Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: Exploring Space

Upon returning to the Cyclops, after checking out the city a little and finding such an important artifact, Spyro and the others boarded the submarine as Fury directed the vehicle back up to the surface, where they stopped by the pirate ship on their way back to where the airship was resting, giving them a chance to collect the last couple of chests that had been inside the room Bianca had found the rest of the treasure in, not to mention the Wayfinder Stone Spike had discovered, though once that was done the group returned to the vehicle and boarded it, all so they could return to the surface and show the Leaders what they had discovered. Bianca, of course, made sure to cancel her spell once she was back inside the Cyclops and found that the trident didn't seem to mind what happened to her body, meaning the legend about it only being used by a Mermaid or Merman was definitely a lie or something that was incorrectly written down, but as soon as she had her robes on she and Spike studied the weapon that was in front of them and took in the fact that they had just recovered the last of the weapons that had been forged from fragments of the Elemental Lords, even if eight of them had been hidden inside Malefor's Arcanaeum and the ninth was purposely hidden for safekeeping. When they returned to the airship, and the Cyclops docked in the large room it had been held in before they came to investigate the pirate ship, the group returned to the surface of the ship and informed the Leaders of everything that had been found so far, something that interested all of them when they heard of the existence of Atlantis, possibly a vast amount of knowledge that was resting inside the city, and the recovery of the lost trident of the first Mermaid King, which was really a surprise for the Leaders when they saw that Bianca was holding it and that it existed in the first place. The existence of the trident made Nestor and the others wonder what else they might find inside the former lost city, especially when one considered the legends and tales regarding Atlantis, something that told the group that they would be coming back here at some point in the future and would be investigating the rest of the city, just to understand what else might be down there and just how many of the tales were true, though Bianca did take a moment to spin the trident and showed off its power as she tapped into the water that was around them.

Of course she made sure to do that once they were standing outside on the deck of the airship, mostly since it gave them a better view of what she was doing, and the water responded as she channeled the power of the trident, just like how she had seen Spyro and the others use the powers of the runeblades, before cancelling out what she was doing before Fury raised the airship and returned them to the dock that rested on the edge of the Machinists homeworld, allowing them to return to what they had been doing before they left, even though the Leaders were planning on making arrangements for several more ventures to the area that Atlantis was resting in, something that caused Spike to chuckle as his group left the island and headed back to what they had been doing before being called here.

As the next couple of months went by the group experienced the same routine that they were used to, where some days they trained under Titan and the Peace Keepers, other days most of them rested while watching Spike train, be it learning a new spell or teaching Bianca and several Magic Crafters how to wield the magics that they spent their lives perfecting, as he had a few tips and tricks for them, and some days the group was allowed to rest and just relax without having about any training, as having a rest period allowed them to come back fully prepared and ready for whatever the Leaders had in store for them. Of course, with the discovery of the ancient city, Nestor and the other Leaders also made sure to put a few days aside so the group could return to Dragon Shores and head under the water once more, to investigate Atlantis and see what else was down there, even though the barrier that rested around the city certainly surprised those that came with them and made them wonder what else they might find, where the group smiled for a moment as they watched all of the other dragons that had joined them in these ventures. The interesting thing was that there were no guardians for the underwater city, as Flame and Aurora, after everything they experienced during their first adventure, were expecting to find something protecting the city and that they would have had to convince it that they weren't here to bring ruin to the city, but at the same time neither of them were willing to argue with the results as Spyro and the others explored the area of the ancient city they were exploring, though Spike offered the idea that if there was a guardian for the city it had taken a moment to judge all of them before leaving them alone. Of course Spike wasn't convinced that there was a guardian in the first place, as he certainly didn't detect anything that could serve that purpose, to which he focused on studying all of the statues and the architecture of the city itself, as this showed that the Mermaids had been rather skilled at making a city and it made him wonder if the other clans they had encountered over the course of their adventures were the same way, even though they hadn't seen a city or anything made by the ones in Avalar and the ones in Capora didn't seem interested in fixing their ruined area, or at least they weren't since enemies had taken over the place, and everything they found just interested them and the other dragons that were nearby.

The Professor also informed the group of something interesting, as not even a few days after their first venture to Atlantis he came to them and revealed that he was working on another vehicle, though he wasn't able to actually tell them exactly what he was working on this time, just like how he couldn't tell them about his visits to the land of Capora, the fact that he had a nephew, or that he had been working on preparing the Cyclops for them to head underwater for the first time, but, even when they thought about that, the group simply nodded their heads and said that they would wait for him to reveal when whatever he was working on was ready to be revealed. It was easy for them to assume that he was working on yet another machine of some kind, due to the fact that he loved to work on individual gadgets and the various vehicles that Hunter had used back during their adventures in Avalar and Avilion, meaning he had to be putting his effort into another one and didn't want to reveal what that something was until he was sure it was ready, hence the reason they focused on something else as they waited for the Professor to come and reveal what his latest invention might be and what they could use it for, given what the previous two major vehicles could be used for. Nestor and the other Leaders, if they knew what was being worked on this time around, were keeping their mouths shut like always, meaning it was designed to be a bit of a surprise for the group, though at this point they weren't terribly surprised by that fact and just focused on learning from the Leaders or doing whatever they wanted to do with their spare time, even though there were a few times where Spike took an hour or two off so he could speak with Malefor, mostly about the potential academy that they were planning on building in the Skylands, even if it would take some time for such a thing to be made reality. One thing that they both knew that needed to be made in the main island, the largest one by their estimates, as there were days were Spike disappeared and only returned near dinnertime, which was due to the fact that he and Malefor were measuring the size of each island and were studying the magic to see what sort of island it would become, like a fiery island or an island of lightning, would need a portal network placed somewhere, to allow residents of the other continents to travel from their home and visit the new islands, something that could be made in the future, once they had everything else planned out and ready to be made, which would take some time.

Spyro and Cynder, however, occasionally asked how Red was doing, as they were worried for him since he had spent years being trapped outside his body as the Dark Master used it to try and take over the lands of Capora, something they were able to stop and, with the help of Malefor, finally bring an end to the dark dragon's evil, though it left Red scarred and they just wanted to do everything in their power to help him out, since it would take some time for him to get used to being in control of his body again and that he needed to get over the damage the Dark Master had done, both to his mind and the rest of the world he had access to.

"Red has been improving, but it will be some time before he's back to normal," Malefor answered, informing the group as to how the framed dragon was doing now that he was back in control of his body and could control his actions once more, though at the same time he sighed for a moment as he considered everything that he knew about the Dark Master and his foul powers, especially the consequences of having one's soul ripped out of their body and being stuck in a phylactery for a long time, just like how Red had been stuck in one for who knew how long, even though the dragon had a hard time even talking about those events, hence why he didn't press Red whenever they talked to each other, "he's no longer bedridden and stuck in the house that Princess Vicky was letting him stay in, and the last time we talked I learned that he's trying to get back into learning magic, to pick up his studies from where he left off, but he admitted that he needs to stay away from the darker aspects, like he should have when he found the gemstone the Dark Master had been hiding in, as in he's going to leave those sorts of things to all of us, given our experience in those fields."

"That's good to hear, but isn't there anything else you can do for him?" Hunter asked, because this time around they were on the island that Malefor preferred to train them on, so the damage their attacks dealt to the land didn't damage one of the other homeworlds, and when he thought about all the years that Malefor has been guarding the world, protecting it from nearly all the dangers that could have possibly harmed any race that was near him, he found it hard to believe that the first purple dragon didn't have anything else that could help Red get over the years that he spent separated from his own body, trapped inside a phylactery while the evilest dragon in existence tried to take over the world.

"Hunter, the damage was done by the Dark Master, so its not something that can be erased in a few weeks," Cynder said, though she wasn't going to call her friend an idiot or anything for even considering the fact that there might be something else that could help Red get over his ordeals, despite the fact that she knew her father was keeping most of Red's ordeals from everyone he talked to, meaning the dragon in question had to be waking up screaming or something terrible, but she wasn't about to ask her father to elaborate on what was going on with Red, "it could be a few months before he recovers, maybe even a few years to a decade... or possibly never, in the worse case scenario... but the main thing is that it will take some time for Red to recover, and if there was more my father could do to help Red out I'm sure he would have done so at this point in time."

Hunter said nothing to that as he thought about it and determined that Cynder was right, as she, Spyro, and Malefor knew more about the Dark Master than he and the others did, given that they had a past life that the dark dragon was part of while he and the others didn't have something like that to work with, before returning to making sure his equipment was fine and ready for whatever came next, be it another training session or something else, something that everyone did as well, just so they could be ready for the future.

---

As it turned out nothing major or important happened after the discovery of Atlantis, where Malefor wasn't even remotely surprised that they had found the lost city and the trident that was resting within one of its temples, and it wasn't until the tenth month after the end of their adventure in Capora, and the downfall of the Dark Master, that the Professor arrived in the area that the group happened to be located in, as they had been relaxing in part of the Magic Crafters' homeworld for a time, mostly since Spike had been thinking of showing Cosmos and Bianca something, only for the Leader of this land to stop him so the Professor could approach, which meant they had something planned for today.

"I know you have explored the lands of our world, part of the sea, and even parts of the air, but now we're going to explore someplace different," the Professor said, though at the same time he nodded his head and that was when the group found that Nora was standing nearby, who channeled her magic into the area that was near them and opened a portal to where he wanted to take the group, while at the same time Cosmos raised an eyebrow, either meaning he wasn't expecting this to happen right now or he was like them and had been caught off guard by what was going on, "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the area that my latest invention is resting in and we'll get you heading towards the new area that we can explore, as I'm sure that all of you will be surprised by what it will give you access to this time around."

The group wasted no time in following the Professor through the portal that was near them and waited to see what sort of area it would lead them to, especially since their friend was giving them nothing to go on this time around, though as soon as they appeared on the other side of the portal it was easy to tell that the Professor must have brought them to an island that he had created a lab on, since there was one in Avilion and it served as Agent 9's domain, even if it was a lab, though it didn't take them long to find out that this island or realm was sort of like the realm that they had fought Ripto in when he tried to assault Castle Hills, a massive fiery area that was full of magma, lava, and had an active volcano off in the distance, which make Spyro wonder if the Professor had taken Ripto's realm for his own purposes. The area the portal brought all of them to looked like it was floating on some of the magma, which meant that Malefor must have helped the Professor with creating the metal that went into making the platform that they were currently standing on, or their friend had figured out how to make a material that actually replicated Spike and Ember's natural resistance to lava, though that wasn't all that was in the area they were now standing in, as nearby rested what appeared to be a command center for a rocket, like they had seen back in Avilion, or maybe for one of those saucers that some of the sheep had been using, given that the group believed that a few of them had been captured, instead of totally destroyed. Of course that was when they noticed what appeared to be a much larger platform resting in the direction that the command center just so happened to be pointed in, which just so happened to have what appeared to be a spaceship of some kind resting on top of it, a disc shaped one that had a pointed area in one part of it that must have been a pilot seat or something, though it appeared to be about three times the size of an adult dragon, which meant it was pretty big when they considered how tall all the adult dragons were, though this also had to mean it was packed full of energy sources to make sure it did what the Professor wanted it to do. Another thing they discovered as they stared at the massive white colored disc shaped ship was that there were a few tubes of some kind that were attached to the underside of the ship, which actually looked more like pipes, just like the vast amount of the metallic items they had seen inside the last realms of Volcanic Isle, something that made them pause for a moment or two as they realized that the Professor was using the energy of the nearby volcano to power everything that was in this area, and based on the readings that Spike found it looked like everything was ready.

"Allow me to introduce my latest pride and joy, the Jupiter 2 spaceship... the first Jupiter spaceship, well, exploded and was totally ruined a month after we revealed the Cyclops to you," the Professor said, his tone revealing that he and his friends, the ones who had helped him design the AS Harmony and the more recent Cyclops Submarine, had been devastated by what happened to the first spaceship, as he was calling it, though at the same time that was when a few individuals, which were a mixture of mechanical, vehicle, and energy experts that were from all the islands of the world, meaning that this event had to be massive for the entire world, before he beckoned for the group to follow him as he walked over to what looked like the main section of this area, "we spent our time learning from our mistakes, as it wasn't until that fateful event that we even realized that there were errors to begin with, and some of those errors lead to more errors, which required us to rethink and rethink everything that we were doing... truth be told, some of those mistakes almost made us stop and come back to this when we had better energy sources, and other things, but we're certain that everything has been fixed and that a launch will occur without anything happening."

"Okay, but how are we going to pilot this ship?" Ember asked, because this time around she knew that there was no way that she, her siblings, or any of their friends could take control of such a ship and get it off the ground, and the same had to apply to Fury and the rest of the Breezebuilders, as while Fury and his crew were skilled this seemed to be out of their experience, though that didn't stop her and the others from staring at the spaceship that was in front of them as they wondered why the Professor would build something like this.

"We built this in the same style of the vehicles that Hunter used in the past, making him the most qualified among you to take command of the spaceship," the Professor replied, something that caused Hunter's jaw to drop as he focused on the ship once more, where they were able to see that there were two large legs that had to be landing devices and a ramp that would allow them, and others for that matter, to board the ship, though even as he said that some of the Machinists came out of the area they had been working in and carefully removed the pipes that were attached to the ship, right after some of their friends told them it was okay to do so, "anyway, we built these ships with a single purpose in mind, reach one of our two moons and investigate what's up there, sort of how you used the Cyclops to find the wreck and Atlantis, and that also extends to what's beyond the moons, if we figure out how to reach one of the other planets that's on the Orrery you found in the ruined laboratory."

"Wow, you want us to go to the moons?" Flame inquired, though his tone revealed that he was caught off guard by what the Professor was asking them to do, while at the same time Spike, for example, was excited by the idea of leaving their planet behind for a time to see if one of the moons, or both if they were lucky, had anything of interest for them, not that any of the tales and legends said anything about Zella and Adrano, save for the Night of Eternal Darkness, so it was hard to say whether or not there might be something up there or nothing, before he sighed for a moment as he remembered who he was talking to at the moment, "Okay, which moon are we heading towards?"

"As of right now, Adrano is the closest of the two, with Zella being further away right now," the Professor said, where they glanced at the sky for a moment and found that he was correct, the larger red colored moon was close to the area that he had built this entire workplace in, though at the same time he focused on what was going on with the consoles that were in front of him, which seemed to be his terminal since everyone seemed to be in charge of something right now, where he pressed a few buttons for a few seconds and then glanced back at them with a smile on his face, "So, what do you say? Shall we get started with the launch?"

In that moment the group didn't even bother to say anything, as they rushed over to where the Jupiter 2 rested, made sure not to trip over any of the pipes that lined the platform it rested on, and walked up the ramp so they could enter the ship, where they found that it brought them to a circular chamber that had a circular walkway around it, like it was designed to allow them to reach some of the other compartments, where a table was in the central area of the ship, before they found the command center for the ship, which housed one main chair, a terminal in front of it, two seats near a window that let whoever sat here look out at what was around them, and two more near the central seat, one to the left and one to the right. Of course, while some of them were worried about the idea of not being able to see whatever it was that those who joined Hunter would see, since this was a massive undertaking, Hunter found a switch that accessed some screens in the round table chamber, allowing those that sat in that room to see exactly what he and the others saw, before they found a number of orange suits that were designed to fit over their bodies, with silver colored gloves and boots, a number of silver tanks that contained oxygen so they could breath in space, and orb shaped helmets that would fit over their heads and all of them were specially designed to fit over their horns, spines, and ears. Hunter grinned for a moment as he found his suit and walked into one of the rooms that were around the floor they were on, just like the others did a few moments later, so when they regrouped outside the control deck, or whatever the technical name of it was since the Professor hadn't given them that information, everyone was wearing their suit and their helmets were off to the side, as that could wait until they were up in space, if they made it that far, before Spyro stepped to the side and gave Hunter the chance to be the leader for this venture, since he did agree with the Professor's assessment that he was the best one for being captain of the Jupiter 2 for its maiden voyage. Hunter was, as Spyro and the others expected, overjoyed to have a chance to show them what he was capable of, to which he quickly had both Spike and Bianca sit at the front of the room he would be sitting in, because with their magic they should be able to prevent any major damage from happening to the ship, from the outside anyway, and could quickly weave their magic around all ten of them if something were to strike them down, before figuring that he could have Spyro and Cynder at the front as well, since there wasn't much else he could do to increase their safety since they were heading into space itself.

The group didn't argue at all, something that surprised Hunter as that happened, to which they separated from each other and headed to the areas that he wanted them in, where he sighed for a moment and sat in the captain's chair as everyone else did the same thing, though once that was done he raised his hand towards the terminal that was in front of him and realized that the Professor had been telling the truth, this was nearly identical to what he had used in the past, to which he flipped a switch that raised the platform and sealed the Jupiter 2 entirely, making it air tight in a matter of seconds, before doing the same to three more switches, which caused two sections of the ship to shift a little. What he found was that the compartments in question were the engine chambers, apparently fitting inside the 'wings' of the ship, as while they were labeled with that name he could see, thanks to a hologram of the ship he could see, that both of the sections that moved were just parts of the exterior, where neither of them compromised the ship, and both of them revealed the engines that would allow them to take off and leave the ground, hence why he noticed the energy buildup as the spaceship started to power up for take off, which everyone knew the Professor and his fellow scientists had to be studying while Hunter got the spaceship ready. Once he was sure everything was ready to go, and that everyone was in their seats and were strapped in, Hunter placed his hand on the main lever for a second, mostly to brace himself for the fact that he was actually doing this and that this wasn't a dream, before pushing it forward as he activated the spaceship's engines, which caused the Jupiter 2 to shudder for a moment, causing everyone to brace for what was coming next, before it pushed itself off the ground and hovered in the air for a few seconds, giving Hunter a few seconds to raise the landing gear into the base of the ship before taking control of the ship itself as he directed it into the air. Spyro and the rest of the group watched as they flew towards the clouds that were far above the volcano and were able to reach their destination rather quickly, something that Hunter noticed before focusing his sights on the moon that the Professor wanted them to head to, where he was able to tell that the controls were rather easy for him to use and that just confirmed what they had been told earlier, though after passing by the area the clouds had been resting in everyone focused on Adrano as Hunter directed them towards it, even though he made sure none of the emergency lights went off.

It took them a few moments to reach the height of the highest island that the group had been to in the past, which was an interesting fact that Spike took a note of for later, before the ship shuddered for a brief moment as Hunter pushed right through what they learned was the atmosphere of their world, as the Professor had a communication line opened with the ship and shared what he knew about what they were doing right now, before they breached the atmosphere not even a few moments later and headed out into space, where Spike was surprised that the Professor and the others would have come up with a way for them to fly through the emptiness of space, even though Hunter directed them to the moon they were heading towards. While they did that Spike and Bianca braced themselves as they readied their magic, just in case they found anything that might require their efforts, but as the seconds ticked by Hunter discovered that there were next to no dangers in the space between their world and the moons, to which the pair lowered their hands and claws as they watched what was going on, which was mostly Adrano quickly approaching them, or rather them rapidly approaching the moon that was their destination, something that was much more massive than what anyone originally thought, which just interested Spike even more as Hunter moved the spaceship. While he did that Hunter also flipped another button and that brought up a map for him to look at, one that came from the readings the Professor and the other scientists had taken of Adrano's surface, where it didn't look like there was anything for them to really focus on or land near, which made sense due to the fact that they had no knowledge of anything happening in space, but it wasn't long before Hunter settled on an area to land the Jupiter 2 in, a sunken area that looked like a crater that had been made by a meteor, but was smooth at the base, sort of like the caldera they found Atlantis in earlier, which was just an odd coincidence. It took a few minutes for Hunter to get the spaceship to their destination, mostly since he wanted to make sure that the systems worked and that nothing was wrong with the Jupiter 2, where the Professor and his fellow scientists kept telling him that everything was just fine, even though one or two of them were surprised that no new problems had been revealed during this voyage and they were grateful that nothing was stopping this from happening, before Hunter landed in the smooth caldera and made sure to deploy the landing gear.

Once they were on the red colored surface of Adrano, and Hunter was sure that everything was in order, he made sure to power down the engines and nodded to the others for a moment, where each of them raised their helmets and put them on, even if Spyro and the other dragons needed some help doing that, though once everyone was ready to go he flipped a few buttons and deployed the ramp once more, allowing them to walk down the ramp and touch down on the surface of the moon, though even as that happened they found that gravity was totally different as they walked off the ramp and had to brace themselves as they nearly bounced away from where the ship rested.

"Okay, I wasn't expecting that," Spike commented, though at the same time he smiled for a moment as he noticed what was going on right now, even though that didn't stop Flame and Aurora from getting used to the movements of their new suits and the gravity as one of them bounced through the air and landed nearby, allowing the rest of the group to observe for a few moments, but that just told him something interesting, that due to the fact that Adrano was much smaller than their planet, as it was probably a fourth of their world's total mass, maybe even less, meaning the gravity was weaker here as well, something that only made him wonder how Zella's gravity would differ, "Fascinating. Hey, Professor, as you guys seeing what's going on right now?"

"Yes, and its as you said: its fascinating!" the Professor replied, though as he said that there were a few more voices in the background, which had to be the rest of the scientists either agreeing with what had been said or they were debating what they were seeing at the moment, where Spike was sure that both options were likely since some of them had to have their own opinions on what they were seeing and the readings they were getting, though for the most part the rest of the group ignored what they were hearing as they stared out at the moon's surface as they wondered what to do next, "Maybe you could bring us a few samples of the rocks and sand, so we can study Adrano in greater detail than every before... or just have some fun and explore the moon however you want, either way is fine with me."

Spike did just that, as in he returned to the ship for a few seconds and found a container that he could put some rocks in, so while Amelia and the others tried out what was going on, and repeating what Flame and Aurora had done, where it only took him a few moments to find some decent sized rocks that looked like they would be perfect for the Professor and the rest of the scientists, though as soon as that was done he returned the container to the spaceship and quickly returned it to where it had been stored earlier. As soon as that task was done he returned to where the rest of the group was located and found that they were just jumping around and were experimenting with the gravity, even though it was like swimming underwater, or it was in a sense due to the fact that none of them had any experience in this sort of thing, but it was nice to see something entirely new for once and experience it without having to worry about being attacked, given the fact that there were no civilizations up on the moon, or at least that was what the group assumed for the most part. The reason for the change in their opinions was due to the fact that Spyro launched himself into the air, mostly to experiment with the gravity of the moon, before he spotted something off in the distance and pointed it out to the rest of the group, as he had no idea what he had seen and, at the same time, he knew that Spike would be eager to see what was over there and that he wouldn't leave until they figured out what he had seen, something that was followed by them leaving the area they had landed in and headed to the north, as that was the direction he had seen something in. Every couple of minutes the group would stop for a moment and someone would jump into the air once more, to see if they were on the right track or not, as the area around them seemed to be the same no matter where they looked and it was hard to see what Spyro had seen, even though everyone was sure that Spyro was telling the truth and that they were a great distance away from the area he had spotted, so much so that Hunter decided to do something different, as he had Spike use his magic to return them to where the Jupiter 2 was resting and they boarded it once more, where they took their seats as he sealed the ramp, before taking off and heading in the direction that they had been traveling in. The main reason he was doing this was because it would be quicker than just walking, due to the fact that none of them had any idea how long it would take them to reach the area in question, especially since the oxygen tanks might not last forever, since they likely only contained an hour each and they had no idea if there were any replacements on the ship, so this allowed them to save those tanks for later, once they discovered whatever it was that they had seen.

It took them a number of minutes, about five to ten based on Spike's estimates, to reach anything of importance or out of place, which ended up being something that seemed totally out of place when the group as they stared at it, because on what appeared to be the dark side of the moon, a side that no one could normally see, save for specific circumstances at the very least, and there was another caldera for them to land near, but that was when they found a deep green colored structure that was cube shaped in nature and was resting on the surface of the moon, to which Hunter landed nearby and made sure everyone had their helmets on before lowering the ramp once more.

"What in the world is this?" Ember asked, though as she said that she and the others walked down the ramp and headed over to what appeared to be an entrance of some kind, as there was a shimmering barrier in a rectangular opening that was in front of them, or at least a few steps away from where Hunter set down the Jupiter 2, though they were able to pass right through the barrier with ease and stepped inside whatever it was that they had discovered, which only confused her and the majority of the group even more as they walked inside the structure.

"It... looks like some sort of outpost, to monitor our world, only it seems broken," Spike replied, as that was his best guess at the moment as they walked into the chamber that was in front of them, because the reason he even said something like that was due to some rectangular shaped devices which seemed to be screens, only each of them had been broken into bits by something, given that one's frame was totally broken and glass was scattered everywhere, before they found that there was definitely damage to the structure, given that some pieces of the ceiling had collapsed and they could see some of the stars, though he did spot a walkway that would allow them to delve deeper into the structure, which he knew would be interesting to explore, not to mention a smaller opening that seemed to be a doorway, which lead to a small room that had an odd green item resting in the center of it, one that seemed to be made from three cubes that seemed to be stuck to each other, like they were a whole gemstone or something, "Hey, Professor, you're getting all of this, right?"

"I am, and we have no idea what we've even looking at." the Professor remarked, though his tone and the quite nature of the other scientists meant everyone shared the same opinion, they were stumped by what they were seeing, even though Spyro and the others weren't even phased by the fact that there were cameras observing everything that they found over the course of their exploration of the moon, while at the same time it also appeared that he was lost in thought about the structure they had found, "Spike, I think that might be a power source of some kind, and the pedestal it is resting on might power the rest of the odd facility that you have discovered, so, well... we're not sure what to do next, so we have agreed to allow you to do whatever you want while you're up there and study the results as they happen."

Spike nodded his head for a moment, just to show the Professor that he understood what he had said, before he called up his magic and beckoned for someone to take the deep green cube shaped energy source from where it was resting, which was when Elora stepped up and gripped the item that was in front of them, as she knew that Spike and Bianca would be at the ready with their magic to protect them in case something happened, though when she pulled the item off the pedestal and jumped backwards they found that nothing happened for a few seconds, which was followed by Spike stared at the odd item, maybe a crystal of some kind, before sealing it inside his magic for a moment so he could transport it back to their ship and carefully store it away.

"Okay, so this is an ancient observation facility, as odd as that sounds, meaning something or something was watching our world at some point," Bianca said, though this was hard to wrap her head around as she and the others walked around the rest of the facility, as it didn't take Spike all that long to return to where they were standing, before she considered what such a thing might mean when she recalled who had been defending their world for the last thousand years and who the individual in question had been hunting down, "Spike, do you think its possible that Malefor knew someone was watching our world and dealt with them, before they became a threat to our world?"

"That's highly unlikely, and even if he did he'd never tell anyone, regardless if the facility was found or not," Spike said, as he knew that Malefor would have hidden this knowledge from everyone in his world, making it even more hidden than all of the other stuff that he had been protecting over the thousand years he had been tracking down the Dark Master, but at the same time he didn't blame Bianca for thinking such a thing, given Malefor's involvement with pretty much the majority of their world's history, before he paused for a moment as part of his body locked up and stretched to get rid of it, which Spyro and the other dragons did a few seconds later, "however, we are definitely the first ones to set foot, or claw in our case, in this facility for a very long time, possibly even a thousand years based on most of the events that we dealt with during each of our adventures, so we should focus on exploring the rest of the structure and seeing what else there is for us to see, before we return to the Jupiter 2 and head home."

"Guys, is something wrong with your bodies?" Amelia asked, mostly because she caught the fact that each of the dragons had to take a moment to stretch, despite the fact that they had done next to nothing since leaving their world, and she was a little worried about them, because if that item had done something to her friends she was sure it would do something to their ship and leave everyone stranded on the moon, which would be terrible for them, so she was hoping that she was just overreacting to something normal, even though them stretching seemed to be out of character since they only did it before any of their training sessions.

"No, nothing is wrong with us... though we are getting close to our fifteenth birthday, the day we mature into adults, and it is usually preceded by aching bodies and sore limbs," Spike replied, because he had read about the event and recognized some of the signs, though he wasn't expecting one of them to hit so suddenly and at the same time, to all of them, but it did confirm what the books had said and that meant he had an idea of what would happen when they finally reached the big day, when he and the others became adult dragons, before he glanced at Amelia once more, "don't worry about it, its just something that dragons go through in their lives, so its totally natural and it will be happening to us in about two more months, allowing us to become adults and take on a form that's closer to Nestor and the other adult dragons. As for right now, we should focus on exploring the rest of this facility and focus less on what Spyro, Ember, Cynder, Flame, Aurora, and I will be going through in the near future."

Amelia said nothing to that and nodded her head as they explored the rest of the facility, where they carefully headed up the diagonal walkway and walked up to what appeared to be the second floor, or at least that was what they assumed due to the shape of the facility, and found that there was a single doorway that lead to a terminal, a dark green colored object like nearly everything else that was in this area, but it seemed to be broken as well and that meant they wouldn't be able to get any information from it, though the Professor was an expert in stuff like this and might have something else to say if he was up here. Other than that it didn't appear that there was much else for them to explore, save for the secondary walkway that lead down to a lower floor, a basement they guessed, which had three more of the deep green crystals they had found inside the one room just a few minutes ago, crystals that Elora, Bianca, and Amelia picked up before the group headed back up to where the entrance was and headed outside, mostly because there didn't seem to be anything else in this facility for them to discover, to which they returned to the Jupiter 2, stored the crystals away, and then Hunter sealed the ramp so they could take off their helmets. As soon as the crystals were secured, and Spike was sure of that, that was when the group returned to their seats and Hunter powered up the ship so they could take off and head back to where the Professor and the others were waiting for them to return, where fortunately their friend had installed a tracking device that allowed them to pinpoint the area that he and the other scientists were resting in, so they would be able to land in the area they had launched from and return the Jupiter 2 to where it had been when they first discovered it, even though they had the feeling that they would be back in this ship at some point in the near future, to see what Zella had to offer them, especially after discovering the hidden facility that rested in the dark side of Adrano, because that had to mean there could be another one, hopefully in better condition, on the second moon. Of course that all depended on how long it took the Professor and the other scientists to study the odd crystals and determine what in the world they were, meaning it could be a few weeks to a few months before such a thing happened, so the group focused on returning to the area that Hunter was heading to, landing the ship on the platform it had been resting in earlier, and then returning to what they had been doing before this day even happened, all while keeping an ear open for anything the Professor might tell them about what they had just discovered, especially since he might need Hunter to get him back up to Adrano.

Other than that the group determined that, as odd as the day had been for them, it was a good day and that they were all eager to see what was next for them, be it using the spaceship once more or doing something else, even though Spike was more interested in everything they had found on the moon, and they were sure that Malefor, regardless of wether or not he knew about the facility, would be interested in hearing about what they had just learned during their venture, leaving them waiting to see what would be coming their way next.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFgeustBpFk&ab_channel=Radec594

oh my that WAS AWESOME! and given the subnautica reference of the last chapter and the look of them cubes I have come to the conclusion that the precursors were watching the dragons for... some reason but the real value here was the cubes themselves. if they really are power sources. this world is about to see a huge technological revolution as the cube technology gets reverse engineered. As always another great chapter, Looking forward to whatever could possibly come next after this. Keep up the great work

[Comickook]

Excellent job on this second exploration mission interlude chapter. Absolutely loved the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Loved the reflections on the gang's exploration of Atlantis as well as the check-up on Red, the discussion of the potential Academy in Skylands and ESPECIALLY the moon exploration. The descriptions of the rocket and the space suits was superb as well how the gang gathered samples from those moons (particularly the potential power sources), the discussion of the discovered lunar facilities and Spike's description of the - preparations his and the other teen dragons' bodies are going through in preparation for their shift from four legs to bipedal in a few months.

By my count, we have just one more interlude chapter before we get to the gang's final adventure before the return to Equestria (which will probably be a semi-original as you already mentioned that the next/final adventure before the return to Equestria WON'T be based on any of the games).

Anyway, very definitely looking forward to more of this.

[badninja]

Jupiter 2 that rings a bell for me. I just can’t place which classic sci-fi show had a vessel named Jupiter 2.

[Night_Moon60606]

10422057
i can think of one other race that uses cube shaped power sources...

[Comickook]

10422228
Yeah. I can think of it too, now that you mention it. And it's even a race that is currently having a crossover adventure with the Equestrians in the comics.

TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!

[Night_Moon60606]

10422264
not exactly the ones i was thinking, since the structure was so small...my guess? living in such an outpost has to be a...Beast-ly existence...

[zachary12]

nice work.

[PrismStrike]

10422353
Predacons Terrorize!!!

[DJScales]

Nice job.

[Autarch Prime]

So we got Alien Watchers who possibly have witnessed the previous world ending event and its subsequent restoration. Must have been a frightening sight for them.