Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar

by Blackdrag-rose

Rage: Spies of Scorch

As Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to Autumn Plains, and finished off the last of the realms that were outside the castle, they headed for the ladder that would allow them to access the path they had used to get to where Elora was standing at the moment, as she was right outside the entrance of the dungeon and was waiting for them to collect the rest of the Talismans from the remaining realms. Sure, they could have tackled the Speedway that was near Zephyr's portal, but they felt like doing that when all of the other realms had been taken care, hence the reason they were climbing up the ladder at the moment, where they were thinking about the remaining portals that they could head through and what could be on the other side of each one. It didn't take them long to leave the courtyard and reached the start of the path that would take them through the interior of the castle, though before any of them did anything they sat around the entrance and considered which of the remaining four realms they wanted to take on first, not that it really mattered in the end since they needed to help all of them. Spike and Ember glanced at Spyro for a moment, as because while both of them had their own ideas on which realm they should take on next, due to one of them considering Fracture Hills and the other was thinking about Shady Oasis, both of them were curious as to which of them their brother was going to pick, as he was the leader of their group and so far they had liked his previous suggestions, hence the reason they were being silent and were waiting for him to speak his mind.

"What do you guys think about taking on Scorch?" Spyro inquired, because while he knew that his siblings might want to take on one of the other realms, mostly due to the names and what they made them think about when they heard them, he was of the opinion that they should follow the path that was in front of them, which was why he was suggesting Scorch, as that was the first of the remaining four realms, "We can take it on, claim the Talisman and Orbs while helping the residents out, and then head to Fracture Hills, Magma Cone, and Shady Oasis to repeat the same thing, before we eventually head to the dungeon to face Ripto and Gulp."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Spike said, while at the same time Ember nodded her head, showing that, while both of them had different ideas on which realm they should take out, they were willing to follow Spyro's lead and the path that he had laid out for them, which also put a smile on Spyro's face, showing that he was happy that they agreed with him, even if he was expecting them to voice some concerns or something.

With the three of them agreeing on their next destination the siblings got up and charged through the portal that would take them to the realm known as Scorch, as they let the magic of the portal take them to the starting area of the realm in question, so they could see what was going on and how they could disrupt Ripto's plans, since they were sure that part of what was happening to Avalar's realms was his fault. What they discovered, when they finally arrived in the starting area of Scorch, was that they were in the middle of what appeared to be a desert realm, one that had a rather nice looking palace that happened to have some glass windows and some oddly shaped frames around the windows, and then there were the odd cones that rested on top of the palace, in several spots anyway. From there they noticed the first type of enemy they would be dealing with, as there were a pair of large purple skinned beings that seemed to be guards, due to the turbans and the cloth armor they were wearing, no doubt made to counter the heat of the desert that was around them, and each of them were carrying a curved sword in one hand, a scimitar based on what they knew from what the Peace Keepers taught them. In front of them, however, was a little humanoid girl, who was wearing a orange overall and a white shirt under it, with bright yellow colored hair that seemed to be done up in two ponytails, though all three of them were slightly surprised to see someone like her here, as they were expecting something else, but that didn't stop any of them from approaching her, as they were sure she was the one they were here to help.

"Hewwo Spywo, Spike, Embew. My bwother, Handel, and I have been sent here to bwow up this castle," the little girl said, where she beckoned to the castle that was behind her, while at the same time determining that part of the time she couldn't pronounce her L's and her R's, even if some of them she was able to say without problems, but they said nothing as they wanted for her to say what was on her mind and what they could do to help her, "but Handel got caught by those evil soldiers and I'm stuck out here. If you thwee can open the doors that bwock the way, I can find my bwother and we can compwete our super secwet spy mission."

"We can do that." Ember stated, though part of her wondered if what the little girl had told them was true or if she was actually lying to them, and she would tell that her siblings were a little confused by what the girl had said as well, but once she was done talking the three of them left the little girl to stand where they had found her, so they could focus on locating the Talismans, Orbs, and gems in this realm.

The first thing they did was approach the platform that was right behind the little girl, where the two Castle Guards were standing, who immediately lashed out at them by jumping over the distance that was between them and landed right in front of them, but, thanks to everything the siblings had experienced so far, they ducked under the incoming attacks and then tripped up their foes by whacking their feet with their tails. The Castle Guards didn't seem to be expecting such an attack, as it seemed that they were likely expecting something like their fire breath or even them charging, but that let the siblings knock the pair onto their backs, allowing Spyro and Ember to finish them off, one with a quick burst of flames and the other using their tail on their target's chest. Spike made sure to break the pair of straw baskets that were nearby, to collect the gems that were inside them, before they headed back to the platform the little girl was on and followed the path that was to her left, which would have been their right when they arrived, picking up the gems and breaking any straw baskets that were in their way. That was when they discovered a camel that was standing between them and the area that the first door happened to be located in, which was the instant they noticed that the camel happened to have only two legs, making it look rather weird in their eyes, and what was even weirder was the fact that it had buried it's head in the sand before their arrival, just like an ostrich did, only to pull itself out of the ground when they got near it. It was in that moment that the siblings quickly discovered the Ostrich Camel, as Spike was going to call them that based on how they looked and how they acted, could be taken out with a quick burst of fire, due to Spyro doing that the moment it tried to use it's neck to attack them, and once it was taken care of them continued to walk towards the first door.

There just so happened to be another Ostrich Camel in the area in front of them, one that had a lavender skinned being standing nearby, one that was nearly identical to the Castle Guards, that had what appeared to be a slingshot in his hands, one that was designed to be held in both hands and seemed to have a lever that loosed the rock, though it was a little odd to be finding enemies with low level technology, especially after what they saw in Zephyr and Breeze Harbor during their visits to those realms. What they did first was tackle the Ostrich Camel that was off on their left, where Spike made sure a barrier was up since the Slingshot Guard tried to hit them with one of the rocks he had loaded into his small weapon, so it just bounced off the wall he created, allowing Ember to flame the foe they were going after while Spyro quickly broke the pair of straw baskets that were behind it. As soon as the first opponent was taken care of Spike then used a bit of his magic to catch the next incoming rock, surprising the Slingshot Guard in the process, before he sent the rock flying back towards the person that had fired it and smacked the guard in the head, knocking him to the ground and made sure he released a Spirit Particle, showing that he was down for the count. Once that was done they picked up all of the gems that were scattered on the ground around them, before finding that the only way to access the button that would unlock the door was to head back to where the first two Castle Guards were located and then glide over to the area that the button was located in, which was why Spyro elected to do it.

As such Spike and Ember watched as their brother made his way back to where the little girl was standing, jumped up onto the platform that was behind her, and then glided over to the platform the structure that the button was housed in was located on, where he picked up the couple of gems that were up there and then bashed the object that was his target, which caused a flag to raise to the top of the structure and opened the first door they needed to pass through.

With the way open the siblings regrouped and headed through it, where a Castle Guard leapt towards them and had his weapon raised by the time he landed in front of them, but the act of jumping through the air meant that he had no time to raise his defenses and that lead to Ember flaming him into the ground, while Spike intercepted the rock that was fired at them from the Slingshot Guard that was on the platform that was right behind where the first guard had landed, like it had been a plan to attack them while they were distracted. As Spike returned the rock to it's original owner, and made sure to knock the guard out in the process, Spyro and Ember headed to the right and split up, as Spyro flamed the Ostrich Camel that was near the edge of the castle wall, while at the same time his sister smacked her hardened head into the Castle Guard that was blocking the way to the next door. From that point they picked up the gems that were near them and turned to see what Spike was doing, just as he smashed his way through the pair of metallic vases that were resting near the first door and the pair of straw baskets that were just behind where the Slingshot Guard had been positioned, before he glided over to the next platform and took out the Ostrich Camel that was over there. As he took out the foe that was up there he picked up a few gems and then spotted Hunter off in a side area, meaning that he might be here to do something and that he likely had an Orb that he was supposed to give them, before he glided over to the next platform that contained the area the next button was located on.

What he did was take out the Castle Guard that was up there, just as Spyro and Ember did the same to another guard that was positioned in front of the second gate, and then collected the gems that were nearby, which was when he tapped the button and raised the next flag, allowing them to progress, though he did ignore the circular chest that was near the area the Ostrich Camel he had taken out was located in, as he was sure they would find a way to break it in due time, so it wasn't worth worrying about it right now.

"Was that Hunter, off in the distance?" Ember inquired, though she was sure that it was their cheetah friend, mostly since he was the only cheetah they had seen since they arrived in Avalar, so it wasn't like she could mistake anyone else for him, but it did make her curious as to why he would have come here, to Scorch, when he could have gone to any of the other realms to help the residents of those places out.

"Indeed it was. I have no idea what he's doing here, but we'll find out in due time." Spike replied, as he knew that they would return to Hunter in due time and see what was bothering their friend, especially given the fact that the previous times they had seen him in one of the realms they had been given an Orb or two for assisting him in some manner, which he knew his siblings were interested in as well.

"Let's finish helping out that little girl and her brother first," Spyro stated, because while it was obvious that they were going to interact with Hunter at some point, just to see what sort of help he needed this time around, he wanted to make sure they got the Talisman for Scorch first, and that meant helping the little spies out in their 'mission', which would mean opening one more door to get inside the castle, "then we can deal with Hunter and whoever else needs help in this realm, since there has to be more than one person who needs help, other than the first person we meet whenever we arrive in the starting areas for these realms."

Spike and Ember nodded their heads in agreement to what their brother was saying, hence the reason they headed for the second door and walked through it, which was the moment that they found a Slingshot Guard waiting for them and opened fire immediately, only to pause as Spike simply caught the rock with his magic and sent it right back at him, which knocked him out and allowed them to explore the new area that was around them. After that they climbed up the pair of rocky platforms that were behind the Slingshot Guard and smashed the metallic vases that were along the way, while at the same time Spike repeated the process he had been using on the next guard that was in their way, another Slingshot Guard that apparently thought he could get away with doing what the others had done, but in the end he knocked him out and released another Spirit Particle. While he did that Spyro and Ember nodded to each other as they jumped down into the area that was in front of them, the lower section that all the guards seemed to be in, as they ducked and weaved around the pair of Castle Guards that were swinging their scimitars at them, avoided the rocks that the pair of Slingshot Guards fired at them, and avoided the Ostrich Camel as it tried to attack the two of them, only for the pair to attack once their foes had a chance to hurt them, where Spike watched as all five of the enemies quickly fell. Once all of the enemies on the lower level had been taken care of, and Spyro and Ember headed back to the platforms that would allow them to glide over to the middle of the area, Spike glided into the side passage and picked up the gems he found on the ground, and once he was done with that he watched as his siblings collected the gems that were in the middle of the area and then took out the Slingshot Guard that was guarding the third button.

When Ember tapped the third button they discovered that the third door wasn't actually a door, rather it was a raised bridge that lowered into position near the area the five enemies had been standing in front of, giving them access to the interior of the castle, but before heading that way Spyro headed down the path that was to the right of the button and picked up all the gems that were over there, before all three of them regrouped at the bridge.

Once they entered the castle they were attacked by several enemies, as there were a pair of Castle Guards waiting for them and was backed by a Slingshot Guard, though while Spike took care of the rock thrower with his magic both Spyro and Ember rushed the pair of foes in front of them and rolled out of the way to avoid their attacks, before smacking them down with their tails and then finished them off with a short burst of fire. Since Spike was at the back of the group this time around, due to Spyro and Ember rushing at their enemies, he took it upon himself to break the couple of straw baskets that were near the bridge and the five metallic vases that were hiding in one of the pillars they had seen when they were walking around the exterior of the castle. While he did that Spyro charged into a Castle Guard that was standing in their way, letting his sister rush by him as she hardened her scales again, where she leapt into the air and spun around as she collided with the chest of her target, hitting the Castle Guard in question into the wall behind him, allowing Spike a few seconds to collect the gems that they had walked by before they approached the platform that the inactive exit portal was on, with no one standing near it. That made sense due to the fact that the person they were helping was outside the castle and was likely on her way to where they were standing, so Spike dealt with the two Slingshot Guards that were in the area that they were standing in, leaving Ember to take out the last of the Castle Guards as Spyro collected all of the gems that happened to be in the area, since some were hidden in the next circular tower area, and he even smashed a pair of metallic vases at the same time.

With the enemies taken care of they turned towards the inactive exit portal, though as they did that they noticed a Powerup Gate resting in the center of the castle, which was starting to seem more like an outpost of some kind and not a true castle, meaning they would have to investigate it later, as they found the little girl now standing beside the exit portal with a smile on her face.

"Spywo, you and youw sibwings make gweat secwet agents." the little girl said, once more reminding them of the fact that she had a hard time saying her L's and her R's, though at the same time they were slightly pleased that they were able to help her and her brother out, even if they hadn't actually seen her brother yet and were sure that this wasn't a castle, like she had told them earlier, before she reached into the pouch she was wearing, something they had missed the first time they encountered her, "How Handel and I can compwete our mission! By the way, you guys can have this Tawisman, as I stole it when the soldiers weren't looking."

The Talisman in question, at first, appeared to be a golden scarab, though after a few seconds Spike spotted a few bits of the item that looked like they were made out of emerald, meaning that it was likely a very important artifact for the guards they had been facing, even if he and his siblings felt this was merely an outpost and not a castle, but he slipped the Talisman into the guidebook and noticed that the exit portal had been turned on. With that done the siblings turned back towards the path that would take them to the Powerup Gate, though as they did that they noticed someone new was in front of the Superflame Gate, as they now had the ability to see what sort of powerup the gate would give them, before all three of them focused on the stranger that was in front of them. It was a young boy that was wearing the same sort of clothing that the little girl was wearing, meaning that this had to be Handel, the other young spy that was infiltrating the castle for some odd reason, and while he had short hair, which was the same color of his sister's hair, he also had a small hat on his head that seemed to have some sort of propeller on it. Interestingly enough Handel seemed to be just fine, as he didn't seem to be captured like his sister said he was, and he seemed to be waiting for someone to arrive and help him with something, as a smile appeared on his face the instant he noticed the siblings approach him, even though they did spot a few gems in the area behind him.

"Spyro, Spike, Ember, it's good to see you guys." Handel said, his tone confirming that he was happy to see them and that he had something he needed help with, which was the reason they had come to a stop in front of him, though they remained silent as they waited to see what exactly needed help with, especially when they considered all of the various things they had done in the past to help the residents of the other realms, though that was when Handel pointed at the three flags that they had raised by hitting the buttons on the way here, "We need those flags to prove our secret mission was successful, but the Flagkeeper that has been assigned to this area keeps taking them back before I can steal them. If you guys can knock him down, from where he's holding the flags, you might be able to bring the flags back to me, and my secret decoder ring says that this powerup thing might be able to help you do that."

"Use the Superflame Gate, find the Flagkeeper and blast him, and then do something to bring the flags back to this part of the castle," Spike said, as he understood what Handel was asking them to do, even if they didn't know what was going to happen when one of them hit the mysterious Flagkeeper with one of the fireballs from the Superflame Gate that was right behind Handel, but, at the same time, he knew that he and his siblings would be able to handle whatever was coming up next, "we can handle that."

Since there were three flags around the castle, and three of them, Spike and Ember cleared the area around Handel of all the gems that were nearby and watched as Spyro charged through the Powerup Gate, empowering their brother with the power of the Superflame ability, where he glided down to the bridge and headed out into the area that was right outside the castle, the area that the third button had been in. It didn't take Spyro long to retrace his steps to where the third button was located and came to a stop on the platform that was right in front of the structure the closest flag was attached to, where he glanced up at the top of the pole that came out of the top of the rather small building and spotted a small being that seemed to be riding a magic carpet, who was also wearing a turban on his head and was carrying one of the flags he and his siblings had raised earlier. He wasted no time in focusing on the Flagkeeper and loosed a fireball at his target, where it raced through the air and struck the being in the side, where he came to a stop and growled as he floated down to the area that Spyro was standing in, or rather he floated down to the path that would take one right back to the bridge that headed inside the castle, to which Spyro jumped down to meet him.

"So, you want this flag that badly, eh, dragon?!" the Flagkeeper asked, his tone revealing that he was annoyed by the fact that he had been blasted out of the air and that he was going to repay Spyro in kind for what had happened, which was why Spyro was waiting for whatever his target wanted him to do in order to gain the flag he was carrying, "Well, two can play the bombing game. Let's go!"

Spyro didn't have a chance to say anything as the Flagkeeper started to float backwards, apparently heading towards the area that Handel and his siblings were waiting in, and while he did that he loosed a number of light green colored balls into the area between them, no doubt his bombs when he considered what he had been told, to which he followed after the Flagkeeper and avoided the incoming attacks. Thanks to the training that both he and his siblings had received, from Titan and the rest of the Peace Keepers, he was able to avoid all of the incoming bombs, much to the annoyance of his target, and when he eventually reached the area that Handel was in the Flagkeeper glared at him for a moment as he tossed the first flag to Handel, since that was who was after the flags in the first place, and then flew off to guard the area that the second of the three flags was in. Once that was done, but before either of his siblings headed off to try this for themselves, Spyro told them what he had seen during the last minute or two, when he was chasing the Flagkeeper, and while he knew that it might be a waste of time to do so, since both Spike and Ember had been watching them as they came back to this area, he was happy to see what his siblings did listen to him for a few seconds. The moment he was done talking Ember stepped forward and repeated the process Spyro had done, where she used the Superflame Gate and glided down to the path in front of her, where she headed for the area that they had seen Hunter in, as that was where the second flag was located, and while she was making her way up to the area in question she also blasted the circular metallic chest, freeing the gems that were inside it and collected them in seconds, before blasting their target out of the air and glided down to where he landed.

"Still after my frags, dragon?!" the Flagkeeper inquired, because he recognized the fact that there were three dragons he was facing and was speaking about all of them at this point in time, since two of them seemed to be interested in the flags that he was supposed to be guarding, which was why he growled as he created more green balls, "Very well then, let's see how you handle this!"

Ember grinned as she followed after the Flagkeeper, moving out of the way before any of his bombs could even get close to touching her, which only seemed to infuriate her target in the process, showing that he wasn't used to facing dragons, or at the very least ones like her and her siblings, before she eventually got him to return to where Handel was located, causing the second flag to be tossed at the little boy's feet. With that done the Flagkeeper flew off to where the last of the three flags was located, the very first one they had raised when they started their journey through this realm, and this time around Spike followed after him, making sure to tap into the power of the Superflame Gate as he left the area that his siblings were sitting in. Since they had taken out all of the enemies that were in this realm, and had collected all of the gems that were along the way, Spike was able to retrace his steps in a matter of moments, as he reached the starting area rather quickly and blasted the Flagkeeper the moment he entered the area, knocking the being out of the air and caused him to float down to the area he would be starting the last leg of this challenge in, which was the area that he headed towards, just to see what his target told him.

"You won't be able to get my last flag that easily, purple beast!" the Flagkeeper stated, as if he was of the opinion that he would be able to stop Spike from chasing him back to where Handel was waiting, like he felt that his bombs would be able to do something this time around, but Spike prepared himself for what was coming next, as he had seen what went down when his siblings tried this and knew what to expect from their foe.

Spike grinned for a moment as he followed the Flagkeeper back to where Handel was waiting, though this time he didn't do what his siblings did when they avoided the bombs that were being thrown at them, rather what he did was use his magic to catch one bomb and send it flying into the next one that was coming his way, taking them both out and let him focus on the next one that was coming his way, before eventually getting the Flagkeeper back to the Powerup Gate, where the being tossed the last flag to the ground and flee off into the distance.

"Great job, Agents! How can we repay you for your efforts?" Handel asked, showing that he was incredibly happy with the fact that they were able to overcome the Flagkeeper and recover the flags that he had been guarding, enough to make all three of them unofficial agents in whatever organization he and his sister happened to be working for, if they chose to believe that sort of thing, before he got an idea and reached into his pocket, "How about you guys take this Orb, which I found in the sand, back before Greta and I tried to infiltrate this castle."

The siblings said nothing as Spike accepted the Orb and added it to the guidebook, though as they did that Handel headed over to where his sister was standing, no doubt to show her that he had the flags at last, while the three of them decided that it was time to head over to Hunter and see what he wanted them to do, as he seemed to be the last person in this realm they needed to help. While they did that Spyro decided to try a different route, as there happened to be a path that lead under the bridge and he found a number of gems in the area, which brought them to a whirlwind that let them move up to an area that had a number of glass vases, the type that had explosives attached to them, which was when he and Ember stopped as Spike set fire to all of them. The three of them waited for the explosives to go off and then picked up all of the gems that had been freed from their containers, though as they did that Ember broke the pair of straw baskets that were nearby, before they glided down into the starting area of this realm, which was where they headed over to the area that was right behind the first door. It didn't take them too long to reach the steps that would lead them to the area that their friend was standing in, though as they came to a stop in the area they were looking for they discovered that there were a number of palm trees around them and Hunter seemed to be carrying a barrel, something that made them wonder what he could be doing in this realm.

"Hey Hunter, what's going on?" Spyro asked, because both he and his siblings were curious as to what the cheetah was even doing in this realm, when he could be helping the other realms that were in need of assistance, or possibly even helping the Professor with whatever he happened to be doing at the moment, and even as he said that Hunter glanced down at the barrel he was holding for a few seconds.

"Well, the zookeepers at the Avalar Zoo informed me that they recently lost a group of monkeys, as in they were able to escape thanks to Ripto, and they asked me if I would track them down." Hunter replied, to which he gestured to the trees that he was standing near, where the siblings spotted six monkeys that happened to be hanging out near the tops of some of the palm trees, and one even threw a coconut at one of their friends, before they turned to look at Hunter again, as now they were curious about the whole situation, "I haven't been able to catch any of them, due to the fact that they keep throwing coconuts at me, which really hurt when they hit their mark. Maybe you guys can help me out?"

Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a moment, as they weren't entirely sure that this was something they needed to help Hunter with, before deciding that they might as well, since they were already here and all, to which all three of them followed their friend out into the area that the palm trees were located in, seeking out the ones that had the monkeys he was looking for. What happened next was that Spike summoned a barrier around him and Hunter for a few seconds, protecting them from the monkey that wanted to throw a coconut at them, and once that was done Ember would charge the tree and knock their target out of where they were resting, which was the moment Spike would lower the small barrier and let Hunter capture who they were looking for, so they could head to the next tree. Spyro, at first, just collected all of the gems that were in the area, which was when Sparx, Talon, and Cinder informed them that there were no more gems that needed to be acquired, though as soon as that happened he switched places with Ember, allowing them to alternate between who was hitting the trees with their heads. With the three of them assisting Hunter, and preventing their friend from being hit in the process, the siblings were able to help him capture all six of the missing monkeys in a few minutes, much to Hunter's joy as he made sure the lid was on tight once the last monkey had fallen inside the barrel, just so they didn't escape while he was chatting with them.

"You know, it's actually rather nice to have you guys around, especially since you're in the middle of kicking Ripto and his minions out of Avalar," Hunter said, though that was when he pulled out an Orb, one that looked like it had a couple bits of coconut fiber on it, and when the siblings noticed that he pointed at the barrel for a second, informing them of who was to blame for such a thing, even if it didn't damage the Orb at all, "Anyway, you guys can have this Orb that one of the monkeys was holding onto, as I know you need it more than the monkeys do."

Spike and his siblings nodded their heads to that, since they needed all of the Orbs for something, to which he took out some items and quickly rubbed off all the marks the monkeys had left on the sphere, making it as clean as all of the other Orbs were, before he stored it inside the Guidebook, which was when the three of them bid Hunter farewell and made their way back to the exit portal, as it was time to head back to Autumn Plains and choose the next realm that they were going to help out.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

Scorch:
Orbs Collected: 2
Gems Collected: 400
Talisman Collected!
Area Cleared!
Total Orbs Collected: 36/64
Total Talismans collected: 11

Another interesting run in another desert. I honestly can;t even remember this level from the game and think i may have repressed it due to the annoying little girl and her voice. the trio continue to become better and more profficient with their combat and non combat skills something i am very much enjoying. not much else to say today as this came out before i had coffee, might edit later once brain working properly. though as always a great chapter. keep up the great work!

[zachary12]

nice work

[Comickook]

Once more, you did a great job on this chapter. The exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up are all, as usual, well done in all the right places. Again, the trio's teamwork continues to develop nicely and I especially liked how EACH of the dragons dealt with the Flagkeeper.

Very certainly going to be looking forward to more of this.

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Good run though Scorch, the highlight for me was our dragon trio against the flagkeeper, very enjoyable!

Their teamwork is really on point in these latest chapters, looking forward to see what realm they tackle next!👍