the building that Moneybags had set his shop up in and walked over to the area that the penguin was standing in, where it was easy for them to see that it stood almost as tall as Amelia did, while at the same time it had a blue checkered vest over its chest, a red bow tie, and a pair of glasses in front of its eyes.

"Ah, you must be the heroes that I heard about earlier, the ones taking the fight to Red and his allies," the penguin said, to which the group took a moment to nod their heads in confirmation, as it appeared that the individual that was in front of them was an ally and not one of Red's minions, and even if he was they were ready for the fights that were ahead of them as they explored the rest of this realm and the other realms that were part of Icy Wilderness, before they watched as the penguin beckoned to the iron barred gate that rested right behind him, "The area behind me is protected by a very clever security system that, might I add, I personally designed myself... something complex that those brainless Gnorcs would never be able to figure out, not even if they spent a hundred years trying to open it, but I'm willing to bet that one of you dragons, with your skill and intellect, could open it in no time at all."

"It wouldn't happen to be as simple as hitting all of the electrical nodes in this area, would it?" Spike inquired, as while they were listening to the penguin talk he noticed that there were a few of the metallic nodes resting around the area, which he and the others must have missed when the Professor was talking and when they rushed over to see if Moneybags' shop to see if he had some new information to tell them, before he glanced back to the penguin and noticed that he seemed at a loss for words, since he might have been expecting someone to actually ask him what the catch was or what they needed to do to open the barred gate, "A shame, I was looking forward to a challenge this time around... oh, and there are some Gnorcs that are much smarter than the others, so those ones would have likely figured it out before the others did, so you might want to think of a new security system to replace this one."

From what Spike could see there were six electric nodes that needed to be activated, one that happened to be to the right of where the penguin was standing, and that was walking towards the individual in question, the next was on top of the frozen fountain, one was resting near a metallic door and behind some tall ice spikes, the fourth was behind a fence that rested near the sealed off cave that rested near the Teleportation Device, another rested between some ice spikes, and the sixth rested right behind the device they had used to reach this homeworld, though once all six of them were active it wasn't long before the barred gate lowered and opened the way forward. Once the way was open Ember quickly smashed a bullseye chest and some straw baskets that were resting near the frozen fountain, though as soon as she did that, and picked up the gems that had been freed, they started to head through the tunnel that the barred gate had been blocking, where the penguin, Phil as he called himself, informed them that he knew they could solve his security measure and that he wanted them to keep an eye out for his wife, Peggy, as they explored the rest of the realm they were exploring, where the group nodded and headed into the tunnel at long last. Inside the tunnel they found a pair of metallic chests and, more importantly, a Gnorc wearing a snow uniform that allowed it to resist the cold and carried a sword in one hand, which was followed by Hunter rushing forward and used one of his blades to quickly parry the Gnorc Warrior's blade while using the second one to cut it down, all while Flame charged through the chests to break them up, before they walked down what was left of the tunnel and came to a stop on a ledge that was above a sunken section of the realm, as it looked like an area that a lake could have been in at one point in the past, before discovering a water wheel to their left and a pair of straw baskets to their right, which were smashed not a few seconds later. In that moment Aurora stepped forward and tapped into the new element they had unlocked after beating Ineptune and freed Aqua from her prison, where she summoned the water for a moment and channeled it on the water wheel, which caused the device to move and allowed a platform to move in the area that was in front of them, possibly at the same time as a metallic one did the same thing, before Cynder took to the air and landed on the platform, which allowed her to jump up to a small area that had a button that she used the Horn Dive on it, something that caused a barred gate that was some distance in front of them to lower, revealing the way to a Light Gem and who knew what else.

While she did that the nearby snowman burst open and a mole wearing a snow suit, making it look more like an eskimo, or an Eskimole in this case, with a spear landed behind Cynder, though that was when Spyro rushed through the air not even a few seconds later and smashed right into the Eskimole's chest, smacking it right into the wall that was behind it and let a pile of gems fall, meaning that Red had created even more types of enemies for them to deal with, even though he did see a female penguin resting in the area below them, as it was wearing a pink dress made and he made an assumption on what it was, before he and Cynder used the platform to head over to the Light Gem, which involved breaking a bullseye chest and a pair of metallic chests before giving Spike the gem they found. Since it seemed that Peggy was busy right now, and might not have noticed that they were in the area she was standing in, the group gathered in the lowest part of the area and touched down on the icy ground, before heading into a cave that just so happened to have a Dark Gem inside it, so what happened was that Elora smashed the sinister gem to pieces while Spyro did the same to a nearby metallic chest, though as the gemstone was shattered part of the nearby ground broke open and revealed a tunnel that had been hidden previously, to which they headed down the iced over stone steps that were below them and came to a stop for a moment when they found an area that had eight Eskimoles guarding the area. What was interesting was that some of them were in the middle of pushing explosive containers between them, using the slippery icy ground that rested in front of where they were standing, though what was important about this area was that there happened to be an egg with a flame design in this area and a golden chest near it, so that was when Bianca sent out a burst of Wind Shuriken and took out three of the eight enemies, Amelia used her arrows to take down a few more, and Spike blasted the remaining few, though once all of their foes had been taken care of the others dealt with the couple clusters of straw baskets that were around the area they had found, allowing Spike to focus on the egg and golden chest, sending the former back to the Nursery and the latter had some Lightning Bombs inside it. Once they were done with everything that was inside this area, and they were sure that there were no more hidden passages in this area, the group turned around and headed back up to the area that they had seen Peggy in, as they were sure that they would be able to find a Light Gem, possibly an egg as well, by helping her out, before they focused on the rest of the realm they were in and whatever else Red had placed in this realm to stop them from finding the Dragon Elder and the other Dark Gems.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here! Nasty creatures have taken over the skating rink... and I can't find my husband Phil, who was supposed to be helping me." Peggy said, revealing that there might have been a real reason behind why the barred gate had been set up in the village, instead of what he told them when they came to a stop in front of him earlier, but even as they thought about that the group decided to see what in the world was going on in the skating rink, to which they took a moment to walk through the tunnel that was behind Peggy.

What they discovered was that the skating rink was more like a playground with a house near it, maybe even a school due to what was around the area they had discovered, though that was when they found out that there was a cannon pointed down at the area in front of them and most of them stepped to the side as Hunter took control of the weapon and smiled for a moment as he focused on the area that was in front of where they were now resting, as he was waiting to see just how many enemies would rush out, because if it was anything like the turtle schools he might need help from Amelia and maybe even Bianca. As it turned out there were a number of Eskimoles that emerged from parts of the frozen lake that was down in the area he was firing on, though it wasn't long before Yetis appeared on the ledge that was above the lake, who seemed annoyed about something at the moment, so what Hunter had to do was take out all of the Eskimoles before he focused on the Yetis, and once the ones that were on the ledge were defeated more enemies appeared around the lake once more, with Amelia pointing them out to her brother. Once the entire first wave of Eskimoles and Yetis were done for, and Hunter was sure that there were no more coming for a time, Peggy rewarded their efforts with a dragon egg, one that had a purple upper half, a red lower half, and a yellow zigzag in the center, though they weren't given much time to rest, as the second wave of enemies started to invade the skating rink, something that was followed by Bianca loosing Lightning Bolts down at some of the Yetis and Eskimoles while Amelia loosed a few arrows into the air, striking some of their targets down before they got too close to damage the cannon that Hunter was controlling. It took them some time to take care of all of the enemies that were trying to invade the skating rink and do whatever it was that they were trying to do, as there had to be a reason besides ticking off Peggy, but once all of their foes had been taken care of Peggy rewarded them with a Light Gem and they headed back to the area that they had found her in a few moments ago, to which they jumped back up to the tunnel that would take them back to the start of this realm, because it was time to see where the next part of this realm was located and what it had to throw at them.

Once they returned to the main part of the village the group was able to find another iron barred gate that had a button in front of it, so they were able to open it up within a few seconds of reaching the area in question and headed into the new tunnel that was in front of them, where they found a Gnorc Brute guarding it and discovered that it was wearing armor to make sure it didn't fall within a single hit, though that was when Ember charged its armor right off its body and Elora was the next one to step up as she kicked it in the side of its head, sending it into the icy wall and caused a pile of gems to fall as they progressed through the tunnel. Of course they made sure to smash some metallic chests that were near the start of the tunnel, though the interesting thing about what was beyond where the Gnorc Brute had been standing was an area that a large snowball rolled through, so all they had to do for a few moments was keep pace with the snowball and walked down the path it was following, something that brought them to an area that seemed to be the end of the line for it and another one, showing that two large snowballs were smashed to pieces in this area, along with icy pillars, platforms, and light poles and they tried to figure out which path to head down next, before they spotted a few Eskimoles in this area, at the very least. Ember cut one of the Eskimoles down and opened the way for the rest of the group to jump down to where she was standing, though they also found a pair of Gnorc Warriors wandering around the area and a Gnorc Brute standing above some of them, so what happened was that Elora kicked the blade of one of the Gnorc Warriors to the side and then jumped into the air as Hunter loosed an arrow into her foe's chest, Cynder used the wind to slash through the other Gnorc Warrior, while Spike loosed a Fireball into the Gnorc Brute's back and knocked it out, allowing them to eliminate the foes that were in this area, or at least the ones they could see. That was followed by them heading over to where a pair of dark crystals happened to be resting and smashed them to pieces as soon as they found both of them, before jumping up a set of stone pillars and reached an area that happened to have another Dark Gem resting in the ground, one that Flame used the Horn Dive on and smashed it to pieces, causing the darkness that was in this area to disappear in a matter of seconds and made the mass of small snowballs that were blocking an opening disappear as well, opening the way to where Blink happened to be standing, meaning he must have found another cavern with a dragon egg and a Light Gem, even though there were some gems, a bullseye chest, and a metallic chest near him.

"Hey guys, I found another cavern in this area, one that should be more challenging than the last one," Blink stated, where it was clear that he was excited about what he might uncover inside the cavern, even though most of the group knew that things usually got more challenging the further along they got in an adventure, just like Spyro, Spike, and Ember had seen over the years, before he glanced at the hole that was behind him for a few seconds and smiled, "What do you say? Shall I go take a look?"

Spyro wasted no time in letting Blink know that they were going to wait here and rest for a time, allowing their friend to head into the hole and left them behind, where some of them made sure to smash the bullseye chest and the metallic one that was resting near it, before they spread out and simply waited for Blink to return, though this time around they knew it would take him some time to get back to them, as this cavern was likely more difficult than the previous ones he had gone through since they freed him from the cage he had been locked inside. Spike took the time to write down everything that had happened since he and the others arrived in Icy Wilderness and explored the area that was around Moneybags' new shop, mostly to make sure everything was written down exactly as it had happened, while the others stared out at the rest of the area that they had to explore, as there was more to this realm for them to explore and this would give them some time to determine which path to follow once Blink came back with the dragon egg and Light Gem that had to be inside the new cavern. It took Blink some time to make it back to them, revealing that the first thing he had found was a light blue egg that he delivered to Spike, who immediately sent it back to the Nursery so Nanny could add it to all the other eggs the group had recovered since this adventure had started, before adding a Light Gem for them to add to their collection, even though Blink admitted that the cavern he had found them in had been rather challenging and time consuming, which he was totally fine with since he had emerged with a whole bunch of gems for them to take, as in fifteen hundred from the area that the dragon egg had been resting in and two thousand from where the Light Gem had been resting, gems that he gave to the group, which Spike added to the bag that contained the rest of the normal gems. Once Spike was sure all of the gems were in the bags that he was carrying on his satchel, and Blink headed back underground so he could do whatever it was that he did between helping the group recover what had been stolen, to which they headed over to the snow covered path the Gnorc Brute of this area had been resting in, as it lead up to a wooden platform that allowed them to get to the point where they could jump up to an area that a button was resting in, one that was being guarded by a Gnorc Brute and a Yeti that smashed a snowman apart.

The Gnorc Brute didn't last all that long as Ember smashed its armor off and Cynder charged into its chest, while the Yeti fell once Bianca blasted it in the chest with a Fireball that caused it to fall off the ledge it was standing on, though when it came time for the button to be pressed, which Elora did once everyone was ready, a barred gate that was resting on the other side of this area lowered and opened the way for them to enter a brand new area, even though there was a Gnorc Warrior and an Eskimole standing on two of the three pillars that would allow them to access the area that the barred gate had been resting in. The first thing that happened after that was that Elora kicked open the metallic chest that was resting near them, though while she did that Amelia loosed an arrow at the Eskimole and Spike shocked the Gnorc Warrior with a Lightning Bolt, opening the way for Spyro and the others to make their way over to the new tunnel that had been opened by the button being pressed, even if they had to jump over a few platforms to reach it, though they had to take down yet another Gnorc Warrior that was standing directly in front of the tunnel, who fell as Spyro swung at it with the runeblade that he was carrying. What they discovered on the other side of the area it had been standing in was a few swinging log traps that had spikes attached to them, so what they did was jump over the gap that was in front of them, when they had a chance to do so, and then bypassed the one that was beyond that, entering an area that sort of looked like they might be entering a brand new area, where Spike confirmed that they were still in Frostbite Village, though the problem they quickly discovered was that this place had some walls, made out of timber and positioned as climbable posts in some sense, that none of them really had a move to use for these, so while they could just jump up the platforms they decided to check out the rest of the area and see what it had to throw at them. There, of course, was the shop pad that allowed the group to figure out that this was a new area in some sense, a barrel shaped caravan that had a broken wheel to their left, and it did look like there might be a cannon nearby, one that was out of reach, before they found two Eskimoles playing with a crate that was full of dynamite and two more resting on some steps that lead to another tunnel, so Hunter and Amelia quickly took care of the ones with the crate while allowing Spike to loose a pair of Fireballs into the air so he could take down the other two that were near the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel, however, the group found a large mammoth standing in the way, which appeared to be who Red might have selected to be the guardian of this homeworld, so it was weird to see it outside the cave they had spotted after their talk with Moneybags, but at the same time Spike noticed that there was a black collar around its neck and that it was very weak, where he nodded towards the others and both Spyro and Cynder flew forward, swinging their runeblades right at the collar and sliced it to pieces, though when they landed near the group the mammoth, instead of appreciating what they had done, went into a blind rage and smashed its head into the upper part of the tunnel, causing them to pull back as the end of the tunnel collapsed, meaning they wouldn't have to deal with the creature at all.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that to happen," Spyro commented, though as the others nodded their heads, and both he and Cynder sheathed their blades since they weren't needed at the moment, he tilted his head for a few seconds as he wondered what they were going to do now, as it sure looked like the way forward had been blocked for now, as there was no telling how much snow had fallen on the other side of the tunnel and how much they would have to dig out before they were able to reach the area that the mammoth had been standing in, something that made them wonder who the true guardian of this homeworld was, "So, what now?"

Spike started to open his mouth, as he had a few ideas on what they could do, but before he could say anything he felt a surge of magic in the air and watched as a portal opened in the space to their left, an ebony colored portal that had a red outline that seemed to take them to a glacier or something, to which he checked it for a moment and found that there was no evil or ill intent to the magic he was feeling, meaning someone might be watching them and had decided to help them out, so it wasn't long before he nodded and Spyro charged through it, followed by the rest of the group following after him so they could see what was on the other side... where they found a tunnel that seemed to bring them right to Bentley, who everyone was surprised to see at the moment, since he was busy elsewhere.

"Bentley? What are you doing here, in the lands of Capora?" Bianca asked, because the last thing she had heard was that he had been in the middle of a journey to Monkey Monastery, so he could visit his younger brother and likely take some time to see what the other Yetis were up to, maybe to learn something from them, though at the same time the rest of the group moved out of the tunnel that they had appeared in and dropped down into the area their friend was standing in, even though Flame and Aurora were surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, minus the side path that had a few wooden spike traps for some odd reason.

"Ah, hello friends. I was on my way to Monkey Monastery, when one of the portals I used suddenly dropped me off in this area and stranded me here," Bentley remarked, though his tone revealed that he wasn't too happy about what was going on, even if he was happy to see the group once more, before he glanced out at the area that was beyond the tunnel that they were standing in, where they could see that they definitely weren't in the same place they had been in earlier, before their run-in with the mammoth, which was when he glanced back to them, "Listen, do you mind helping me clear out the way to a nearby cave? I might be able to use it until I can find some transportation back home."

It didn't take the group long to agree to Bentley's request, as Bianca and Spike could easily form a bridge or something for him to use to get to the area in question, to which they started to move out and see what this new area had in store for all of them, even if this time around Hunter and Amelia were the ones to move forward and left the rest of the group in their dust, which Spyro and the others were just fine with since the Cheetah siblings didn't need their help, to which they took a moment to jump onto the side of the area and climbed on it, ignoring some frozen gems that Spyro was able to free with his Fire Breath. Hunter and Amelia made their way over to the cave that Bentley had pointed out, which appeared to be a home of some kind and that it had been vacant for some time, though when they entered the cave in question there were five Yetis for them to deal with, who seemed to be under Red's control since the first one they came across Amelia was able to cut down in seconds and left a pile of gems behind, something that caused Hunter to nod as they moved into the rest of the cave and hunted down all of the targets that seemed to be invading the area that Bentley wanted to reside in until he was able to return to the realm he was supposed to be in. A few minutes later the pair made their way out of the cave and revealed that they found a few golden chests inside the cave, which Bentley was more than willing to give them anything that was inside the chests in question, to which Spike and Bianca used their magic to create a walkway for their friend to get to the cave, which was already outfitted to be someone's home, even though Hunter said that none of the five Yetis that were inside it seemed to be using the cave for anything, before Spike found that the first golden chest had a few golden gems while the second had a pink egg with white flowers inside it, which he sent to the Nursery as soon as he got his claws on it. Once they were sure Bentley felt this place would be a good place to reside until he got in touch with the Professor, as he had no idea the genius mole was even in Capora, he rewarded them with a Light Gem he had found a few minutes before they suddenly arrived in the tunnel he had been standing in and also tapped something that lowered the gate that was blocking the other path they had seen, the one that had the wooden stake traps they had seen to the right of where he had been standing earlier, before he wished his friends well as they left to see what was at the end of this area, since they had no idea what else this part of Icy Wilderness had in store for them.

With the Light Gem added to their collection the group headed back over to the area that the wooden spike trap rested in and jumped up to the next area that was in their way, where they found a Yeti guarding some frozen gems, a pair of dark crystals, four buttons, and a machine that seemed to have two hammer shaped heads attached to it, so it could smash the area that was behind where the Yeti was standing and an area on the other side of the platform it was resting on, so Flame used his Fire Breath to torch both the foe that was in front of them and the gems that had been in front of it. Once that was done the group smashed the dark crystals and then positioned themselves in the rest of the area accordingly, where Spyro, Cynder, Spike, and Ember moved over to where the buttons were located and performed the Horn Dive on each of them, even though the hammer machine was stopped by Bianca's Ice magic freezing it, though once all four of them were pressed into the floor the nearby gate opened and they moved through it, avoiding the wooden stake traps before Elora punched the next Yeti that happened to be in the tunnel that was beyond the gate in the face, before finding that there were some poison fountains attached to the walls of the next area they would be moving through. One thing they found out was that Hunter and Amelia had their own methods for taking care of the metallic containers they passed by during their travels through the realms of Capora, one that they didn't share with everyone else due to all of the fireworks that had been scattered throughout the area they had explored so far, and revealed that they could use smaller cylindrical fireworks, attacked to an arrow, to blow their targets up, so when it was just the two of them they would use this method to break the metallic containers open and get the gems that were resting inside them. With that done the group carefully headed down the rest of the path and entered a chamber which had a raised platform that a Light Gem rested on, though when Spike collected it a barred gate rose out of the ground of the tunnel they had just walked through and sealed all of them inside the chamber as twelve Skeletal Warriors pulled themselves out of the ground and attacked them, where Elora kicked one in the side of the head and knocked it into a wall, revealing a bunch of gems in the process, meaning that Red had been experimenting with what he could create and that they didn't have to hold back against these enemies, which was what the others had been hoping to discover.

The Skeletal Warriors were pretty much worthless in a fight, as everyone in the group, especially Flame and Aurora, who weren't used to fighting enemies like this and were learning from watching all of the more experienced fighters, as it took a single hit from everyone in the group to defeat their respective foes, even if Spike focused on blasting the Skeletal Mage that was off to the side with a Lightning Bolt, though once all of the enemies had been taken care of the gate that was blocking the next tunnel lowered and they walked through it, where they found a golden chest along the way and Spike used his magic to open it, revealing an egg with a purple top, a yellow zigzag center, and red bottom. From there the group headed down the rest of the tunnel and found that they would have to jump along some platforms, while dodging some swinging stone axes, though while they took turns doing that Ember smashed a section of the wall on their left and found another dragon egg in this area, a pink one with white flowers, where Spike sent it and the multicolored one back to the Nursery so the pair could be added to the other eggs they had recovered so far, which was followed by them moving down the rest of the tunnel. There was a part of the tunnel where Hunter loosed an arrow through the air to hit a bullseye and raised a platform so the others could access what appeared to be the next part of this area, where a Yeti was standing with two Eskimoles standing near it, so Aurora flamed one of the Eskimoles as Ember did the same to the other one, which was when Spyro and Cynder used their combined Fire and Wind power to loose a powerful burst of flame to take down the Yeti that was standing in their way, allowing the rest of the group to land near the area they were fighting in and found yet a spinning spike trap that was easy bypassed since it stopped at one point and gave them more than enough time to get passed it and then jumped over a gap so Spike could blast a Yeti in the chest with a Fireball. The tunnel the Yeti was in the middle of guarding had another spinning trap for them to bypass, which ended by bringing them to a bullseye chest and opened the way for Hunter and Amelia to focus their arrows on the enemies that they could see from where they were currently standing, striking down several bats that were heading their way and taking down a Yeti that was on the other side of the cavern that they were standing in, though once those enemies were down for the count Bianca used her magic to make a walkover over to where a pair of metallic chests rested and then connected it to the tunnel the Yeti had been guarding, giving Ember a chance to smash the bullseye chest before following the rest of the group.

The tunnel they started walking through had another spinning trap for them to get around and then they found an area where some bones rested and a Yeti stood behind them, where a Light Gem happened to be resting, to which Cynder took a moment to use her Shadow Play and rushed over to her target's shadow so she could smash him through the bones and open the way to where the Light Gem rested, though as Spike collected the gem Ember smashed a few metallic chests as the others followed the rest of tunnel towards then end, or what they hoped was the end since they had no idea what else might be in this area or where an exit might be located. The group then found a Skeletal Warrior that seemed to be trying to guard a cavernous area that was the next part of the area, possibly the second realm of this homeworld, they needed to head through, which had some rather large bones resting all over the place and there was a Yeti rolling barrels down the spine that was in front of them, to which Spike threw up a barrier and let the barrels hit it, something that opened the way for Elora to fly around to where her target was rested and punched it into the bones that rested behind it, which was when Spike opened the way for the others to move forward, even though they could see a light green egg with blue swirls that rested below the spine walkway, though Spike flew down to where it rested and sent it to the Nursery. Once that was done he returned to where the others were standing, even if Flame and Aurora dealt with the pair of metallic chests and a lone bullseye chest to get all of the gems that were inside them, and headed down another spine as Hunter and Amelia rained arrows down on the bats that were coming in their direction, allowing Bianca to blast the next Yeti with a Lightning Bolt while Ember dealt with a Skeletal Warrior that was nearby, not to mention a second one that was a little further away from where the first one happened to be resting, which opened the way for the group to head over to where a new tunnel was resting and started to follow it deeper into the area they were in, which Spike was starting to assume was the inside of a massive glacier, or an underground cavern of some kind, even though Spyro had to flame a Yeti that suddenly popped up in their way, clearing out in a matter of seconds. The next tunnel had a few straw baskets for them to break and two of the poison vents to avoid, before they arrived in an area that had another large spine that was being used in a different way, as there were two large boulders rolling between two parts of the area and a Yeti who happened to be guarding yet another Light Gem, who Amelia took down with an arrow as Bianca formed a walkway for them to use so they didn't have to rely on the crumbling platforms that someone would normally use while exploring this area.

The walkway brought them to some spinning bone platforms, which the group totally ignored since Bianca's walkway was much more reliable than what had been placed here in the distant past, before they spotted a platform that had a dragon egg with a flame pattern on it, one that Spike immediately sent back to the Nursery as soon as they claimed it, while at the same time Ember knocked the Yeti who was standing on the platform above them onto its back so Cynder could knock it out and leave a pile of gems behind, opening the way for them to move forward. The tunnel that the Yeti had been in the middle of guarding happened to have a crack in part of the wall that Sparx and the other dragonflies flew into, allowing the rest of the group to sit down and rest as they waited for their friends to return, with both a dragon egg and another Light Gem, and, true to what the group believed, it didn't take Sparx and the others long to return to where the small crack was located, bringing a yellow dragon egg for Spike to send to the Nursery and a Light Gem to add to their collection, but once all of that was done they resumed moving down the tunnel they were in. When they reached the end of the tunnel the group found that it was another cavern that had some spine areas that the Yetis and Skeletal Warriors were standing on in the previous parts of this realm, though Bianca also used her magic to make a better walkway for them to use to get over to where a Yeti was standing, even if Spyro blasted it with his Lightning Breath to open the way forward, with Elora taking a moment to punch the Skeletal Warrior so she could collect its gems as the others headed up to the next platform that seemed to be leading them somewhere. As it turned out there was a Light Gem at the highest point of this area, to which the group paused for a moment as they considered what to do next since there was no path for them to follow from that point, before Spike spotted a section of the wall near the tunnel they had come from that seemed to be an area that Hunter and Amelia could climb, even though Bianca insisted on shifting her walkway so they could reach the end of the path he had discovered, mostly to let their friends conserve their energy for whatever else was down here, which was when Amelia loosed an arrow at a Yeti and hit a bullseye sign that opened the way to a Light Gem that was above the area she and her brother would have climbed had they taken on this area on their own, allowing Spike to fly over to where the Light Gem rested and claimed it like the others everyone had found since this adventure had started.

From there the group followed the next tunnel as it lead them deeper into the realm that they were in, bringing them to a few bear traps that activated and chomped down on nothing that was near each of them, to which Ember just cleared the way forward by charging through all of them, before finding another wall for Hunter and Amelia to climb, which seemed to head right into a fortress of some kind, which meant they had found the area the Professor had referred to as Ice Citadel, to which they decided to take a small break and regain whatever energy they had lost, as everyone had the feeling that the next leg of their journey was going to be difficult and that they would need to be prepared for anything and everything that might be inside the citadel.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work.

[PrismStrike]

Frostbite Village:
Eggs Recovered: 3

Gloomy Glacier:
Eggs Recovered: 5

Total Eggs Recovered: 46 / 80

oh wow a double realm chapter very ice. enjoyed seeing bently and Blink again (and once more another set of psychic damage from moneybags being good lol) getting close to red now and am looking forward to when the group finally comes face to face with the red dragon. Also I have to as i would lose my internet troll privaleges otherwise... "SPOOKY SCARY SKELEBROS!"
as always another great chapter, looking forward to what comes next. Keep up the great work

[Comickook]

Again, very good job on the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. And, yikes! Red DOES NOT take bad news well, huh? But, yeah, a lot of that IS the number the Dark Master has done on him. But still, as usual, the general teamwork among the group was beautiful (with even Flame and Aurora, the two least experienced, continuing get chances to show their stuff) and I certainly enjoyed Bentley stepping in to lend a hand. And now we are at a little more than half the dragon eggs recovered.

VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.